Multilingual Customer Support: How To Assist A Global Audience

Picture this: you’re scaling your business to multiple countries across the globe. One day, a customer raises a query with your support team, but in German. The problem, however, is that no one in your support team is equipped to handle queries in German. What do you do?

Such a scenario can be quite common for businesses that have customers across borders. The only solution here is to set up a multilingual customer support system. 

By offering in multiple languages, you can break the language barrier and offer personalized, effective assistance. It also helps generate new business as prospects are more likely to do business with you if they know you speak their language (assuming they have a need for your product or service).

In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about multilingual customer support and how to set this strategy in motion to reach a wider audience.

Table of Contents

• What is Multilingual Customer Support?
• Benefits of Multilingual Customer Support
  • 1. Enhanced customer satisfaction
  • 2. Increased customer loyalty and retention
  • 3. Expanded market reach
  • 4. Competitive advantage 
• 5 Strategies to Implement Multilingual Customer Support
  • 1. Choose your customers’ preferred languages
  • 2. Utilize AI-powered chatbots
  • 3. Hire diverse talents
  • 4. Implement cultural best practices
  • 3. Choose the right communication channels
• Implement Multilingual Customer Support to Assist Customers Globally
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Multilingual Customer Support?

A lot of businesses think offering multilingual customer support is just about using a translator tool to converse with customers and prospects who need information. But, that’s far from accurate. Here’s what it actually means:

Multilingual customer support is about helping customers in their preferred language. It’s not just translating words—it’s also about understanding and being sensitive to the cultural nuances. It’s about providing the same quality of service regardless of the language your customers speak. In short, a multilingual customer support strategy ensures that your customers feel heard, understood, and valued – no matter where they are from.

But, do you really need a multilingual customer support strategy? If you cater to customers across countries where the native languages are different, the answer is yes.

For instance, a company like Airbnb, which has revolutionized the travel industry and is present across the globe, would need something like this. Interestingly, they were once called out for not offering multilingual support. Here’s what the frustrated customer had to say about the service on Airbnb’s Reddit page:

If you read the entire thread, you’d get a sense of how frustrated people were because they couldn’t talk to the company’s support team in the language they prefer.

So you see, even the most well-known and respected brands can fall short if they neglect to communicate with their customers in their native language. This oversight can lead to a sense of annoyance and discontent, ultimately damaging the relationship between the brand and its clientele.

Benefits of Multilingual Customer Support

Offering multilingual customer support can make a customer’s experience so much more effortless when they have to reach out to you. Also, it gives you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. 

Here are the key benefits of multilingual customer support:

1. Enhanced customer satisfaction

When customers are able to communicate with your company in their native language, they’re more likely to have a positive support experience. That’s because your customers get to explain their queries more comfortably, and this makes the interactions more seamless. All of these tiny little details contribute to customer satisfaction. 

In fact, according to an ICMI’s report, 72% of customer service leaders have confirmed that customer satisfaction increases if customers get to explain their issues in their native language

2. Increased customer loyalty and retention

This is a natural progression from the previous point. Customers who are generally satisfied with your business are more likely to remain loyal to you. Think about it: when you make an effort to speak your customers’ language, they’re more likely to repeat business with you. 

Why? Because it shows that you truly care about your customers’ experience. And when customers sense it, they trust your business a lot more.

3. Expanded market reach

When you offer multilingual customer support, doors to new markets open automatically. By breaking down language barriers, you tap into a global customer base that was previously out of reach. Imagine being able to sell your products not just locally but internationally, all because you’re speaking the language of your customers, not just in your ads and sales decks but also when they need assistance.

4. Competitive advantage

Many businesses still haven’t been able to offer support in multiple languages. This means if you do, you’re already standing out. 

On top of that, if you’re able to leverage AI for translation of answers to commonly asked queries, personalize experiences from a linguistic standpoint, and continuously gather feedback on your support interactions from customers, it puts you far ahead of your competition.

Recommended read: A Guide to Customer Acquisition in 2024

5 Strategies to Implement Multilingual Customer Support

So, how do you set up your multilingual customer support system? Here are some top-level strategies that you can start with.

1. Choose your customers’ preferred languages

Multilingual support is not about offering support in every possible language. Also, that’s not practically possible.

Firstly, you need to research and identify the languages spoken by your customer base. Understand your customer demographics and needs. Then, prioritize the languages based on demand and market potential. 

But let’s say you’re running a small business, and most of your customers are non-English speakers. What do you do then? 

Here’s an insightful suggestion by an entrepreneur on Reddit on dealing with non-english speaking clients:

Summing up this reddit thread, try these tips when you have to converse with non-native english speakers:

• Stick to simple and clear language. Avoid complex phrases and idioms.
  
• Speak slowly and repeat important words if you have to. 
  
• Ask if everything is clear, and encourage customers to clarify in case of confusion.
  
• Always follow up verbal communication with written summaries to avoid misunderstandings.
  
• Use help from people who speak the customer’s language to clearly explain your thoughts.

2. Utilize AI-powered chatbots

We all know how chatbots can respond to commonly asked questions. But, AI-powered chatbots go one step further and can translate responses into multiple languages – without missing context and without a lot of human intervention.

These chatbots that are built using AI can automatically detect the customer’s language when they raise a question and respond accordingly. For example, Intercom’s AI agent, Fin has the ability to respond to customer queries in about 45 languages. 

Here’s a detailed review of Intercom’s AI agent from a user who has tested it for multilingual support along with a couple of other tools. 

It is important to note that not all AI-powered bots are accurate when it comes to handling multilingual support. This is quite clear from the above user’s experience as he tested out multiple chatbots. For instance, when he tested out the chatbots of IBM and Olark, he found that they were not able to answer most of his questions. 

Another user tried using Zendesk’s chatbot to translate answers in 4 different languages, and the results were quite unsatisfactory. 

Therefore, it’s important to note that AI-powered chatbots should be continuously trained and refined in order to help customers with accurate answers.

Here are some of the best practices for implementing AI-powered chatbots:

• Do your research to find out potential customer interactions and create scripts that guide the chatbot’s responses.
  
• Integrate your chatbot with other systems like CRM so that it can pull out necessary information when required.
  
• Train the AI continuously by using conversation history to improve its accuracy. 

Recommended read: A 2024 Guide to What is a Chatbot How Does it Work?

3. Hire diverse talents

AI-powered chatbots can respond to customers in their preferred language. But a lot of customers would want to talk to human support staff. In fact, Hiver’s ‘AI vs Human customer service’ report found out that 52% of customers prefer talking to human support agents.

Technology cannot replicate the personal touch that real human interaction can bring. That’s why it’s important to hire the right talents and build a diverse support team. 

When you assemble a team with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, you’re not only gaining language proficiency, but also importing a wealth of cultural insight that’s essential for empathizing with customers from varied walks of life. This empathy is crucial in today’s globalized market, where understanding the nuances of different cultures can make all the difference in building strong relationships and delivering tailored customer experiences.

For instance, consider the example of a Japanese customer who values polite communication and respect for hierarchy. A customer support agent familiar with these cultural norms can adapt their tone and communication style to convey respect and build trust with the customer. 

Here’s what a Redditor feels about setting up good multilingual customer support:

“…A good company worth its salt would hire people that actually speak the language their clients mainly speak.”
– User comment on reddit

4. Implement cultural best practices

Language is just one aspect of communication. And that’s why, just investing in an AI translator isn’t the best way to set up multilingual customer support. You also have to be aware of the cultural nuances amongst your customers.

Train your team to be sensitive to cultural differences. Make yourself aware of the local customs, preferences and even sensitivities so that you do not end up annoying your customers even when you don’t intend to. Being culturally aware and sensitive can improve your customer interactions and build stronger and trustworthy relationships.

For instance, in Japan, using first names in a business setting can be considered informal, while in the U.S., it’s often seen as friendly and approachable. So if your support team addresses a Japanese customer by their first name without understanding this cultural difference, it could come across as disrespectful, even if that wasn’t the intention.

To avoid such misunderstandings, here are some tips to train your support team:

• Conduct role-playing sessions where team members practice interacting with customers from different cultural backgrounds. This helps them understand how to handle sensitive situations.
  
• Appoint team members who are familiar or are from specific cultures to act as “cultural ambassadors.” They can guide others on best practices for those regions.
  
• Share case studies or examples of both successful and problematic customer interactions from different cultures. Learning from real situations makes the training more relatable.
  
• Provide access to e-learning courses or webinars on cross-cultural communication to keep your team updated on best practices.

3. Choose the right communication channels

Identify the channels where your non-English speaking customers are most active. This can differ from business to business. 

Here are the most common channels where you can offer multilingual customer support.

• Email: This is one of the most widely used channels for customer support communication. In fact, one of Hiver’s research reports shows that almost 77% of customers prefer email for support interactions. As part of your multilingual support strategy, you can create, save, and share email templates with your team in various languages to ensure consistency. 

• Chat: Live chat is ideal for providing real-time support. It’s a preferred channel for many customers due to its convenience and speed. Opt in for AI-powered chatbots that can handle common queries without human intervention. When it comes to live chat, integrate it with AI and other translation tools that can support language detection and automatic translation. 

Recommended read: The 10 Best Live Chat Widgets for Your Website

• Knowledge base: Creating a multilingual knowledge base will reduce your team’s grunt work. It will also empower customers to find answers on their own. You can find freelancers who’d translate your resources into several languages. Then, create a repository to make the information accessible to your audience. 

• Phone: It’s always comforting when you can talk to an expert about an issue and get it resolved. For this specific channel, you’d have to hire support staff who can speak your customers’ tongues or probably outsource this service to BPOs. 

Implement Multilingual Customer Support to Assist Customers Globally

When you offer multilingual support, you don’t just solve for language barriers. You also create genuine connections with customers, and make them feel like you care about their needs, no matter where they are from.

Whether through AI, diverse support teams, or targeted communication channels, the benefits of going multilingual are clear: happier customers, increased loyalty, and open doors to the new markets.

If you’re investing in tools to enable multilingual support, choose them wisely. Make sure that they integrate with other systems and have the ability to translate languages with minimal error. 

Speaking of tools, you might want to check out customer support tools like Hiver. It integrates directly with your inbox so that your support team doesn’t have to toggle between apps to deliver excellent customer service. They can interact with customers via email, chat, phone, and even WhatsApp from their inbox. 

Start a free trial to explore its features.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Why is multilingual customer support important for my business?
   Multilingual customer support allows you to connect with customers in their preferred language. This makes them feel understood and valued. It’s not just about translating words; it’s about building trust and enhancing customer satisfaction, which can improve loyalty and market reach.

2. How can AI-powered chatbots help with multilingual support?
   AI-powered chatbots can automatically detect a customer’s language and respond accordingly. These chatbots become particularly useful in handling common queries (frequently asking questions). 

3. Do I need to offersupport in every language my customers speak?
   Not necessarily. It’s more about understanding your customer base and focusing on the most commonly spoken languages. Prioritize languages based on your market research and customer demographics. 

4. How can I ensure my team is culturally sensitive in customer interactions?
   Educate your team on cultural differences, including local customs, preferences, and sensitivities. This knowledge helps avoid misunderstandings and show respect for diverse backgrounds, which is vital for building strong, trustworthy relationships with customers.