Businesses have had to adapt to support customers remotely during the global pandemic, with online channels increasingly vital to maintaining customer experience (CX) and loyalty. This transition has also opened up new opportunities for businesses to serve the limited-English proficiency (LEP) population of 67.3 million people in the United States. By providing multi-language support by telephone, video, or in written form, your business could attract this sizable audience of potential customers. But where should you start? Here are our three top channels for supporting LEP customers remotely.
- Over-the-Phone Interpretation for Contact or Call Centers
Over-the-Phone Interpretation (OPI), also known as telephonic interpretation, is a simple and effective way to add multilingual support to customer support phone calls. OPI makes it easier for LEP customers to communicate with your Contact Center team, helping you to serve those customers better and improve sales and customer loyalty.
Adding multilingual support does not have to be expensive or complex. By partnering with a Language Services Provider (LSP), your contact center can reduce overhead and costs and improve metrics, such as Average Handle Time (AHT). At Language Link, we also support customers with scaled services so you can provide multilingual phone support remotely as and when you need to. - Translation for Self-Help Materials
Translation services enable you to provide customer support to your LEP customers in the form of self-help resources, such as blog posts, online forums, answers to frequently asked questions, how-to guides, user manuals/handbooks, instructional videos (dubbed or subtitled), and eLearning and training materials.
There are many benefits to translating and localizing your self-help materials from a customer support perspective. By enabling non-native English speakers to access information with ease, translation can reduce both frustration and the need for customer center support. When published online, multilingual self-help materials can also increase your potential audience, boosting accessibility and conversions via increased search engine traffic. - Video Remote Interpretation for Face-to-Face Interactions
Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) provides professional language access to customers remotely by connecting them and your call center by video to an interpreter in real-time. As with a face-to-face encounter in real life, the service enables its users to see those visual and non-verbal cues that are not available on audio-only services. This makes VRI particularly useful for supporting American Sign Language (ASL) users, of which there are an estimated one million in the United States.
VRI is not as expensive as you may think and can be cheaper than hiring an in-person or on-site interpreter. When selecting a VRI provider, make sure they offer all the languages you may require, including ASL. Choose a vendor whose services are available 24/7, in high-definition, and with technology compatible with the web cameras used by modern computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Provide Your Customers With Access to Language Support Today!
BIG Language Solutions has a proven track record of supporting online businesses and contact centers with customizable multilingual communication services. We will help you design and combine cost-effective language support to serve your LEP customers more effectively. Contact us today to find out more.
