When it comes to investing in your business, a language solution might not be at the top of your list. But as the U.S. population grows more diverse, expanding the accessibility of your services and offerings can ultimately increase your market share.
Having a language solution in place can provide your business with a competitive edge and the ability to provide multilingual or deaf and hard of hearing customers with a better customer experience. If you're not already investing in a comprehensive language solution, here are three reasons why you may want to reconsider.
Increased Access = Increased Market Share
There are more than 350 languages spoken in U.S. households, with 67.3 million Americans reporting that they speak a language other than English at home. While many can also speak English, there are over 25 million people in the U.S., or about 9% of the population, who are considered to be limited-English proficient (LEP).
Implementing a language solution that offers tools like telephone interpreting and translation services can help you break into these untapped markets and improve your bottom line. Companies that offer high quality language services can increase their market share and have a definitive advantage over competitors in reaching and serving these customers by providing information in a range of languages and formats.
Close the Gap
Many companies actively seek feedback from customers as a way to improve products and services. But if you're seeking customer feedback using surveys or questions provided only in English, you might be missing out on critical information from a large segment.
Limited-English speaking customers may opt-out of surveys in English because they don't understand the questions or cannot provide adequate answers. Others may not even be aware that leaving feedback is an option. Both cases present missed opportunities in extracting key information that could help you better serve an entire segment of your community.
Providing surveys or soliciting feedback in more languages ensures that all customers can understand and respond to your questions in their native language. Understanding your limited-English speaking customers' sentiments can help you fix holes in the customer experience you weren't previously aware of.
Customer Experience Matters
When customers have a bad experience, they're likely to tell people about it. If a limited-English speaking customer feels under-serviced and undervalued, it could reflect poorly on your business' reputation (and bottom line).
93% of consumers rely on word of mouth to make purchase decisions. When your company or organization takes the extra steps to provide language assistance for multilingual customers, the customer is more likely to share that positive experience with friends, family and others in their community.
Additionally, it's been found that increasing your customer retention by just 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%. By providing a better experience for all of your customers (no matter what language they speak), you'll be in a better position to improve customer experiences and customer retention rates.
Like any other service, a language solution is an investment in your business. It's important to conduct adequate research to find what works best for your company and customers.
Learn how GLOBO can help you reach new markets.
GLOBO's easy-to-use platform connects you with qualified linguists in over 250 languages. Start the conversation today to discover why customers choose GLOBO.
