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Will Multilingual Chatbots Shake up Your Sales Strategy?
After major advances in artificial intelligence (AI) over the last few years, a second generation of chatbots has emerged.
With innovative multilingual abilities, it’s now possible to converse with multiple nationalities with just one piece of software.
So is it time for your business to join the multilingual chatbot revolution?
The lowdown on chatbots
According to Chatbots Magazine,“a chatbot is a service, powered by rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, that you interact with via a chat interface”, and the chances are you’ll already have come across one.
They’re popular with online businesses such as Starbucks and Mastercard, but many others have taken up the technology.
What does a chatbox actually do? Well, they’re mainly used for customer interaction, but also have recruitment purposes.
You’ll typically “chat” with them through a web-based application or a standalone app.
The computer programme simulates a conversation after it recognises key terms. While this was primitive until recently, the aforementioned AI advances mean chatbots now offer a beneficial prospect to businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Intrigued? You can read this WordStream article for a detailed analysis of how they work, or read on to find out more about the latest innovations.
Multilingual chatbots have changed the game
Until recently, an online user from, for example, Brazil wouldn’t find a chatbot on a UK site capable of conversing in their native Portuguese.
They’d either have to know English or communication would come to an end. But businesses now have the lucrative prospect of using a single chatbot that can understand a wide array of languages.
And by this, I mean hundreds, complemented with the capacity to respond to queries in a relevant, useful, and sales-driven manner.
Seems too good to be true? Well, it’s a reality, a state of affairs that could well make the chatbot, unknown to the business world just a decade ago, indispensable.
o long as your business plans to expand beyond a local market, of course. If it does, then the technology could lead you to greater things.
Parlez-moi, s’il vous plaît
In an increasingly interconnected world, multilingualism has now grown as an important business factor. And why shouldn’t your doors open for interested consumers from across the world?
Language barriers and a lack of the right technology have held business back for decades, now we have the technology to overcome such boundaries.
Natural language chatbots can even receive training on customer intent; it’s possible to expand an existing model to have multilingual abilities – “train” it, essentially, to learn new languages.
One example can be seen with IBM Watson. As the company explains: “The chatbot identifies the intent to return a response. Before the response is seen by the user, [the chatbot] will translate the response to the language in which the question was asked.” And it can continue to learn from there; a “forced glossary” increases the accuracy of translations.
You can customise the glossary as you learn more from interactions with customers, making you adaptable to your customers’ needs.
Expanding into an international market
If this new technology has convinced you that now is the time to reach out to a wider, international audience, remember that making this big step is about much more than chatbots.
When expanding overseas, you’ll have to consider your market carefully. You’ll need to shift from a local to a global perspective.
But if this is all sounding ideal for your business, there’s plenty to consider. While multilingual chatbots are cost-effective compared to hiring an entire phone department, they still cost money to develop.
This is if you choose to create a bespoke chatbot for your business; you can turn to ready-made chatbots. This makes the process more cost and time-effective, but you will lose out on the individuality involved in a bespoke design.
What are the bonuses involved?
In summary:
Reach a wider audience
You can connect with customers from different nationalities and effortlessly communicate with them. You can also grow your following, increase sales targets, and advance your business.
Increase customer satisfaction
There’ll be no more confused emails between varying nationalities.
Cost-effective
There’s no need to hire native-speaking customer service specialists. Your software will handle the job for them 24/7.
Future-proof
Train your chatbot and adapt it to your industry’s needs. A few multilingual errors? You can update your chatbot to constantly deliver better customer service.
Ready to chat?
Introducing a multilingual chatbot across the 10 most widely spoken languages has far-reaching potential. It could help your business reach millions of new customers.
You could create an impressive customer service department—all with one chatbot, but the decision rests with you.
Do you take up the technology and try to steal an advantage on your competitors? Or do you wait a few years for the development costs to come down and the technology to become ultra-streamlined?
Either way, it’s a fascinating development for the online business world.
It’s setting new precedents and suggesting we’re heading towards a future where your sales strategy will consider dozens of nationalities. As a prospect, it’s unprecedented.
As you contemplate expanding into international markets, and all that that entails, consider how a professional translation agency could assist you in your mission.
Experienced native translators who are specialised in niche markets such as construction translation, like those working with BeTranslated, can be relied upon to provide a consistently accurate service.
If you have questions or want to request a free, no-obligation quote, get in touch today.
6 Tips for Hiring Translators for Your International B2B Deals
Many businesses aiming to expand beyond the domestic market concentrate on B2B sales; sales between businesses, rather than between a business and an individual customer (B2C).
If your company plans to pursue B2B deals with companies overseas, the creation and delivery of a high-quality B2B marketing campaign are paramount.
Of course, going global creates the need for B2B translation.
If you plan to branch out into countries where a language other than English is spoken, said marketing campaign will have to be translated by a professional translator, along with a myriad of documents and correspondence.
In this guide, we will share the most important factors to be considered when hiring a reliable translation service for your B2B translation needs.
Define your target market
Having a clear target customer, whether they are an individual or another business, is crucial to producing a successful marketing campaign.
Be clear on who you are communicating with and what tone you wish to portray.
If your translator knows these details they will be able to produce translations that are perfectly tailored to the reader, giving your product or service the best chance of resonating with the potential client.
Establish language combinations for your B2B translation
Once you have established your target market and identified which language or languages your content will need to be translated into, you can begin to work with a translation service that specialises in those languages.
Although some languages are spoken in many countries around the world, the dialects vary greatly from country to country.
Let’s take French as an example; there are huge differences between the French spoken in France, Canada, Belgium, and Haiti, to name just a few French-speaking nations.
If you are expanding into more than one country or region that speaks the same language, the translation agency can give you advice on whether a different B2B translation for each country is needed, or whether their dialects are similar enough for that to be unnecessary.
Find a translator who understands your niche market
The best translation service for you will not only specialise in the right language combinations, but they will also have native translators who are experts in your specific sector.
If your company produces medical equipment, working with a translator specialised in the medical field to translate your instruction manuals, for example, will guarantee clear and accurate translations.
Don’t underestimate the importance of localisation
If you haven’t worked with a translator before, you may see the process of translation as simply replacing words in one language with words in another.
Of course, it’s much more complex than that, and one of the major considerations for the translator is making sure that the target text will be understood in the context of the target culture.
This process of tweaking the text to suit the new audience is called localisation and takes into account issues such as humour, pop culture, religion, and superstition.
Working with a translator who can provide localisation services will ensure clear communication with your clients, free from damaging or costly misunderstandings.
You won’t regret having your website translated
To strengthen your presence in your target market it is essential to have your website and other online content translated into the relevant languages.
Hiring an experienced, native speaker as your website translator will help you to build a relationship with your new clients, which will directly benefit your sales.
A professionally translated website will give a good impression to those local businesses you are interested in working with on a B2B basis.
If your website is not available in their language it not only sends the message that your company is not invested in their market, it also forces them to use automated translation which can lead to serious misunderstandings.
Always follow local regulations
Remember that different countries and regions may have different laws and requirements when it comes to information such as ingredients lists, disclaimers, and instructions, and getting these wrong could lead to serious ramifications.
Do your own research, but also discuss these issues with your translation service so that you are all on the same page.
You’ve worked hard to establish your company in the UK, building a strong relationship with your clients through communication that suits your business, don’t let this standard drop as you take your business global. Translation agencies like BeTranslated, with our skilled, native-language translators are here to help.
Get in touch today for more information or a free, no-obligation quote.
The Tremendous Value of Having a Multilingual Website
In our increasingly globalised world and thanks largely to the internet, expanding into international markets is a reality for many businesses.
Most companies are well aware of the importance of having an active online presence, but this digital content is of no use to potential international customers if they can’t understand it. Hence the importance of a multilingual website.
Having your website translated by a professional translation service will make your products or services accessible to new clients and allow them to feel connected to your brand.
But why are multilingual websites so important, and what factors need to be considered when translating them? Let’s take a look.
Translate your website for strong customer relations
Studies show that 55% of customers prefer to shop in their own language : who can blame them?
Navigating the web through your native language is not only a much more relaxing user experience that eliminates the chances of misunderstandings, but it also makes you feel like the company is speaking to you, that their products or services are for you.
These days many web browsers offer instant machine translation of websites and, while this function can be useful in a pinch, the quality is extremely low which leaves users feeling frustrated and confused.
Customers can’t be blamed for questioning why they should give money to a company that has made no effort to make their digital content accessible.
Is this the impression you want your business to give?
By hiring a professional translation service to translate your website, you will open your business up to a whole new world of potential clients!
Your multilingual website should be easy to find
As well as helping you create strong relationships with prospective clients, translating your website into relevant languages actually increases your search engine rankings, making it easier for your company to be found online.
This is because having your content available in multiple languages means it appears in keyword searches in those languages, not only English, giving your business better exposure.
While we’re on the topic of SEO and search engines, it’s worth acknowledging that around the world different search engines are used: in Russia people use Yandex, in China it’s all about Baidu whilst in South Korea, Naver far outperforms both Google and Yahoo.
It pays to research how people use the internet in the country your business wants to expand into to give your website the best chance of being found by potential customers.
Make switching between languages easy
It’s all well and good making your website available in multiple languages, but if people can’t find the language switcher, they will be stuck viewing the site in English regardless!
It should be an intuitive process so that users don’t have to waste time and get bored. Most websites opt to place the language switcher at the top right-hand side of the page, so this is usually the best option.
Once you’ve settled on the position of the language switcher, you have to decide if you’re going to use flags or words to indicate the languages (or both, though this can look overcrowded).
Flags have the advantage of being visually appealing and simple, but can be rather exclusive; think about all the countries that speak Spanish, for example, they won’t feel represented by a Spanish flag.
If you decide to use words, we recommend having the language written in the relevant languages, i.e. the button should read ‘Deutsch’ instead of ‘German‘ or make it easier for users to find.
Localisation can be just as important as translation
Translating the verbal content of your website is only part of what goes into creating a successful multilingual website; you should work with a translation agency that can also localise your site.
Localisation is the process of altering content, whether that’s a website, a video, or a brand’s advertising campaign, to make sure it is received in the appropriate manner by the target audience, taking culture into account.
When it comes to localising websites, things to consider include images, date and address formats, and brand slogans, to name a few.
How to ensure an efficient translation process
Allowing your translator access to links to the original website they are translating will make life much easier and ultimately result in better translations.
Translation does not exist in a vacuum and knowing if the text they are working on is an image caption, a CTA (call to action), or button will inform how a translator renders it. Similarly, communicate with your translation agency about the best format for the source and target texts.
This will help both your translator and webmaster, who is not likely to understand the target text.
Now that we’ve convinced you of the importance of having a multilingual website, perhaps you’d like more information about BeTranslated’s talented website translators? For more information or a free, no-obligation quote, get in touch today.