Role of localization in international user support

Our blog often writes about localization as a tool that helps expand to new markets and attract new customers. This article is related to slightly another topic - how localization can help you with customer retention and satisfaction with user experience. Customer service localization involves tailoring support experiences to meet the unique needs of various regions and cultures. Here included the well-known help centers that support users by providing instruction and helpful information, chatbots, live operators, etc. Before delving into details, let's examine the current state of the customer support market.

A bit about the user support market

In 2022, the customer support market was valued at $14.95 billion, predicted to grow to $52.54 billion by 2030. The number of user requests has risen by 14% over one year (2022-2023).

Companies worldwide are using user-oriented trends and strategies to generate profits. However, this field is highly rivaled and complex. For example, 61% of customers would leave for a competitor after just one negative experience, and 60%+ expect companies to cover all their needs.

Customer experience is so significant that clients are willing to pay extra to businesses that provide exceptional customer service. Consequently, the growth potential for organizations that can impress and satisfy their customer base is immense. It turns out that the best user support you provide - the more loyalty and profit you will get. Such a ratio was confirmed by 73% of businesses. 

For multilingual companies delivering quality user support is impossible without localization. Users wouldn't get quality service without correctly adapting your help documentation/ chatbots/scripts for the help desk. 

Although businesses strongly understand the importance of user services, this industry's quality remains at the middle level. For example, 68% of respondents wish better experience, and 76% will permanently leave in case of recurring poor-quality support.

How to localize user support successfully?

Customer support localization should be included in the main localization strategy of your business as an inalienable part. To plan support localization successfully, you need to cover the following questions:

1. Define volume and type of support. When it comes to customer support, businesses use various approaches and technologies. So it can be chat with the operator, chatbot, emails, help center articles, call with the operator, development documentation, website pages like FAQ, etc. Before localization, you need to define which types of content and communication with the users you want to keep or create in the new regions. That will help with understanding which resources you will need - time/budget/effort.
2. Define the budget. The piece of budget you can spend on user support needs to be understood from the start. It will define the ability to hire agents for consulting or chatting, the price for the TMS and other auxiliary tools, and available scalability options (for example, if you want to provide the chatbot for the entire new region, you should consider the spending for scaling.) If you require assistance from native speakers to consult your users, you must decide whether to hire an agency or build your own team. 
3. Choose a support solution. The market provides various services aimed at simplifying the customer support process. For example, Intercom, GrooveHQ, Zendesk Help centers, customer support features (email, chats, etc.), or Hubspot chatbot builder. Choosing the right solution will help to build quality support for your customers.
4. Create the term base, style guide, and other support documentation. The user support includes different team members - operators, marketers, writers, linguists, and sales. They all have a high necessity for a single source of trust, especially when talking about new regions and fresh releases. There is no way to admit the situation when the marketing team sends the email where some feature is called "Discussions," while at the same time, the chatbot user sees the naming "Dialogs." The same situation is with the style of communication. All people involved in the communication with customers should sound uniformly.
5. Choose a translation management system (TMS.) We already mentioned that TMS could alter the entire localization experience by providing robust CAT tools, management, and automation features. Take close attention when you choose the TMS, as it affects different parts of your localization process, including user support.

Additional things you should take care of in international user support

1. Regional preferences: Consider the regional norms and business models and research what type of channels your customers prefer in this region: phone, email, chat, or social media.
2. Local regulations and compliance: Ensure you observe the specific regulations related to customer service, privacy, and data protection. 
3. Customer feedback and surveys: Gathering customer feedback from various regions helps identify specific issues and expectations that can be addressed through localized improvements. This feedback loop allows companies to improve their localized customer service strategies continuously.
4. Time zone: Companies must consider time zone differences when offering customer service in global operations. Ensuring 24/7 support across different time zones can enhance customer satisfaction.

How can Lingohub help with user support localization?

Integration with Zendesk Help Center

For product companies, SAAS, etc., the help center often is the most significant part that should be localized. Many articles, sections, and categories should be precisely translated using the correct terms and language. Lingohub supports the Zendesk integration that allows localizing the Zendesk Help Center faster and easier. The synchronization enables you to pull and push your content from and back to Zendesk in a few clicks, while powerful CAT tools help to avoid mistakes and keep the style uniform.

Robust machine translation technologies

Machine translation is a highly effective technology solution that can improve the efficiency of your multilingual customer support operation. With its advanced capabilities, you can seamlessly communicate with customers in their preferred language, ensuring a smooth and satisfying experience for all parties involved.

After manually or automatically source content uploading, you can use the combined power of DeepL, Amazon, and Google Translate. Such engine blending allows Lingohub to provide a high-quality translation by using the strengths of each of them. 

Additionally, Lingohub users can combine machine translation functions with prefill features to power up the first one. You wouldn't need to apply the MT for each string because you can set up the prefill, and all empty text segments will be filled automatically.

Single source of trust

The term base and style guide importance was already defined above. The good news is that the Lingohub term base is much more than a collection of terms. The suggestions from the term base appear just inside the editor during localization. Translators do not need to find the terms in some documents and switch windows and tabs. 

Also, Lingohub has a perfect tandem - the term base + the quality check features. Even if the translator makes a mistake and uses the incorrect term translation, the quality check will warn and highlight the error.

Hundreds of tasks - one solution 

At Lingohub, we confidently address all aspects of the localization process and expertly cover any questions that may arise. Our comprehensive features cover various tasks, from integrating localization into the CI/CD process to facilitating seamless communication between team members. Lingohub is designed to support project localization as a whole, making it universally applicable to any type of content localization.

Conclusion

Users' support is essential for businesses that want to reach the top and keep positions. In the era of personalization, when AI and algorithms can ideally provide the ads suggestions, people expect the same involvement from businesses in the support question. 

Customer support localization is a complex process that may require hiring additional people and spending a lot of time localizing the text and visual content. The most efficient way to save the team's efforts would involve the TMS in this process. Lingohub was created to solve the tasks like this and could be a perfect tool to localize user support for your company. If you want more information about how it works - schedule a demo call with our team or try Lingohub for free. Let's grow together!