It may come as no surprise - being able to speak multiple languages can be a great asset in business. As the business landscape continues to become more diverse, effective communication plays a significant role in a company’s ability to deliver quality customer service and improve customer satisfaction. Plus, multilingual employees are in high demand now more than ever, which can result in greater opportunities for promotion and better pay.

To remain competitive, companies must now be able to communicate across different cultures and languages in order to expand their reach to new markets and a larger customer base. In this article, we will address the key benefits of being a multilingual company and how language diversity and adopting a customer-centric approach can be key contributors in boosting your success on a global level.

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Being a multilingual business brings a lot of advantages, especially for customer reach, raising CSAT, and improving cultural awareness. For example:

• Expanded global market - capitalize on strategic opportunities with people from different backgrounds.
• Improved communication - being multilingual makes customers with a different native language feel seen and valued.
• Enhanced customer service - deeper and more personalized support, tailored to specific language needs.
• Better productivity - breaking down language barriers avoids communication issues between staff and optimizes customer interactions.
• Increase sales - 73% of consumers prefer interacting with websites in their native language.
• Easier market research - the better you understand your customers, the easier you can connect with them and develop culture-centric insights.

However, speaking more languages isn’t going to do much just by itself. Your company should also be as customer-centric as possible. For example:

1. Revisit your business objectives - becoming customer-centric requires a shift in how the business operates, which can take some time.
2. Understand your target audience - become intentional in your marketing and CX efforts via customer personas, customer surveys, or evaluating customer motivations.
3. Gather insights from customer feedback - both positive and negative feedback will help you understand current customer trends and needs better.
4. Focus on quality customer service - everything you do should demonstrate your commitment to placing the customers’ priorities first.

Once you have those 4 practices nailed down, expanding your multilingual reach begins with:

• Identifying your target market: focus on language relevance, cultural sensitivity, and localization.
• Using the best tools and resources: translation services, language-specific support, localized content, etc.
• Hiring multilingual employees: 9 out of 10 United States employers claim they rely on hiring multilingual employees that can extend the company’s global reach.

If you’d like to jumpstart your business’s multilingualism, we can help with that. SupportNinja specializes in accelerating the growth of successful companies, while letting them stay lean. We currently have close to 200 clients, and operate globally in 10+ languages. Let’s create better customer experiences together.

Being a multilingual company offers numerous benefits, particularly in the realm of customer reach, improved customer satisfaction, and greater cultural awareness. Providing support and assistance in multiple languages so customers can overcome language barriers during the customer journey provides immense value to both the company and its customers.

Another key component to your business's success is adopting a customer-centric approach. By focusing on the needs of your customers first, you can positively enforce marketing strategies that deliver quality products and services targeted to meet the needs and interests of your customer base. Rather than placing your product or service at the heart of everything you do, your customer’s needs and interests inform your business strategy. 

Making the switch to a customer-centric approach can be highly valuable to your bottom line. An estimated 82% of shoppers show preference for buying goods from companies that share similar values. By placing their interests first, customer-centric companies have a greater chance of offering the personalized customer service today’s consumers want.

Here’s how you can help your company make the transition from a product-centric to a customer-centric business model:

As you continue to evolve your business practices and move from a product-centric to a customer-centric model, it is important to make sure your leadership team and employees are on the same page. A company-wide effort to put the customer first will set you up for success.

When implementing a multilingual strategy in your company, there are some key considerations to keep in mind as you pursue greater opportunities to connect with your customers on a deeper level.

Identify your target market

Always know who your target market is. This is important for several reasons:

Equip yourself with the best tools and resources

Resource optimization is crucial when implementing multilingual strategies to your current business model because it requires resources like translation services, language-specific customer support, and even localized content across all touchpoints. This level of support may not be in place currently if a multilingual customer-centric approach hasn’t been implemented. The better your tools and resources are, the better your team can service your customers.

Hire multilingual employees

As more companies explore business opportunities in other countries, the need for hiring multilingual employees has drastically increased. What better way to implement multilingual strategies in your business than to hire multilingual people? In fact, 9 out of 10 United States employers claim they now rely on hiring employees who have additional language skills other than English to improve customer relations and improve their global reach. 

Businesses that embrace multilingualism and adopt a customer-centric approach can significantly improve their sales, customer relationships, and overall business strategies.

Here are some well-known businesses that have done just that:

Airbnb

Serving hosts and guests from around the world, Airbnb implemented a Machine translation (MT) facility on its app interface to make the user experience easier. This tool has the ability to automatically translate text to the user's preferred language, making it easier for customers from around the world to interact with the listing information and communicate with the host or customer. 

In addition, they created a multilingual support team that supports 62 different languages, which ensured users could connect with the right people who could answer their questions and address any concerns.

Amazon

For both buyers and sellers, Amazon now provides multilingual support through its Natural Language Processing (NLP) services called Amazon Comprehend. Operating in over 20 countries across 5 continents, Amazon has demonstrated its commitment to a more customer-centric approach by offering multilingual support in gathering valuable insights from a variety of sources. 

Whether a user needs to analyze a document, or social media feeds, or even utilize the Amazon Seller or Customer Support Team, they will have access to personalized support in multiple languages. 

Netflix

According to a recent 2022 Statista poll, 78% of United States households use Netflix as their primary video streaming platform, making it the most popular in the country. Netflix is a great example of a company that has successfully added more multilingual support. 

With options to localize subtitles from English to over 22 other languages, Netflix continues to provide quality service in line with its mission to “entertain the world.” In 2021, Netflix offered dubbing in 34 different languages, subtitles in 37 different languages and increased its investments in these services by up to 35%.

Multilingual companies are in a unique position to offer quality customer service that is personalized and tailored to their specific needs. 

At SupportNinja, we specialize in helping successful companies to solve for scale while staying lean. Our deft Ninjas currently assist close to 200 businesses to extend their capacity, free up resources, and accelerate growth - all of that while prioritizing amazing CX.

We’re experienced in 10+ languages, multiple cultures (we operate globally), and various industries (eCommerce, retail, SaaS, Fintech, Healthtech, etc).

Let us become experts in your world and help you reach the next level easier. Become a multilingual company with SupportNinja.