Do you still need a phone tree in the digital age? The answer is an absolute yes. Having a multilingual phone tree in which the phone interpreters participate is helpful and valuable. Modern and growing organizations can find great benefits and ROI by adding professional interpreters to their teams if they cater to a multilingual public.
A telephone tree is an automated service that guides the callers with a recorded voice menu to move the call thru different options. These options route the call according to programmed responses. Adding foreign languages and phone interpreting services to the systems can be of great value for organizations like hospitals and dental offices.
Phone Interpretation Services are an important resource for people with limited English proficiency and are crucial to many organizations’ customer service. These multilingual options over the phone also allow people to access the information they need from their homes.
Why You Need Phone Interpreters
For several reasons, having a multilingual phone tree that connects non-English speakers to phone interpreters can benefit your business.
- It allows you to grow your customer base. If you’re only providing services in one language, your pool of potential customers is limited to speakers of that language. By providing language options, you overcome language barriers and increase your pool of potential customers – without changing any of your services.
- It can increase customer engagement. Communicating over the phone in your second language is challenging, and understanding the accents of non-native speakers can be frustrating for everyone involved. Having phone interpreters helps to bridge communication gaps and makes your customers feel appreciated.
- Quickly deal with simple questions. Customer service lines get various questions and requests, most of which are simple and can be quickly dealt with. Having a multilingual phone tree to facilitate communication between employees and customers makes the process smoother and more enjoyable for everyone.
The Difference Between Phone Interpretation Services and Phone Translation Services
Technically, the term “phone translation service” is incorrect; translation services deal with written material, while interpretation services deal with oral or spoken material. A phone interpreter deals only with spoken words. However, you’ll often see “phone translation” and “phone interpretation” services used interchangeably, and customers do not always know the correct terms to use for this interpretation service.
How Over-the-Phone Language Interpretation Services Work
Multilingual phone trees use over-the-phone interpretation services, or OPI for short. Over-the-phone interpretation is a type of remote interpretation that is available all the time. As mentioned above, OPI is often requested as phone translations.
When someone dials your business number, they are greeted by an automated or recorded greeting that asks the caller to choose their language from a list. In the US, this is often to offer Spanish-speaking services. You may have heard the option “para Espanol, marque… dos/cinco/ocho.” Callers are then connected to a phone tree in Spanish and with some using professional interpreters too.
A phone interpreter provides consecutive interpretation services, listening to both sides of the conversation and translating back and forth. Offering phone interpretation services via a multilingual phone tree provides excellent customer service for your customers worldwide, no matter their language.
The Benefits of Phone Professional Interpreters
Phone interpretation services are cost-effective, providing language support without breaking the bank. They’re easy to integrate into an existing phone tree and don’t require any special equipment. Phone interpreting services allow you to bridge language barriers, offer solutions in foreign languages, and provide top-tier service to every customer who calls in.
A multilingual phone tree expands your customer base without changing your services or offerings. When you work with professional phone interpreters, the process is smooth and easy.
OPI is available 24/7, 365 days a year. If your customer service line is open, so are interpreting services. Multilingual phone trees aren’t limited to the most common or frequently spoken languages. There are over 200 languages available for OPI services.
Industries that Use Multilingual Phone Trees
Multilingual phone trees are a powerful business asset that can work well for modern organizations in many industries, including:
- Help desks and customer service lines
- Legal offices
- Medical offices
- Insurance organizations
- B2C businesses
- Education
- Airlines
- National businesses
- International businesses
- Government agencies
Even if your business only operates within one country, you may still benefit from adding a phone interpretation option. More than 100 million people speak Spanish in the United States, and if your customer service or sales team doesn’t have a Spanish interpreter, you’re missing out. In Canada, there are two national languages: French and English. If you’re only providing documentation or services in English, you may be out of compliance with government regulations. French interpretation services are a daily request for our sister translation company in Canada.
When to Add Language Interpretation Services to Your Phone Tree
How do you know when the right time to add a telephone interpreting service to your customer service experience is?
The simplest answer is when your client base requires it and you’re ready to invest. Other opportune times to add an over-the-phone interpreter to your phone tree is:
- When creating a phone tree
- Entering a new market or country
- Adding a new service
- Releasing a new product
- Opening a new call center or customer service line
- Expanding your language services in other areas, like websites, training, or apps
- Opening an office in a new location or country
- When expanding your client base
Ready to add telephonic interpreting services to your business? You need to work with a qualified language company when adding telephone interpretation services to your language services. Select an experienced partner who will advise according to your needs and budget. At JR Language, we have years of experience providing phone interpreters to overcome language barriers, and every day, we go the extra mile to exceed your service expectations. Contact us for a quote today— and you will quickly add outstanding phone interpreting services for your clients.
