Five9 has released a new real-time translation add-on feature to Five9 Messenger – its live chat channel – that allows customers to converse in their native language.
When they send a message, it then automatically converts into English for agents.
In doing so, Five9 is supporting the growth of global business operations, where contact centers engage with customers from all over the world.
Moreover, the tool assists service operations in culturally-diverse countries.
Indeed, people now speak more languages across various geographies. For instance, 21 percent of people in the US don’t speak English at home – according to the Pew Research Center.
Europe is witnessing a similar trend. In the UK, the percentage stands at ten percent. In Germany, 11 percent don’t speak German at home.
These changes can have a significant impact on contact center operations, with many hiring multi-lingual agents to better communicate with their customers.
For these operations that must cover several languages, it can greatly increase staffing costs.
Five9 recognizes this growing trend and is helping businesses react with its latest innovation. Here is how it works.
How Does the Real-Time Translation Feature Work?
The real-time translation tool is available as an add-on to Five9 Messenger for Advanced Chat
When an organization adds the tool to the channel, it will ask the customer as they initiate a chat: what language would you like to write in?
The business can save a pre-set shortlist optimized for a particular country. For instance, if it's Belgium, the shortlist may include Dutch/Flemish, French, German, and English, the four languages widely spoken there.
Yet, if the customer has a different first language, they can press the "more" option. From this, they may select any language that Google Translate uses.
Indeed, Five9 leverages Google’s technology, the industry leader in translation tools. As of June 2022, it supports over 100 languages – giving customers plenty of options.
Once the customer picks their preferred language, they may start the conversation. From there, the message passes on to the agent who sees it and replies in English. The tool then translates the message back to the customer.
In the transcript both the customer’s language choice and English are shown.
Discussing how the bi-directional translation tool works in practice, Jason Griffin, Principal Solution Consultant at Five9, shares another example.
“I had a demo with a customer last week, who wanted to support Irish Gaelic,” he said. “It was there, we completed the demo, and that showcased how the brand could interact with a new consumer base.”
“The business did not have to hire specialist speakers; everything translated back into English for the agents.”
From this example alone, there are many possible benefits to gauge. Yet, peel back the lid further, and many more enter the fray.
What Customer Experience Problems Does It Solve?
While most customers will communicate in the language of the country/region they are in, many expats will not speak with the same guile as a native speaker.
As such, conversational context is often lost. This sometimes leads to unintentional mistakes that cause confusion and prolong interactions.
“If we can remove that uncertainty, the results can only be positive,” adds Griffin.
Such positives may include smoother customer conversations, greater rapport, and reduced handling times – which lowers operational costs.