The subject of speaking limited English is often brought up when talking about offshore contact centers. Consumers frequently express frustration when dealing with contact center agents in overseas centers who speak with either broken English or accents so heavy they are difficult to understand. What happens when the tables are turned and the agent must handle a call with a customer who possesses limited English?
Research was conducted by thebigwordGroup, a global provider of language services, to determine how the contact centers of British banks and insurance companies handle such calls. Out of the 180 calls made by researchers, only three resulted in a solution to the language barrier and the caller obtaining information they required.
The researchers completing these calls reported that they did not receive an overall positive customer experience in 92 percent of the calls to the banks. For insurers, the figure was 84 percent.
Of the nine banks researched, only two would be used again by more than two of the researchers. This study examined six insurance companies and only two would be used again by three researchers out of the 12 who made calls.
Overall, researchers felt that this report demonstrated that the UK’s financial services companies are failing to provide sufficient customer service levels and as a result, are unable to communicate effectively with a large number of their potential customers.
While it is possible that some British financial services providers may be taking measures to overcome language barriers at high street branch level, there is still an obvious lack of services necessary to support inquiries made by limited English speakers to bank and insurance company contact centers.
These contact centers can improve their performance, however by implementing services that allow calls from limited English speakers to be quickly connected to an interpreter, who can then join the call. Applications are also available to help identify the correct language being spoken, if it is not readily obvious.
At the end of the day, the UK is a multi-language society. The public and private sectors are experiencing mounting pressure from consumers to provide equal access to services, no matter what language the consumer speaks. However, this report shows that bank and insurance company contact centers do not yet have the capability necessary to speak to every customer who calls them.
For the contact center, which is in place to ensure a satisfying customer experience, this lack of ability can not only cost the bank or insurance company a customer, it will also limit the organization to only catering to the English speaking demographic. Such an approach will also limit future revenue and growth opportunity in a diverse population where opportunity could be endless.
