Multilingual Customer Care: 'I want' grass doesn't grow even in the King's garden! But in mine, YES!

Multilingual customer care, Italian consumer = Italian spoken language!

This equation seems so elementary to me that I don't understand how it could not be clear to many Brands!

Despite the law coming to the aid of us Italian consumers, at times we still encounter some unpleasant hiccups.

Perhaps not everyone knows that when we call a Call Center, we have the right to choose to speak with an Italian operator, but sometimes we face subterfuges that I don't appreciate at all.

#CustomerCare Business-to-consumer (B2C): we consumers are exactly that “C”. But this famous B2C collapses every time we fail to communicate in our mother tongue.

But let's take a small step back first, I feel like a director adding a flashback in their own film.

And it is precisely in this flashback that B2C fits in… an acronym now so common that we don't even notice its use in our daily speech.

Business-to-consumer where we consumers are exactly that “C”. But this famous B2C falls short for me when I feel like a small “c” every time I can't communicate in my mother tongue.

Brand Reputation and Multilingual Customer Care: giving assistance in the customer's language improves reputation

I admit my lack of predisposition for foreign languages (my Achilles' heel since back in school), but I, as an Italian consumer who buys a product on Italian territory, don't see why, if I have a problem and call the toll-free number (obviously Italian too), I hear a foreign country answer with someone who clearly speaks my language as poorly as I speak theirs.

I say Turin and they understand 'tombino' (manhole). I say Rome and we understand 'toma' (cheese—which at lunchtime would even be okay!).

Now, without wanting to take anything away from the goodwill of the poor girl on the other end of the line from a non-EU country and without wanting to seem non-inclusive (heaven forbid), I:

• WANT to speak in my language
• WANT to solve the problem
• WANT to be able to explain myself without linguistic misunderstandings

Yes, I know… too many WANTS!

Against what we teach our children: “the 'I want' grass doesn't even grow in the King's garden!”.

But, between us, in this case, I must be able to feel like a QUEEN and I demand all my WANTS (as the Italian Law professes).

Because I don't WANT to feel like a small “c” of that famous B2C, but I WANT to be a large “C” and I WANT to feel understood by the Brand I chose.

Otherwise we all know what will happen: next time the brand changes!

A stray ring becomes a song of spirits if no one answers in the mother tongue. A dissatisfied small 'c' won't just stop buying, but will trash the Brand on all social media.

Customer Care Services: the customer has the right to receive assistance on national territory or in the European Union

Perhaps some do not know that, fortunately, in this case, the law comes to our aid (art. 24-bis d.l. n. 83/2012, converted with law n. 134/2012, as replaced by art. 1, paragraph 243 of law n. 232/2016), where the user, besides having to be informed beforehand regarding the country from which the response is obtained, has the right, if the Call Center operator is located in a non-EU country, to request that the service be provided by an operator located in the national territory or in the EU, with immediate transfer during the same call.

This is why Voice & Web is increasingly asked to support not only the Italian market but also the European one.

Voice & Web: Customer Care in Italy and Europe

Our Multilingual Customer Care answers in Italian, Spanish, German, French, English, Portuguese. Not because we have people inside who “dabble” in these languages, but because we answer directly from our various locations across Europe.

All this because the large “C” must feel at home and understood.

At Voice & Web we are convinced that environment, climate, hours, language, habits and recurrences are the core of good communication that leads to loyalty.

Furthermore, a structured multilingual Inbound Contact Center like ours is a great support to the Brand, as it gives Client Companies the possibility to use a single provider for all nations, standard reporting and the possibility of defining a framework contract.

This is why My Customer Care Service at Voice & Web is different and I am proud of it.

Article by Simona Di Iorio Sales Assistant for Voice & Web.

The scope of Voice & Web's activities ranges from Customer Care, to Customer Satisfaction, to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), to the facilitation and orientation of the Customer in eCommerce activities and processes, to improve their user experience.