The research from LanguageLoop found that 90 per cent of multilingual consumers would recommend a business that offered multilingual services to family, friends and the wider community.
It also found that 74 per cent of multilingual customers would show more loyalty to an Australian business that could talk to them in their own language, while 74 per cent would give their custom to an Australian business on the basis that they, or a family member, could interact in their own language.
The research also revealed that 60 per cent of multilingual consumers believed that being able to talk to a business in their own language is just as important as the cost of the goods of services being sold.
LanguageLoop chief executive Elizabeth Compton said the research identifies the enormous commercial opportunities language services present to Australian businesses.
Further, she said little things like ensuring the website of a business is translated into at least the top five languages, providing a multilingual chat option on the website or having a telephone interpreter available to let consumers reach them in any language, are just some options they can implement to better engage with multicultural customers.
“If you are only engaging with your customers in English, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Catering to your multilingual clients is an easy, cost-effective solution to drive revenue, no matter which industry you’re in,” Ms Compton said.
“With the economic outlook looking quite bleak, leveraging language is one clear strategy businesses can use to drive revenue as a part of their post-COVID recovery strategy.
“By simply translating your website content into Chinese, for example, you will reach an additional 1.2 million Chinese consumers and that’s just here in Australia — let alone the global market.”
