Insurance is tricky enough in your own language. That’s why clear communication and personalized services are so important in the insurance industry—and why the law insists on crystal-clear fine print. Now, imagine your customers trying to navigate the complexities of insurance when English isn’t their first language. The law still expects the same level of clarity, but the communication challenge is much more significant.
Enter language services: the best solution for equitable access to insurance services.
What are Language Services?
Language services include translation and interpretation services that help all policyholders receive the same level of support, regardless of their native language. It means you can deliver critical information in a way that is linguistically and culturally appropriate to your customers.
These services cover everything from translating policy documents to providing over-the-phone interpretation during customer service calls to offering onsite interpreters for sensitive claims discussions. By providing language services, you build trust, meet regulatory requirements, and serve your diverse communities effectively.
In this blog post, we will take a quick look at the non-English-speaking market and then give you actionable steps to make sure their access to your services is complete.
A Quick Look at the Non-English-Speaking Insurance Market in the US
About 22% of the US population aged five and older—67.8 million people—speak a language other than English at home. The top languages they speak are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, Korean and Russian.
For these people, navigating complex topics like insurance, financial services, or healthcare in a second language can be daunting. Misunderstandings lead to frustration, mistakes, missed opportunities, or serious health, legal, or financial consequences.
Providing these customers with communication in their preferred language ensures compliance with legal and regulatory standards, improves their ability to engage with services and offers, and builds trust and loyalty.
Here are the seven steps to ensure non-native English speakers can fully access your insurance services.
67.8 million people speak a language other than English at home. Contact us today to learn how our interpretation and translation services ensure equitable access to insurance services, help you build trust, and meet regulatory requirements.
1. Research your customer
Take the time to research what languages are spoken in the specific regions and communities you want to serve. But keep in mind, the needs of your market go well beyond only the languages they speak. Each community you target has its unique cultural landscape – how they buy and receive information, beliefs, values, and communication preferences. You need to understand these things as well as the languages they speak.
To gain insights, partner with local experts, study regional data, and engage with community leaders. You can also survey your buyers to understand what they need. The better you know your audience, the more effectively you can connect with them. And, when you tailor your communication strategies, your messages are both understood and well-received.
2. Map Touchpoints and Communication Channels
Understanding how and where potential policyholders interact with your services can uncover where you need to provide language support. Do most of your interactions happen through phone calls, video conferences, or emails? What role do your marketing materials play in outreach? And where are your leads coming from—online ads, your website, or signage?
3. Outline a Language Program that Meets Your Needs
If you already have a language program, start with an audit. Is it still relevant? Maybe your current plan was designed for when your business was smaller, there were fewer languages spoken among your customer base, or your expansion goals were more limited.
If your approach to language access has been unstructured or inconsistent, now is the time for a significant upgrade: time to create and implement a language access plan. Consider this plan your roadmap to delivering equitable communication and seamless services.
A well-designed language access plan should include the attributes listed below to make sure it will be effective and sustainable:
- Goals: Define what you want to achieve, whether that’s higher customer satisfaction, increased reach, or compliance.
- Target languages: What are the most commonly spoken languages in the communities you serve?
- Touchpoints: Note here the interactions that require language assistance, such as customer service calls, in-person meetings, marketing materials, or claims processes.
- How to request services: Establish clear, simple procedures for staff and customers to request language support.
- Team training: Help your employees understand the importance of language access and how to use the available tools and services.
- Measuring effectiveness: Define the key metrics for evaluating the success of your program.
- Roles and responsibilities: Note who is responsible for each part of your language access program. You may or may not have one central language access coordinator and the duties might be spread across roles.
4. Train Your Staff
You can’t just create a plan and distribute it in email: Only with the proper training can your employees provide language access support quickly to help your customers understand information and make decisions.
Key training areas include:
- The importance of language access and how it impacts customer service
- Language access laws and the consequences of non-compliance
- Team roles and responsibilities for managing language access
- How to request services like interpreters or translation tools
- Best practices for working with interpreters effectively
- Cultural competency to address cultural differences in customer interactions
Quick guides for accessing interpreters or a list of top-requested languages at an agent’s fingertips can be lifesavers in busy moments.
5. Show Policyholders You Speak Their Languages
Your next step is to let everyone know that your services are available in other languages. To start, create signage and ‘We Speak’ cards to let people know the available language options in every office.
Then, you will want to translate relevant marketing materials, from website pages and social media posts to emails and brochures. Consider translating your ad campaigns, videos, website homepage, and local ads.
Also, to build trust among a multilingual audience, you can use testimonials, case studies, or videos featuring satisfied non-English speaking customers to reinforce your message and cultivate confidence. This investment in inclusive communication will build loyalty and position your organization as a leader in equitable customer service.
6. Request and Assess Customer and Employee Feedback
After providing language access services, you can ask customers to respond to a multiple-choice survey. You can include questions like:
- Was the translation of high quality?
- How satisfied were you with the clarity and accuracy of the interpretation provided?
- Did the interpreter respond promptly and complete the service in a timely manner?
- How would you rate the interpreter’s professionalism and courtesy during the session?
- Did the interpreter demonstrate an understanding of your culture? Did you feel understood?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your overall experience with our language support services?
- What can we improve to enhance your experience?
Feedback allows you to make informed adjustments that will improve the quality of your services, increase customer satisfaction, and demonstrate your commitment to equitable communication.
7. Regularly Monitor and Evaluate Your Program
To drive ongoing improvement and make sure your program meets your business goals, you need to measure performance. Monitor your KPIs in these areas:
- The percentage of your target population reached
- The number of calls in each language
- Call connection and wait times
- Translation quality measured by error rates
- Budget adherence
- Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
Once you understand your metrics and whether they are improving or declining, you can work with your language services provider on improvements.
How LSA Can Help
With the right language access partner, you can design a comprehensive language services plan, keep your communication standards high, and give all your customers the clarity they deserve.
LSA offers:
- On-demand support for the most commonly spoken languages in the communities you target
- Service lines tailored to your needs, including document translations, live interpretation, and multilingual customer support
- 24/7 accessibility, so you can assist your policyholders whenever they need it
Whether you need onsite interpreters for claims, over-the-phone support for customer service, or precise translations of policy documents, we’ve got you covered with customized language access solutions for hundreds of languages, including rare dialects and American Sign Language.
At Language Services Associates (LSA), we make it easy for insurance professionals to connect with multilingual customers. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, we understand the unique challenges you face, from navigating complex regulations to delivering clear, accessible communication.
What’s the result? With our help, you will:
- Attract new policyholders
- Improve claims intake with multilingual support
- Ensure policy clarity for all customers
- Mitigate risks with clear and effective communication across languages
- Improve performance and customer satisfaction KPIs
- Drive compliance
Contact us today for tailored programs, 24/7 support, and industry expertise to help you deliver exceptional service in any language—because communication shouldn’t be a barrier to great insurance.
