Managing Multiple Languages on Intercom: Best Practices

Creating a multilingual Intercom knowledge base enables you to serve customers worldwide in their preferred languages. However, managing multiple languages effectively requires careful planning, organization, and ongoing maintenance.

This guide covers best practices for setting up and maintaining multilingual Intercom knowledge bases. You'll learn how to organize content by language, manage translation workflows, maintain quality, and scale your multilingual support operations.

Setting Up Multiple Languages in Intercom

Before you start translating content, configure Intercom to support multiple languages. Here's how to set up your workspace.

Adding Languages to Your Workspace

Intercom allows you to add multiple languages to your workspace:

Access language settings: Navigate to your Intercom workspace settings and find the language configuration section.

Select languages: Choose the languages you want to support. Intercom supports many languages, so you can add all languages relevant to your customer base.

Set default language: Choose a default language for your knowledge base. This is typically your primary market language or the language most of your customers use.

Language display order: Configure the order in which languages appear in your help center. Consider placing your most-used languages first.

Organizing Content by Language

Structure your knowledge base to support multiple languages effectively:

Language-specific collections: Create collections for each language, or organize articles within collections by language. This makes it easier to manage and navigate multilingual content.

Naming conventions: Use consistent naming conventions for articles across languages. For example, if an English article is "Getting Started," the Spanish version might be "Primeros Pasos" but should be clearly linked to the English version.

Article relationships: Establish clear relationships between source articles and translations. Some translation tools can help maintain these relationships automatically.

Content hierarchy: Maintain the same content hierarchy across languages so customers can find equivalent content regardless of language.

Language Management Strategies

Effective language management requires clear strategies for prioritizing languages, organizing content, and maintaining consistency.

Prioritizing Languages

Not all languages need equal attention immediately. Prioritize based on:

Customer demand: Analyze which languages your customers use most. Focus on languages with the highest customer demand first.

Market strategy: Consider your business strategy. If you're expanding into specific markets, prioritize those languages.

Support volume: Review support ticket data to identify which languages generate the most support requests. These languages likely need comprehensive knowledge base coverage.

Growth potential: Consider languages in markets where you're growing. Prioritizing these languages supports expansion.

Resource availability: Consider your translation resources. Start with languages where you have native speakers or reliable translation partners.

Content Organization Approaches

Different organization approaches work for different teams:

Separate collections by language: Create separate collections for each language. This approach works well when languages have significantly different content or when managing translations manually.

Parallel article structure: Maintain the same article structure across languages, with each language having its own version. This approach works well with translation tools that maintain article relationships.

Mixed organization: Combine approaches based on content type. For example, use separate collections for language-specific content and parallel structures for translated content.

Collection-based organization: Organize by topic first, then by language within each collection. This helps customers find content by topic regardless of language.

Maintaining Article Relationships

Keep source articles and translations connected:

Clear naming: Use consistent naming patterns that make relationships between source and translated articles clear.

Metadata tracking: Use article metadata or tags to track which articles are translations and which are source articles.

Translation tools: Use translation tools that automatically maintain relationships between source articles and translations.

Documentation: Document your article structure and relationships so team members understand the organization.

Translation Workflow Management

Efficient translation workflows ensure quality and timeliness. Here's how to structure your process.

Planning Translation Projects

Plan before starting translation work:

Content audit: Review your existing articles to identify which need translation and prioritize them.

Scope definition: Define which articles to translate, in which languages, and in what order.

Resource allocation: Determine who will handle translation, review, and publishing for each language.

Timeline planning: Set realistic timelines for translation projects. Consider article complexity, language availability, and review requirements.

Quality standards: Establish quality standards for translations, including accuracy, tone, terminology, and formatting requirements.

Translation Execution

Execute translations systematically:

Use translation tools: Leverage translation tools that integrate with Intercom to automate workflows and maintain consistency.

Apply glossaries: Use custom glossaries to ensure product names, technical terms, and brand terminology translate consistently.

Maintain formatting: Preserve article structure, formatting, and links during translation. Formatting errors confuse readers and look unprofessional.

Context preservation: Ensure translations maintain the meaning and intent of source content, not just word-for-word accuracy.

Batch processing: When possible, translate multiple articles simultaneously to improve efficiency.

Review and Quality Control

Review translations before publishing:

Accuracy review: Verify translations accurately convey the meaning of source content. Technical accuracy is especially important for support articles.

Terminology check: Confirm product names, features, and technical terms are translated correctly and consistently.

Tone and style: Ensure translations maintain appropriate formality and match your brand voice. Support articles should be helpful and professional.

Formatting verification: Check that formatting, links, and structure are preserved correctly in translated versions.

Native speaker review: When possible, have native speakers review translations for natural language and cultural appropriateness.

Consistency check: Review translations across articles to ensure terminology and style remain consistent.

Maintaining Multilingual Content

Ongoing maintenance keeps multilingual content current and accurate. Here's how to maintain quality over time.

Keeping Translations Current

Update translations when source articles change:

Change detection: Use translation tools that automatically detect when source articles change and need translation updates.

Update workflows: Establish clear workflows for updating translations when source articles are modified.

Priority updates: Prioritize updates for high-traffic articles or critical information that changes frequently.

Version tracking: Track which translation versions correspond to which source article versions.

Update notifications: Set up alerts or notifications when articles are updated so translations can be updated promptly.

Quality Monitoring

Monitor translation quality continuously:

Analytics review: Monitor analytics for translated articles to identify issues or areas needing improvement.

Customer feedback: Gather feedback from customers about translation quality and which articles need improvement.

Error tracking: Track translation errors and issues that need correction.

Regular audits: Periodically review translated articles to ensure they're current, accurate, and consistent.

Performance metrics: Track metrics like view counts, search performance, and engagement for translated articles compared to source articles.

Consistency Maintenance

Maintain consistency across languages:

Glossary updates: Keep glossaries current as your product evolves and new terms emerge.

Style guide adherence: Ensure translations follow established style guidelines for each language.

Terminology review: Regularly review terminology across articles to catch inconsistencies.

Cross-language checks: Periodically compare translations across languages to ensure equivalent content is consistent.

Scaling Multilingual Operations

As your knowledge base grows, scale your multilingual operations efficiently.

Prioritization Strategies

Focus translation efforts on high-impact content:

Traffic-based prioritization: Translate articles with the most views first, as they help the most customers.

Language-based prioritization: Prioritize languages with the most customer demand or strategic importance.

Content-based prioritization: Focus on core content before advanced or niche topics.

Feedback-driven prioritization: Use customer feedback to identify which articles customers need most.

Automation Opportunities

Automate translation workflows where possible:

Automatic sync: Automatically sync articles from Intercom to translation tools.

Batch translation: Translate multiple articles simultaneously to save time.

Automatic updates: Automatically update translations when source articles change.

Quality checks: Use automated quality checks to catch common errors before review.

Publishing automation: Automate publishing workflows to reduce manual work.

Team Collaboration

Enable effective team collaboration:

Review assignments: Assign translation reviews to team members with appropriate language skills.

Feedback systems: Create ways for team members to provide feedback on translations.

Shared glossaries: Allow multiple team members to contribute to and maintain glossaries.

Documentation: Document translation processes so team members can contribute effectively.

Communication channels: Establish clear communication channels for translation-related questions and feedback.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Here are solutions to common multilingual knowledge base challenges.

Challenge: Maintaining Consistency

Problem: Terminology and style vary across translations.

Solution: Use comprehensive glossaries, establish style guidelines, and review translations systematically. Translation memory tools can also help maintain consistency.

Challenge: Keeping Translations Current

Problem: Source articles change frequently, making it hard to keep translations updated.

Solution: Use translation tools that automatically detect changes and streamline update workflows. Prioritize updates for high-traffic articles.

Challenge: Quality Control

Problem: Ensuring translation quality across many articles and languages.

Solution: Establish clear quality standards, implement review processes, and use native speakers when possible. Automated quality checks can catch common issues.

Challenge: Resource Constraints

Problem: Limited time or budget for translation work.

Solution: Prioritize high-impact articles, use translation automation to reduce manual work, and start with languages that have the most customer demand.

Challenge: Organization Complexity

Problem: Managing many articles across multiple languages becomes complex.

Solution: Use clear organization strategies, maintain article relationships, and leverage translation tools that help manage complexity.

Measuring Success

Track metrics to understand the impact of your multilingual knowledge base.

Usage Metrics

Measure how translated articles are used:

View counts: Track how many views translated articles receive compared to source articles.

Search performance: Monitor whether customers find translated articles through search.

Language distribution: Understand which languages customers use most.

Engagement: Measure time on page, bounce rates, and other engagement metrics for translated articles.

Support Impact

Measure impact on support operations:

Ticket reduction: Track whether translated articles reduce support ticket volume for specific topics.

Resolution time: Measure whether multilingual articles help customers resolve issues faster.

Customer satisfaction: Gather feedback on whether translated articles meet customer needs.

Agent efficiency: Understand how translated articles affect agent workload and efficiency.

Quality Metrics

Monitor translation quality:

Accuracy: Track translation accuracy through reviews and customer feedback.

Consistency: Measure terminology consistency across articles and languages.

Update frequency: Monitor how quickly translations are updated when source articles change.

Error rates: Track translation errors and issues that need correction.

Conclusion

Managing multiple languages on Intercom requires careful planning, organization, and ongoing maintenance. By following best practices for language setup, content organization, translation workflows, and quality maintenance, you can build a multilingual knowledge base that serves customers worldwide effectively.

The key to success is starting with high-priority languages and content, using the right tools and processes, and continuously improving based on customer feedback and usage data. With proper management, a multilingual Intercom knowledge base can significantly improve customer self-service and support operations.

Ready to improve your multilingual Intercom knowledge base? Learn how to translate Intercom articles effectively or explore whether Intercom supports translation natively.