Introducing BLEND Multilingual Helpdesk for Zendesk

Yaron Kaufman

June 7 , 2021 · 4 min

Connecting with customers everywhere just got a little bit easier. BLEND’s new Multilingual Helpdesk integration allows Zendesk users to provide quick, cost-effective global customer support. Using a combination of machine translation and expert human editing, Multilingual Helpdesk lets you offer the kind of high-level multilingual customer support that beefs up customer retention.

Multilingual Helpdesk is a customer support solution that enables a single team in one location to correspond with customers everywhere, in their own language. The BLEND app identifies the language of incoming customer support tickets and then translates them for the support team using advanced, customized translation engines. Your team can then respond in their native language and their messages will be automatically translated by human translators, customized machine translation, or NMTPE – Neural Machine Translation and Post-Editing – before being sent on to your customers.

What Does NMTPE Mean for Global Customer Support?

NMTPE uses neural network-based translation, which is then reviewed and polished by professional, human translators. It’s faster and cheaper than having a person do all the work, but still has that human touch that makes the final result sound fluent and approachable. The use of high-level and specialized translation engines makes editing much less work than just translating the same text. That means your customers get their responses faster and the total costs for you are approximately 30% lower than human-only translation.

Multilingual Helpdesk for Multilingual Customer Support

BLEND’s Multilingual Helpdesk app integrates directly with Zendesk in just five minutes and is designed for flexibility. You choose the translation method and can change it at any time. With no flat subscription fees or minimum volumes, Multilingual Helpdesk is cost-effective for both light and heavy users. In fact, for many users, the customized translation engines can eventually remove the need for human post-editing, lowering costs even more.

Most importantly, BLEND’s 25,000 native translators offer multilingual support in over 80 languages. The result is an average ticket response time of only 25 minutes for professionally edited messages. No matter how rare the language, customers get quick, articulate responses in the language that makes them most comfortable.

A Tour of BLEND’s Customer Support Solution:

The BLEND app is available on the Zendesk marketplace with just one click. To use Multilingual Helpdesk for Zendesk, you will need credits on your BLEND account. You can even contact our sales team for free credits to try out the app.

2. After choosing your account, you don’t need to change any settings. Simply click “Install” again.

3. On the admin page, you will be asked to enter your email address, API token, and API keys.

You can find your Zendesk API token in the Zendesk settings, under the ‘channels’ tab. Create a new token and copy it back into the BLEND app admin page.

To get your BLEND API key, you’ll need to follow the instructions here. The Google Translate API key can also be provided by BLEND. Contact the BLEND support team or ask your system administrator.

4. Now you’re ready to add new language pairs. Only Multilingual Helpdesk lets you choose the translation method for outgoing messages in each language pair. You can change it anytime you choose.

5. The app will automatically identify the language in any incoming messaging. Then your customer service representatives just have to click “translate to my native language” to see the translated message.

6. Incoming messages are translated with machine translation so your team will see the translated messages instantly. They can choose to translate each message or the entire customer support ticket.

7. To reply, your customer support team starts an internal note and simply writes the response in their own native language. They tag the message with #transbox to have it translated and sent directly, or #transbox-review if you’d prefer to review the translated message before it gets sent back to customers.

8. Your team can then choose how to submit the response just as they would for any other Zendesk ticket.

9. Your team’s responses will show up on their Zendesk desktop as part of the ticket correspondence, not as an internal note. As far as your customers are concerned, they’ll be getting replies in whatever language they used.

Zendesk users can contact BLEND at any stage to discuss customized machine translation. Over time, these dedicated translation engines build up an individualized glossary. With the same human editors reviewing all of your translations, the customized translation engine can even learn each client’s favorite jargon and tone. This means better translation, a consistent brand voice, and lower costs, as the need for human translators shrinks.