Something we’ve been thinking about a lot recently at Get Invited is language. We have customers all over the world and it’s important for us to offer a first-class service to them, wherever they’re based. This is why we’ll be rolling out integrated languages that will make the booking process easier for our customers (that’s you!) and your customers.
Currently our ticketing platform has integration for British English, American English and Welsh. In the very near future, we’ll be expanding this to include French, German, Spanish, and a complete Italian translation.
Language and Culture: Beyond Color / Colour
Get Invited ticketing platform was born in Belfast, so it made sense for us to use British English as the language for the service. But, as we grew, we realised that our new customers – and their customers – had different needs to our UK base.
Language holds meaning, and the details of this matter. Anyone in the US who has spotted ‘colour’ rather than ‘color’ will notice instantly that it’s not ‘right’. Similarly, a customer in Germany will lose confidence in a service if the language and tone are overly familiar, rather than the professional style one would expect.
It’s all about nuance, and it’s something most of us don’t consider until we notice it’s not right. Charging for an event in US dollars, but communicating using UK English doesn’t quite fit. It’s a relatively small detail, but it matters. Getting every detail right signals two things to the customer: 1) we pay attention 2) we care. It instils confidence in what we do. And by extension, it instils confidence in your customers that you care too.
What’s Happening Now?
At present the Get Invited ticketing platform has integration for UK English, US English and Welsh. We also have an incomplete Italian translation. This is due to the bespoke manner in which we started approaching the translation process – our customer would find it useful, so we implemented it.
But, the turning point came when we started working with the Welsh Audit Office. They were exploring their options with regards to ticketing and wanted to be able to present the booking experience in Welsh as well as in English. This isn’t something we could provide ourselves, as none of the Get Invited team is fluent in Welsh.
Fortunately, the Welsh Audit Office team have the ability to facilitate Welsh translations. We worked together on implementing this translation, and a whole new approach to language at Get Invited began. Our language integration is a two-way process. Experts in the language provide accurate translations to Get Invited, and we seamlessly integrate these translations into our systems.
And there’s more!
We’re also planning to make it a lot easier for individual organisers to provide their own languages for their customers. We want to empower organisers to provide their own translations. We’ll be working in collaboration with a number of our customers to offer a set of Get Invited Languages. The aim is for Get Invited to be tailored on an organiser-by-organiser basis.
When Will We Be Hitting the ‘Go’ Button?
The short answer is ‘very soon’. We’re currently putting the full Welsh booking process through its paces and will be trialling this in the near future. We’ll also be reaching out to some of our other customers to see if this is something they would like to collaborate on.
We’ll be letting you know through all the usual channels: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and our monthly newsletters. Watch this space!
At Get Invited ticketing platform, integrating new languages has been another big step towards providing the high level of service we want to our customers. It’s important for us to show awareness and support for the things that matter to you.
If we can do anything to help you communicate with your customers, please let us know! You can get in contact on Twitter, Facebook, or drop us a line at hello@getinvited.to.
