Multilingual Surveys: Gather Meaningful Feedback from Diverse Audiences

Surveys are powerful tools that organizations use to measure customer satisfaction, conduct market research, and assess employee engagement. However, when your audience speaks multiple languages, translating surveys becomes essential to capturing accurate and meaningful insights. A multilingual survey broadens your respondent pool and enhances the quality of the data you collect. Here are best practices to ensure your multilingual surveys are effective and inclusive.

Why Multilingual Surveys Matter

Expand Your Reach. A multilingual survey expands your pool of respondents so you can obtain better insights from a larger group of people. By allowing participants to respond in the language they are most comfortable with, you increase participation rates and ensure more diverse viewpoints are represented.

Enhance Response Quality. Participants are more likely to provide thoughtful, accurate responses when they can do so in their preferred language. This is especially important for open-ended questions, where nuanced answers can offer deep insights. Surveys in multiple languages reduce the risk of misunderstanding and allow respondents to express themselves more authentically.

Reduce Bias and Increase Inclusivity. Offering surveys in multiple languages helps eliminate language barriers that can introduce bias. For example, a survey only available in English might skew results toward English-speaking respondents, missing out on critical feedback from individuals who do not speak English as their native language. Multilingual surveys ensure that all voices are heard equally, regardless of language proficiency.

Improve Participant Experience. By allowing respondents to complete surveys in their preferred language, you show your audience that you care about their opinions and are committed to meeting their needs.

Developing Effective Multilingual Surveys

Start with a Translation-Friendly Survey Design. The quality of your source-language survey will directly impact the quality of the translations. Ensure the source text is clear and straightforward. Avoid jargon, acronyms, and culturally specific references that may not translate well. Keep sentences simple and direct and ensure that the questions do not rely on prior knowledge that might not be universal among your audience.

Here are some general best practices to ensure you collect meaningful insights:

• Tailor the survey to your audience. It is important to understand who will be taking your survey. Develop a profile of your ideal respondents, including demographics and language preferences. This profile will guide you in selecting the appropriate languages and ensuring the survey is relevant and accessible to all participants.
• Set clear goals and objectives. Define the purpose of the survey, which will guide the types of questions you ask and the overall structure.
• Avoid survey fatigue. Aim to keep surveys under five minutes and use a mix of question types. If surveys must be longer, consider offering participation incentives.
• Time it right. Send surveys when respondents are most likely to engage. For example, send a customer satisfaction questionnaire shortly after purchase, or offer an employee engagement survey at a strategic point, such as an annual review.
• Provide clear instructions. Don’t overlook the importance of clear instructions. All instructions should be straightforward and available in all languages to ensure participants understand how to complete the survey correctly.
• Run a test survey: Conduct a trial run with a small group to identify issues, such as unclear questions or low engagement, and optimize the survey before full distribution.

Engage the Right Team

Take a team approach to survey translation that includes a trusted translation partner, working together with in-house subject-matter experts and other individuals constructive to the process. For example, a customer satisfaction survey often requires input from customer success teams in coordination with sales and marketing.

Ensuring Accuracy and Cultural Relevance in Survey Translation

In a well-translated survey, questions convey consistent meaning and intent, regardless of the language. Translators must consider cultural differences that might affect how questions are perceived and adapt the language accordingly.

For a high-quality survey that is accurately translated and culturally appropriate, we recommend a three-step human translation process. This approach includes translation performed by native-speaking translators with subject matter expertise, review by a qualified editor, and a final quality assurance check. This process helps avoid misinterpretation and ensures the survey resonates with all respondents.

Depending on your subject matter, languages, and audience, alternative workflows may be appropriate to help you achieve your objectives. To find the best approach, communicate any relevant information to your language services provider (LSP). The more details you can provide, the better you can equip your LSP to customize the best approach that will attain the results you need.

Consistency Across Languages

Leverage a glossary to ensure terminology is consistent throughout. A multilingual glossary, sometimes referred to as a terminology database, term base, or lexicon, is a curated list of key terms along with pre-approved translations in the target languages. Glossaries help ensure that specific terms are used consistently across all translated materials, allowing translators to apply the agreed-upon terminology correctly each time those terms appear. A consistent approach to terminology will help ensure the data collected is comparable across languages.

Cultural Sensitivity in Demographic Data Collection

When gathering demographic information in a multilingual survey, it’s crucial to approach sensitive categories such as age, gender, income level, and ethnicity with care. These data points can help define your audience and personalize your offerings, but they must be handled thoughtfully to respect the diversity of respondents. For instance, when asking about ethnicity, provide respondents the option to select more than one ethnicity or to choose not to answer. Be mindful of evolving terminology, as race and ethnicity categories in federal surveys are changing to offer better identification options and provide more accurate data.

Similarly, if asking about income, consider that income ranges may need to be adjusted for respondents in different countries to ensure relevance. When approaching questions about gender, it’s essential to be inclusive. The Pew Research Center, for example, now uses a question that asks, “Do you describe yourself as a man, a woman, or in some other way?” with a write-in option, allowing for more nuanced responses. Thoughtfulness in these areas promotes cultural sensitivity and enhances the quality of your data.

Localizing Visual Elements in Multilingual Surveys

If your survey includes graphics, they must be appropriately localized for each locale to maintain cultural relevance and clarity. Visual elements, like symbols, colors, and images, may have different meanings across cultures, so careful attention is required to avoid misinterpretation or offense. In addition, when text is incorporated into graphic elements, multilingual typesetting services may be necessary to modify the text while preserving the design and layout, ensuring the survey is visually and linguistically appropriate for the target audience.

Beyond Launch: A Continuous Process

Once your survey is launched, the work doesn’t stop. Following up and optimizing the process is critical to long-term success:

Translating responses: When launching a multilingual survey, it’s important to plan for the translation of responses, as open-ended answers are often provided in the respondent’s native language. Be sure to account for this in your budget and timeline to ensure a smooth process from survey collection to analysis.

Acknowledge respondents: After gathering feedback, it’s vital to let respondents know their input has been received. A simple acknowledgment shows customers that you value their opinions.

Turn feedback into action: Surveys are only helpful if they lead to improvements. Analyze the data, categorize insights, and share findings with relevant teams to make necessary changes and keep processes aligned with customer or staff expectations.

Act in real time: Responding quickly to feedback can prevent customer or staff churn and build loyalty. Set up systems that notify teams of negative feedback so issues can be addressed immediately.

Constantly iterate: Survey development is an ongoing process. Regularly evaluate how to improve response rates, reduce fatigue, and adjust questions to ensure the survey evolves with changing customer needs and expectations.

Final Thoughts

A well-executed multilingual survey can provide valuable insights that help your organization improve products and services, support diverse workforces, and increase customer satisfaction. By following best practices and customizing your surveys to address cultural nuances, you can enhance the user experience and develop effective, user-friendly multilingual surveys that attain your desired results.