Multilingual customer service without speaking their language

Welcoming tourists when the shop is closed

Foreign visitors do not come by during office hours. They stroll in the evening, at weekends, on holiday, often when you are closed. They look at a house listing in the window, a display kitchen, a flat to rent. If they cannot understand the details and find nobody, they walk on.

Think of the situations in your trade. The Dutch or Belgian buyer looking for a second home who spots a house in the window on a Saturday evening. The traveller who arrives late and cannot find the bin store. The Swiss customer who wants to know whether a display kitchen can be delivered to them. Each has a precise question, and the answer is often already in your pages.

Even when you are open, the problem exists. Your team may speak some French, but not always German, Italian or Portuguese. And a hesitant customer rarely dares ask a question in a language they barely speak.

The assistant answers in the language of the visitor's phone

The visitor scans the QR code with their phone. No app to install, no account to create. The assistant answers in the language of their phone: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and others. If they speak or write in their own language, the conversation carries on in that language.

On your side, you write your pages in English, as usual. One set of pages is enough for every visitor.

The assistant answers only with what you have given it. A question outside your pages does not get a made-up answer: it is passed on to you.

You receive the request in English

When the visitor wants to go further, a viewing, an appointment, a quote, they leave their name and phone number or email. You receive the request in English, with the rest of the requests, each morning.

For a property management company, a guest's real emergency, such as a door that will not open, reaches you straight away instead of waiting until the next day.

After that, you are the one who contacts the customer. The assistant takes the request, it does not run the conversation for you.

What a foreign visitor needs to read in your pages

A local understands "2 bed, leasehold, council tax band C". A visitor from Rotterdam may not. The assistant translates the answer, but it can only explain what is on the page. A few additions make a big difference for passing customers.

• Floor area in square metres and the number of bedrooms, not just a shorthand
• What the price includes: service charge, fees, fitting, delivery
• Your opening hours, and how to reach you if they come back during the week
• Access: parking, public transport, floor, lift
• For a rental: self check-in, wifi, bins, check-out time

Answering in French, Spanish or German: the limits

The assistant does not replace a real conversation. It gives the information from your pages, in the visitor's language, and stops there. It does not negotiate a price, does not translate your contracts and does not give a personal opinion on the neighbourhood.

For a major purchase, a property or a made-to-measure kitchen, the foreign customer will need to talk to you. Kiosky lets them leave you their details that same evening, instead of leaving with nothing.

Which stand for passing trade

A poster with the QR code, stuck on the window or placed in the property, is enough to start. On a tourist street where people pass in the evening, a lit tablet catches the eye better: the possible stands are set out on the hardware page. The licence costs €1,190 excl. VAT a year per window.

If you manage several properties or several windows, each page gets its own QR code. The visitor lands straight on the right flat or the right listing, without searching.