Interviews for Strategic Translations for Utilities Company
An American utilities company needed to learn about their Spanish-speaking customers relationship with the business in order to identify high-impact translation investment opportunities. I conducted in-person and remote interviews in Spanish while enabling English-speaking clients to follow sessions in real time through on-site live translators.
I worked as Project Manager and Lead UX Researcher in a team of 3. I designed and planned the study, moderated interviews, coordinated the live translation logistics, and worked collaboratively on strategic recommendations for the client.
Outcomes
The client was able to determine where to invest in translations for their Spanish-speaking clients.
Findings revealed cultural behaviors, such as lack of email usage, limited access to the company’s website, and reliance on word of mouth as their main information source.
Users
Spanish-speaking clients living in the US, of varying ages and genders.
The majority of participants had limited English knowledge and understanding.
Methodology
In-persona and remote interviews were conducted with real clients.
Card sorting in order to assess participants’ content preferences and tasks priorities.
Mod guides were created in English for the client and then translated to Spanish for participants.
The client and stakeholders were able to follow the sessions in real time through the support of on-site live translators. The set up included live video feed from the session and audio feed from the translators.
Challenges
To ease the complex translation set up with remote participants, a thorough yet simple guide was sent to participants by email. However, most participants did not use email and had limited computer proficency, as they mostly preferred the use of mobile apps.
Most participants were unfamiliar with the company’s online channels and had security concerns regarding online payments.
Deliverables
Research results with actionable recommendations were included in a final report.
Recommended plan of action was segmented by channel, with a priorization for translating efforts.