How to Choose the Best Transcription Service
Since there are a multitude of general transcription services out in the market today, it’s difficult to choose one with the perfect attributes specific to your needs: are you looking to transcribe videos for your production? Are you a market researcher who needs transcripts of in-depth interviews and focus groups for your study? Or maybe you just want to broaden the audience of your podcast using transcriptions?
If you answered yes to one of these questions, here are some aspects you should consider in order to choose the best general transcription service to outsource to:
1. Level of Accuracy. While it’s difficult to predict the level of transcript accuracy since it is not always true to claims of some general transcription services, the most effective way to get an idea of the quality is when a colleague have recommended or used a service before you. If you don’t have that option, you could always ask a provider for a free trial and see if the company will deliver up to your standards. Determining the accuracy of a transcription service is especially important for acquiring market research transcriptions since researchers need reliable data to capture insight that can make or break a company's marketing efforts.
2. Turnaround time. Meeting deadlines can be the most important thing for most, so it is only important that you look for general transcriptions that can keep up with your toxic deadlines whether or not you are requesting for a long file. You’ll recognize if a general transcription company cares and prioritizes your deadlines if they set realistic expectations for bulk requests. Choose the one that has paramount experiences in delivering timely scalable projects without errors or inefficiencies. For urgent cases, it’s very helpful if you have a go-to provider that accommodates RUSH turnarounds and can generate high quality transcripts without tightly limiting the length of rush files.
3. Audio Formats. It’s great if a transcribing company supports a variety of audio formats, as this will save you time finding ways to convert media files. Audio formats usually depends on the type of your project. If you are conducting market research and are recording interviews or focus groups, you should be able to request for transcripts without the hassle of editing or converting raw videos to audio files. Or, you could look for general transcription services that can do file conversions for you, especially hard copy to digital media.
4. Features. Of course, the uploading process should be easy. You should be able to upload multiple recordings at once, and the website should support large files - preferably more than 1 gigabyte per recording. Customizable transcripts are also handy to a multitude of projects - for example, the transcription service should know how to input timestamps or timecodes in the transcript that can serve as markers for analysis. Just as well, make sure that you choose a transcribing company that can offer you the luxury of providing them discussion guides and unique templates to comply to. And, the finished transcripts should be delivered to you conveniently - email being the most convenient way, as this allows you to easily share it with your colleagues and project partners.
5. Transcription Pricing. We know that pricing is the “make it or break it” for you customers. It does not matter how much you think you would like a transcription service if it’s out of your budget, right? And it’s even worse if they charge you with hidden fees out of nowhere. You should only pay for what you need (i.e. pay-as-you-go). It is helpful if you have them discuss the transcription pricing in detail and clear things out about the possible upcharges. Obviously, the transcription rates should be affordable and within your budget - whether you’re in corporate or still a student. If you’ve found dirt cheap transcription services, investigate why - whether they’re using human or automated transcriptions - as this greatly affects the quality of the transcripts.
6. Security and Confidentiality. Businesses have meetings, conference calls, earnings calls and many more, transcribed in a regular basis. Companies request for market research transcriptions often too, concerning products under development and not out in the market yet. Not to mention film production transcriptions and the like - all of which are very important to be kept under the blankets. Make it a habit to scrutinize companies’ security and confidentiality processes to avoid hacks and information leakage. A great general transcription service goes the extra mile in keeping sensitive information secured. Familiarize yourself with the culture of confidentiality of the provider you’re eyeing for. Make sure that safeguarding your confidentiality is their top priority.
7. Personalized Customer Service. One of the causes of customer churn is awful customer service. Getting stuck in a phone tree then having to explain yourself to different customer associates every time you call is very frustrating. It’s very understandable that you want to be treated well and receive a good amount of attention as you’re paying for the services. Having a personalized customer service - an agent who understands and consistently attends to your needs is ideal.
With TranscriptionWing, be assured that your files are handled with utmost security, deadlines met accordingly, and files turned in at its finest quality. Call us now at +1-203-413-2414 to get started with your transcriptions.
