When it comes to choosing a transcription service provider, you may already know how important it is to select a provider which can give you an accurate, industry-specific service, especially if you are involved in industries such as the medical or pharmaceutical industry, the academic sector, the IT sector, and the like. You may also know that there are various transcription styles from which to choose, including verbatim, intelligent verbatim, and true verbatim. But there are other factors which can also influence your choice in transcription services. Below is a list of lesser-known factors that can make an impact on the transcription service you choose.
The difficulty of your Recording
As mentioned, if you are in a particular industry with various technical terms, such as the medical industry or academia, then it would make complete sense to opt for transcription services which can provide you with transcription expertise specific to your industry – in other words, with transcribers who are familiar with your industry’s terminology.
But aside from this, you also have to think about other factors that can contribute to the difficulty of your recording, such as multiple speakers. If your recording has multiple speakers, transcribing it can be a bit more difficult because the transcriber has to listen to more than a few voices and identify who is speaking. This involves more effort and proficiency, so it’s best to choose a transcription service which has more experience and is more familiar with multiple-speaker recordings.
The same is true if your recording has different accents, language nuances, and so on – it’s best to opt for transcription services which have a team of transcribers familiar with different accents and can also easily understand and decipher the nuances of the language.
Editing Requirements
Many transcription service providers offer editing services for their clients, and this can already be said to be a given. But be careful in this and know what you should expect, as an editing service involves not just checking for spelling mistakes or errors – it also involves checking for mistakes or errors in grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and even slang words and fillers. If you require an editing service, let the transcription provider know about this from the beginning so you can make other arrangements if they can’t provide you with proper and complete editing.
A Good Format
Before the transcription service begins to transcribe your recording, let them know the format you require and expect. You wouldn’t want to end up with a single long paragraph without any break whatsoever, would you? Let the service know what you expect when it comes to formatting, whether you need the text divided into short and easy to read paragraphs, headings and subheadings, italicised text, and more.
