Our Rate Card for Transcription in UK [12 Transcription Cost Factors]
How Much Do Transcription Services Cost?
There’s no fixed transcription cost. How you’re charged per hour or per minute in the UK will depend on many factors. That’s why it’s better to keep an eye on factors that determine Rate Card for Transcription rates per hour or minute in the UK or anywhere else.
For example, a single-stage transcription, that’s transcribing directly into the target language, is more cost-effective compared to double-stage transcription, which involves a native-speaking transcriber producing the transcript in the source language and then translating the same into the target language.
Transcription Rate Structure
Each agency has its own transcription rate structure, but the factors that determine it are almost the same. With those factors in mind, you could easily determine which service provider fits your budget and offers the best transcription rates.
Is Outsourcing Transcription Worth the Bill?
I’m sure you already know it for the fact that transcribing an audio file into a text document or transcript is a time-consuming and labour-intensive process. You literally pour blood, sweat and money into manually converting audio to text. Yet, doing it yourselves doesn’t guarantee you a quality outcome even after such efforts.
On the other hand, if you outsourced transcription projects to Transcribe Lingo, which is a professional transcription agency, you save time, effort and money. A transcription agency assigns certified transcriptionists to your project and delivers high-quality and accurate transcripts with efficiency and a quick turnaround time.
What is a Prerequisite for Accurate Audio Transcription?
For transcription to be accurate, it’s a prerequisite that the one who’s transcribing an audio or video file is adept in the subject matter, target culture and language, and is proficient enough to pick any accent and pronunciation in the target language. This is what you get at Transcribe Lingo in Rate Card for Transcription!
Order Transcription from Transcribe Lingo
Want to take the burden off your team? Leverage the help of our qualified transcribers by outsourcing your transcription project to us today! With us as your transcription partner, you save time and money and free your staff to do more productive work for your business by paying us a nominal fee.
What are “Transcription Rates Per Audio Minute?”
“Transcription rates per minute” means a client is charged for the length of an audio or video file in minutes, not by the time it took a transcriptionist to transcribe a recording.
What are “Rate Card for Transcription”
“Transcription rates per hour” means a client is charged per hour of a transcriptionist’s work. However, it doesn’t mean transcribing a full audio hour would take a transcriber one hour of work. That just isn’t possible, as it usually takes 4-10 hours to transcribe an audio hour.
12 Transcription Cost Factors You Should Know
Many factors determine the final cost of transcription services. From speed to quality, language to the complexity of the subject matter, there are more factors than meet the eye when determining transcription rates per hour in the UK!
That’s why in order to calculate the transcription costs, it’s important to dive deeper first of all into transcription cost factors. Let’s take the transcription cost factors one by one so that it’s easier for you time figure out rates next time you need it.
Audio Quality
The biggest cost factor in transcription is the audio quality, and what determines the audio quality is the amount of background noise, distortion, and unclear speech in the recorded audio. Low quality means you pay more to the transcriptionist because it’s really difficult to transcribe unclear speech.
Number of Speakers
With the increase in the number of speakers the workload increases exponentially for transcribers, and so do the transcription rates.
Accent
Different speakers have different accents, which aren’t always easy to pick even for experienced transcriptionists. This, as is obvious, slows the process, as transcribers have to work harder to try to understand the accented speech.
Special Formatting & Timestamps
Sometimes, transcription clients require special formatting for transcripts and timestamps. That’s to say, transcribers have extra work to do, and consequently, transcription costs go up and Rate Card for Transcription comes in.
Urgent Transcription
When short on time, clients demand urgent delivery of transcripts, which puts transcribers under tremendous pressure and have to work overtime to finish transcribing the recording within the deadline. Consequently, urgent transcriptions cost more.
Industry-Specific Terminology
Jargon also is a major factor in determining transcription pricing. Each industry comes with its own specific terminology and phraseology, which is what we call jargon. Likewise, there’s medical jargon, legal jargon, business jargon, and the same with other industries. Jargon requires specialist transcriptionists with background knowledge in the niche industry. That’s why the prices vary from one industry to another. Put simply, there’s one cost for medical transcription services and quite another for legal transcription services, and similarly for others.
Languages
An important transcription cost factor is the language itself. If it’s English-to-English transcription the costs are slightly lower compared to when the original recording is in French and the client needs it transcribed into English. And as is the case, transcription cost for prominent languages like French, Portuguese, and Korean is comparatively lower than the costs for lesser-known languages.
Background Noise
Background noises cause distortion, which makes it harder to identify the speaker and understand the speech. And converting an audio recording with background noise into a good transcript is an uphill task even for seasoned transcribers. And the inconvenience caused usually translates into higher transcription rates.
Turnaround Time
Prices vary based on turnaround times; it’s higher for a 24-hour turnaround time and lower for, say, a 4-10 day turnaround time. Longer deadlines mean lower transcription costs. This is because a lower turnaround time such as 24 hours, is labour intensive task, and an agency has to devote more than one transcriber to work on the project, as well as edit and proofread the outcome.
Technical Content
Transcribing technical content is a complex process. For such projects, transcriptionists are required to possess the requisite technical expertise and familiarity with the subject matter. For example, medical transcriptions require transcribers to be adept in medical terminology, and on top of that, need an astute medical professional to proofread and edit the transcribers’ work before sending it over to the client. Therefore, it’s obvious enough that prices will be higher when transcribing technical content.
Automatic Transcription (AI)
Leveraging speech-to-text technology to transcribe audio and video recordings is less expensive compared to human transcription, but you will only get around 80% accuracy and it’s less accurate.
Human Transcription
Human transcriptions cost more money and require more time, but the 99% accuracy makes it totally worth the time and money. Also, human transcription is more secure compared to machine or automated transcription, which is prone to data leaks.
Bespoke Transcription Pricing
You don’t have to get bogged down by the factors that go into determining the transcription costs. Just request a bespoke quote from our experts, and get the best transcription rates, tailored for your project and turnaround time. On transcribing more minutes with us, we offer special discounts to our loyal clients.
