Everyone might have heard about the transcription services getting dominated in this century. Isn’t it?  The Medical transcription services have been widely used by the medical professionals and healthcare providers starting from the earlier days itself. This demand for the medical transcription services paves the way for the medical transcribers to initiate non-medical transcription services too. Non-medical Transcription services can be provided in industries like:

•  News and Media
•  Law Firms
•  Academic Industry
•  Entertainment Industry

No matter the type of industry, medical or non-medical transcription services, there are some factors that determine the transcription costs.

For all transcription services, you will get only for what you pay. Let’s have a look on some of the factors that determine the costs before you pay for a transcription service.

•      Length of an audio file

The length of an audio file is directly proportional to the cost. i.e, if the audio file is long, the transcription will be costlier either. Get a clarification from the transcription service provider about criteria they take for charging an audio file. Whether they charge per page or per minute. Most of the Accurate Transcription Service providers do charge per audio minute. The otherwise may happen if your audio file has lots of blank spaces, so its obvious to charge per page. It might be easier if you edit all those blank spaces

•     Quality of an audio file

It’s a fact that, if the audio file to be transcribed is of high quality, the transcriptionist can document it with less time. Hence, the payment to be given will be less. A poor quality audio file challenges even the best transcription service provider. To attain a better quality audio file:

•   Record audio in a calm place
•   Leverage in quality recorders
•   Clear voice tone

•      Style of transcription

Usually, the transcription services providers will follow a default style of transcription with fixed rates. Any changes to be made in these packages will vary even in prices. But as a client it’s your right to explain all about your requirements and cost based on that.

•     Delivery time

The turn around time determines the cost. i.e., If you want to rush a project as fast as you can within 2 days, even if there is a time of 7 days, you have to spend more. Logic is to complete your project within a day or two requires more number of transcriptionists rather than a single transcriptionist being assigned for a prolonged project. Thus cost will be more for the former one.

•     Editing the document

Always stick on to the basic formats of editing and proofreading if you really consider your project to be more economical. Formatting requests like logos, headers and footers, page line and numbers would increase the rates whereas bigger font sizes, larger margins will cost less.

•      Accent of language

If the audio file has a poor accent and difficult to grasp, the cost will be higher.

•       More research, more cost

If your audio file requires more research on the industry and subject matter, you will have to pay more as research requires more time to be spent. Medical transcription and non-medical transcription, for example, legal transcription require more accurate transcription services, hence detailed research on the audio file should be done and in turn cost will be higher.

So, now you have all these points in your mind before you commit to an assistant. Try to understand your exact requirements and quantify their benefits and cost. It’s not the matter of going for a very cheap price. It’s that you pay exactly for your work to be transcribed.