Five ways to ensure smooth CX this holiday season

It feels like 2024 began just a couple of weeks ago, but here we are, in the first week of October! We're back to the holiday season, that time of the year when customers finally open their pocketbooks to make those purchases they've been postponing, and businesses try to attract them by offering great discounts and deals.

Needless to say, the next three months are going to be hectic for employees and teams, both customer-facing and internal—especially if you're an ecommerce business. So how can you ensure that neither customer experience nor employee experience takes a hit this holiday season?

Here are five things you should do.

Look at past trends and plan accordingly

If there's one thing we can say with certainty about the holiday season, it's that there will be a considerable spike in the number of customers. People who have been saving up to buy a particular item, those who impulse buy just after seeing a worthy deal, last-minute gift shoppers—you're going to see them all. This variety among customers will bring variety among their questions, requests, and complaints. The first thing you need to do is have enough personnel to handle these interactions.

Start by analyzing trends from the past two or three years to get an idea of how many staff members you'll need across business functions. Also look at a channel-wise and region-wise split of your data to identify which channels and locations brought in the largest number of customers. With this information, you'll be able to allocate your staff and resources and serve all channels and regions fairly.

Remove the bottlenecks in your supply chain

This is the next preparatory work you need to do. The supply chain is the lifeline of ecommerce companies—more so during the holiday season. Look at recent customer complaints regarding deliveries to identify any bottlenecks hampering your supply chain and delivery experience. Maybe you fixed them using ad hoc solutions when they were reported, but you absolutely need to fix them permanently to avoid facing them repeatedly in the holiday season.

Work with both your internal logistics teams and external partners to identify and fix these supply chain issues. Fine-tune your processes and tools so that your support agents can easily track the status of customers' orders. Only then can they provide reassurance and retain your customers' trust in your business or brand.

Check your communication and the technology powering it

Be it the marketing or order status side of things, what you communicate to your customers and how often you do makes a big difference in CX. Double-check all the offers and details so you don't leave any room for confusion or speculation. What a deal or offer includes, what's excluded, what extra purchases or accessories might be needed, and what the cancellation/return/refund policy is—these are a few vital pieces of information that your customers must be able to find easily, so ensure transparency in all your messaging.

Similarly, double- and triple-check the conversation flows of your chatbots, personalized messaging in your emails related to order status, and marketing mailers. Sometimes, when you use downloaded templates or reuse mailers from the past, you run the risk of displaying old or incorrect information, including dates, product details, offer details, and so on. Have a review process in place for your marketing collaterals so that there are no mix-ups.

Dedicate a space in your help center for holiday deals

The next area you need to focus on is your help center, a space that aids in the previously mentioned need for transparency in communication. If you don't have a knowledge base yet on your website, create one as soon as possible and publish the frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to your holiday special deals. With this information in hand, your customers will be able to make better decisions, which in turn can directly improve the workload of your support agents.

If you own or deal with multiple brands, you can even have separate sections with relevant information for each. This way, you can educate your customers about the different options they can choose from and make their buying experience more satisfying.

Similarly, consider implementing an AI-powered chatbot to handle basic and frequent customer queries. Make sure to train it with relevant, high-quality data and help content so that your customers get the right answers without going around in circles.

Sustain employee morale

Customer support is a function with high stress levels. The holiday season is very likely to amplify stress and cause burnout for your agents. They're going to meet customers of all types and flavors: those who get angry quickly, those who need extensive hand-holding, those who are full of questions, and those who are just plain unreasonable. In these scenarios, maintaining patience and consistency can be a tough ask for your agents.

First and most importantly, keep a close eye on them and proactively support them when needed. Review their working hours and the number of requests assigned and distribute the workload evenly among your agents. If needed, you can also consider hiring part-time agents or even partially outsourcing the function, depending on your forecast.

Provide your agents with the support they need, and they'll provide the support your customers need—and exceptionally, at that. Once the holiday season ends, you can then look at ways to help them destress and recuperate so that they can come back with renewed vigor.

Now that you know how to ensure CX excellence during the holiday season, what more are you waiting for? Start right away and put these plans into action!