The shopping season is about to arrive, and now is the time to be planning. According to Salesforce, “Cyber Week digital traffic is still expected to grow by 28 percent year-over-year (in 2020) — a trend accelerated by nearly ubiquitous access from mobile phones and the fact that fewer people will be rushing to stores on Black Friday.”
One of the best ways to profit off the holiday season is to offer sales and promotions during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Start preparing a reliable system now! Businesses that don’t pre-plan their strategy are more likely to fail during seasonal rushes and overflow.
Are you unsure where to begin planning for the increase in orders, support needs, and employee absences during the holiday season?
Here are seven ways you can prepare your business for Black Friday and Cyber Monday:
1. Plan your sales offers in advance:
We’ll reiterate this once more; you need to plan your sales with promotions that educate consumers on deals and drive traffic to your offer! To create an agreement that drives revenue, business owners need to understand audience interests and pain points/problems. If it is during the holiday season, why do your customers need your services or solutions during this specific time? From there, you can set discounts on relevant products, utilize advertising, and increase sales.
2. Start promoting your offers through multiple channels:
Once you have decided on the promotion, it is time to build buzz and awareness about your offers! Grab your audience’s attention through email marketing campaigns, social media, and in-app/in-portal messages. Also, consider using digital and traditional marketing during this crucial time.
Pro Tip: instead of making your destination a landing page, have you ever considered a 1-800 number?
An automated phone line creates an opportunity for your customer to educate themselves, request more information, or purchase now! Contact us to learn more.
3. Ramp up your customer service team:
Before you start paying to promote your seasonal promotion, make sure to prepare your customer service team. Do you utilize a contact center with your business outsourcing plan? If so, it’s essential to communicate upcoming holiday promotions and offers with this team. If the customer service team isn’t an outsourced partner, make sure to inform your internal team of the promotions and be prepared to answer the particular offer questions. Overall, your team needs to be ready to answer questions and support. Never miss an opportunity, and your customer’s experience is outstanding.
As the holiday season begins, people are more likely to ask questions about products and prices before purchasing.
Your contact center agents must be well educated and trained to handle all queries. Head to our blog to read our tips about managing high call volumes!
4. Plan for customer support after business hours:
Throughout the holiday season, your business will most likely receive requests after working hours. Don’t let this untimely communication become a missed opportunity. By partnering with an experienced contact center partner, you can provide excellent customer service 24-7-365. Contact us to learn more about this service!
5. Double-check your capacity before the holiday rush begins:
Once you have prepared your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, hours, and support needs and communicated them with your customer service team, it is essential to shift your focus to your customer’s experience. You want to ensure that customers receive 100% uptime. If you have outsourced experts or an in-house IT team, it is essential to confirm that they have made the necessary preparations for the holiday traffic uptick.
6. Prepare and test your platforms for increased traffic:
Most people prefer to place an order for a product on the go with a mobile app’s help. If your business is not ready to support mobile, you may lose leads every day. It is crucial to prepare and test your websites and apps to make sure you can keep mobile purchasing!
7. Set up an omnichannel strategy:
Your customers need seamless services, and to achieve this target, you need to follow an omnichannel strategy. Understand that your customers will come to you on all platforms to ask questions; this includes Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messenger, Website, Email, and Phone Lines. It is essential to prepare your support team for every channel and respond according to the channel. Also, understanding how to escalate concerns is vital.
summary:
For a lot of business, the holiday season provides an essential rush, and businesses can not afford to miss opportunities. Planning and communication are critical to finding success during a rush season. Utilize special offers and promotions to incentivize additional business. Contact center support, scripts, and automated phone lines can help manage your customer experience and ensure your company exits the 2020 holiday season with wins.
