The holiday rush is here! People are running to get gifts from their favorite brands online and in-store.
According to the National Retail Federation, more than 174 million Americans shopped between Cyber Monday and Black Friday in 2018. For reference, this count is almost 10 million higher than what we saw in 2016. In 2019, Salesforce forecasts a “sustained and solid U.S. digital revenue growth this holiday season at 13% year over year (YoY) — and total sales of $136B — from November 1 to December 31.”
With this steady growth and increase in demand, contact centers are a vital partner to support the holiday rush.
Holidays mean a spike in requests and orders for your business.
Customer activities and interactions with brands during the holiday season significantly impact contact centers.
- Zendesk data shows that ticket volume for the holiday shopping season at retail stores increases by 42%.
- According to Marchex, on Cyber Monday, retailers observed a 16% hike in inbound calls.
- With the increasing holiday demand every year, the call volume increased by 107% and 110% on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, respectively (source).
Contact centers provide support for your business and manage the increase in call volume. Customers always expect top of the line customer service from their favorite brands. It is essential to have well-experienced agents with holiday relevant training and preparation.
Increased demand means short tempers and a need for support.
Shoppers tend to have less patience during the holiday season, and higher expectations since they are spending more than their regular habits. It is already clear that demands are going to rise during this holiday season. At the same time, customers are looking for immediate solutions to all of their questions and requests. A caller will choose another competitor before sitting on the line longer with your company.
In these situations, it can be helpful to scale your business with the support of a contact center. You don’t have to hire new staff for the season to meet requirements. Contact centers train all existing and newly hired agents so that every employee can provide the most reliable services to the consumers. Centers incentivize employees to work over the holiday and be prepared. Reduce your stress and feel confident that you have support for the holiday rush.
Sometimes technology can help.
Having more people in the call center doesn’t always mean readiness to handle holiday workloads. Balancing headcount with technology helps to enhance customer service experience during the holidays. Although only 58% of retailers invest in technology to help manage holiday spikes, this shift will begin to change how businesses interact with consumers during the holidays. Technology can help your teams in a variety of ways:
- Provide faster and better training to the seasonal agents.
- Enhance the quality of omnichannel support with enhanced customer interactions.
- Enabling retailers to handle traffic from different countries, without restricting services to small geographical regions.
- Maintain proper records and handle customer data for future needs.
Whether engaging the newest technologies or relying on live agent support, one thing is for sure: Contact Centers can help you increase ROI during the holidays, and have happier customers.
