Customer Service

How digital customer service takes the stress out of the post-holiday surge

While the holiday shopping season is bound to bring in sales, the post-holiday period is your digital customer service team’s time to shine.

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January 21, 2022 | Ramona Maher

It's undeniable the holiday season is a pivotal time for any brand, big or small. The busiest time of the year means a spike in customers, heightened sales, and vast opportunity for brand exposure. But what many retail companies don't anticipate is the post-holiday surge, which brings an array of return requests, order changes, and other complicated, timely customer service inquiries.

While the holiday shopping season is bound to bring in sales, the post-holiday period is your digital customer service team's time to shine. Now is your opportunity to prepare your team for an influx of shoppers, transactions, and customer support requests before it's too late.

Embrace ever-changing consumer preferences

The past year and a half has shifted consumer buying preferences for good, putting pressure on retailers to quickly keep up with a robust digital customer service strategy. E-commerce has been the top driver of sales for several holiday seasons prior and will continue to grow by 21.6%, meaning that post-holiday preferences will be no different. However, post-2020 consumers are craving even more digital experiences. In fact, we experienced five years of digital transformation in just eight weeks last year, and consumers are relying even more heavily on access to online services.

In particular, social commerce will be a key driver for retail brands moving forward. Companies expect more in-app transactions via social media platforms or branded applications. With customers engaging with digital in so many ways, a comprehensive digital customer service strategy has never been more important. Unlike brick and mortar, customers shopping online or via mobile can't direct questions to an associate standing a few feet away. So, brands must go the extra mile to prepare and equip their customer service and digital contact centers to handle an abundance of unique requests across digital channels.

Now is the time to prepare your plan for the post-holiday season. Not sure where to start? Check out these digital customer service strategies to equip your brand for success.

Anticipate customer needs and reduce inquiry volume with self-service

With an influx of customer service requests and questions coming through, don't leave your shoppers hanging. Reduce volume for your customer service agents and encourage consumers to answer their questions independently. Rather than putting them on hold, redirect conversations to self-service channels. 81% of customers will attempt self-service first before directing their questions to an agent. Not only are self-service solutions cost-effective for your brand, they result in higher customer satisfaction.

For instance, brand-owned communities are branded, interactive sites that provide a space for shoppers to get answers to very specific questions from other shoppers, taking the burden off of digital customer care agents. This is an excellent way for retailers to deflect call volumes and facilitate solid brand communication. Not to mention, 75% of consumers find value from interacting with other customers in a brand's online community. To take your digital customer service to the next level, you can add a bot to your community to increase efficiency and drive sales. For instance, research has shown that digital community bots mitigate community bounce rates (which are typically around 40%) and prevent data pollution by answering overly asked redundant questions.

Community bots are designed to streamline customer experience in your community, derive insightful data, and even sell products. With the busiest shopping season just around the corner, self-service platforms can enable agile changes to automation and customer service strategies.

Leverage AI to streamline conversations and prioritize requests

Brands should also invest in AI to simplify responses and mitigate high call volumes, which is especially valuable during the volume spikes and labor shortages that contact centers typically see after the holidays.

As touched on earlier, AI chatbots allow agents to spend less time answering the same common questions and more time helping customers with unique inquiries. If an issue does require an agent to step in, AI chatbots can still provide value by working as agent assistants.

For example, AI chatbots can save agent time by collecting information like order numbers or addresses so that customer service agents have context when they begin their interaction with the customer. Additionally, AI can be used to identify and prioritize urgent inquiries such as a time-sensitive matter or an upset and frustrated customer. Within interactions, AI can also provide agents suggested responses based on customer sentiment.

Anticipate delays and practice transparency

While service center delays are inevitable during busy seasons, lengthy wait times will put a damper on customer satisfaction and loyalty. While no one likes to wait, customers are less frustrated when the wait time is clearly conveyed. For instance, welcome bots are a terrific way to not only quickly greet customers but also set expectations upfront and categorize customer needs during volume spikes.

Surprise and delight the eager consumer by accompanying long hold times with alternative options. Customers with burning questions might be entirely unaware of other channels, like SMS, that could fulfill their request in a fraction of the time. This can also improve customer retention and ultimately increase revenue by redirecting questions to more efficient channels.

Set your brand up for success with cutting edge digital customer service

Maintain invaluable buyer loyalty by making digital customer service your top priority. With digital continuing to drive the retail industry, the way your brand handles customer care will determine success this year. By implementing these strategies now, your brand is sure to thrive during the post-holiday season and beyond.

Ramona Maher is change management director at Khoros