How to Prepare Your Customer Service for Christmas
Thursday 21st November 2024
by Beth Perrin
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With just over a month to go until the big day, the Christmas countdown is officially on! As December approaches, customers are flocking to their favourite stores, both online and offline, to buy gifts, food and decor - and are also visiting restaurants for family get-togethers and booking last-minute hotel rooms for the holidays. In fact, according to the IPA’s annual Christmas-focused survey of 2,000 UK adults, carried out by Opinium, 55% of UK adults are expected to spend most of their Christmas 2024 budget on gifts for others, followed by food and drink (18%), travel (6%), gifts for themselves (4%), socialising (4%) and decorations (2%).
The influx of consumer activity at this key time of year means it’s crucial for brands to level up their customer service and make sure they’re prepared to handle a higher volume of support requests than usual. Whether your business belongs to the eCommerce industry, hospitality industry or another sector, check out our top tips and recommendations below to elevate your standard of customer care throughout the festive season.
Extend Your Customer Service Hours
According to Forbes, customer support requests increase by 5-10 times as the holiday season gets closer. So, depending on the size and nature of your business, you may need to adjust your customer service hours during the festive period if you currently only operate from 9-5. This could involve some extra support at the weekends, or an around-the-clock strategy that covers everything from early mornings to late evenings. Make sure these times are outlined clearly on your website and/or social media pages, so customers know when they can contact you and therefore how long they should expect to wait for a response.
As well as displaying these times in your social media bio, you could also create a pinned post so it’s the first thing people see when they visit your page. Here’s how to pin a post on the following platforms:
• X
52% of customers expect a response from a company within an hour and 53% will abandon a purchase completely if they don’t receive a speedy reply, so if you aren’t answering shoppers’ enquiries fast enough, you could be increasing the chance of cart abandonments and may lose customers to competitors.
Extra Support on Social Media
According to Convince & Convert, social media traffic rises by a massive 73% during the Christmas period, which means you’ll need all hands on deck to handle your incoming comments and messages across Facebook, Instagram and more.
Here at 3sixfive we offer an out-of-hours Community Management service that even includes Christmas Day, so if you’re happy to handle your responses during your standard office hours but require some additional assistance outside of these times, we’ve got you covered. We’ll adopt your brand’s tone of voice to guarantee consistency with the rest of your communications, and will arrange daily handovers to ensure that the transition between your hours and ours is 100% seamless.
Not only do we specialise in social media customer service, we also know how to handle online crises calmly and pragmatically, conduct social listening to identify any untagged mentions of your brand, and carry out proactive engagement to raise brand awareness and make the most of trending moments.
Use a Dedicated Customer Service Account
If your incoming message volume is particularly high, it may be a good idea to open a secondary social media account solely for customer service purposes. These types of accounts are commonly seen on X, and can help you keep enquiries and complaints separate from other comments relating to your social media content, general festive chit-chat and broader conversations about your brand.
Don't forget to mention your customer service account in the bio of your main profile so customers know where to go to receive assistance, and always double check that you’re using the right account when responding.
FAQs and Self-Service
It goes without saying that you should be there to speak to your customers whenever they need you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also offer some self-service options to help cover simple requests and help shoppers get the answers they need 24/7. In fact, 91% of consumers say they will use a knowledge base if one is available and is suited to their needs, and 77% say they view brands more positively if they provide some form of self-service.
This could involve adding an FAQ section to your website, or creating a pinned post on your social media pages outlining some common enquiries and solutions, such as delivery options and last order dates for Christmas. For restaurants and other hospitality brands, you could pin your festive menu so it’s the first thing people see when they visit your page.
Live Chat for the Holiday Season
If you don’t currently have a Live Chat widget on your brand’s website, the holiday season could be an ideal time to implement one (and if you do already have one, you can expect to receive around 10% more chat requests than usual at this time of year).
Live Chat facilitates direct, speedy communication with your customers when they need it most, and means you can give them the answers they need to complete a purchase there and then. You can also suggest product bundles and give gift suggestions to shoppers while they’re browsing your website, encourage sales with exclusive promo codes and resolve checkout issues such as payment problems.
It may seem tempting to set up an automated chatbot to send all of your responses for you, but we would highly recommend steering clear of this option. Bots are notorious for misreading and misinterpreting customers’ messages, plus they can’t offer true personalisation and will put up barriers between you and your customers - so it's much better to provide real, human responses instead of using AI. We can do this for you, thanks to our comprehensive Live Chat service.
Personalised Customer Service
76% of customers are more likely to buy from companies that provide personalisation, so tailoring your service to the individual needs of each user should be a key consideration for your business this Christmas. Live Chat is a great place to offer this, as it enables you to suggest items that directly suit customers’ preferences and give them exclusive vouchers or discount codes while they’re right there on your website.
Here are some ways to offer a personalised experience:
• Use customers’ names when greeting them
• Read through your previous messaging history with customers before responding to prevent them from having to repeat information they’ve already shared
• Don’t copy and paste the same response to multiple customers (especially in public comments on social media where other users can see everything that’s being said), as this implies a lack of care
• Sign off your messages with your name or initials if this suits your brand’s tone of voice
Respond to Reviews
It’s important to remember that the customer journey doesn’t end at the checkout or when guests leave your establishment - the feedback they leave after their experience with your brand should be taken into consideration too. The number of customer reviews left on platforms like Google, Tripadvisor and Facebook increases by 35% from early November to early January, making Christmas an essential time to focus on Review Management.
Responding to your incoming reviews not only gives you a chance to repair damaged relationships with unhappy customers and offer solutions to any problems that may have occurred, but also allows you to thank those who are satisfied and encourage them to make repeat purchases. 97% of people who read online reviews say they also read companies’ responses, so replying promptly and appropriately can really have an impact on how your business is perceived and show that you care about what your customers have to say.
Summary
Christmas is a busy time and it may seem overwhelming for your customer service team, but with some careful preparation, additional support from an external agency and a well-planned social media strategy, there’s no reason why your brand can’t excel and build fantastic customer relationships this festive season! We’re here 365 days a year to assist your business online, so if you’d like to partner with us next year, contact us today to discuss your goals.
