Duisburg, September 23, 2014 – The approach of the Christmas shopping season is marked every year by the increase in customer service inquiries. Outstanding customer service during this peak period is crucial to retaining customers and increasing sales. We have put together some last-minute tips to help retailers provide exceptional customer experiences during the busiest time of the year.

  1. Make accurate forecasts
    Accurate forecasts are crucial to successfully managing demand spikes during the peak season. Retailers should carefully plan all marketing and sales campaigns and the calculated sales volumes. When new products are introduced, historical data and AI-based algorithms can help predict sales trends and optimize the fulfillment strategy.
  2. Expand your support team
    Retailers should ensure that their customer service is adequately staffed to handle the increased volume of inquiries during the busiest time of the year. It is important to recruit and train additional employees in advance so that they can provide efficient and competent responses. Colleagues from other departments can also be integrated into the customer service team on a temporary basis to help out during this busy time.
  3. Plan for overcapacity
    To ensure that customer service works well during peak periods, retailers should provide additional support and consider hiring an external call center on a temporary basis, for example. Some of these providers also offer support in the evenings and on weekends, thus extending the retailer’s contact hours and reducing the pressure on internal teams. In addition, certain providers can take over a specific contact channel, such as phone, email, or chat, so that the in-house team can focus on the other channels.
  4. Offer multichannel support
    Every customer has different preferences for contacting a retailer. Online stores should therefore offer a variety of communication channels, including email, phone, live chat, social media, and messaging apps like WhatsApp.
  5. Invest in self-service
    Many customers prefer to find their answers/solutions themselves rather than contacting customer service. By offering them this option, for example with a self-service portal containing FAQs, retailers can improve the customer experience and take the pressure off the customer service team.
  6. Use AI and automation for FAQs
    AI-powered chatbots and automated email responses are efficient ways to handle frequently asked questions. These technologies not only provide fast and accurate answers, but also continuously improve through learning and adaptation. This does not make it completely impersonal. Hybrid AI bots combine the advantages of automation with human control and seamlessly hand over complex or sensitive requests to a human agent. By automating such routine requests, the customer care team is relieved and can concentrate on more demanding tasks.
  7. Proactively communicate
    With the help of data analysis, you can anticipate customer needs and proactively contact customers before problems arise. For example, keeping customers informed of possible delays or other issues helps build trust and reduces the number of incoming inquiries.
  8. Monitor response times
    Retailers should regularly monitor the response times of their customer care team and work on targeted improvements. For example, introducing shift systems or outsourcing can help to effectively manage peak loads. During busy periods, it may also be useful to shorten telephone hours and ensure that emails are processed early in the morning to avoid duplicate customer requests (e.g. if a customer calls after sending an email request before your team has been able to process the email).
  9. Monitor customer feedback
    Customer feedback, complaints and questions are relevant tools for finding out where content on the website can be improved or which products should be better listed. This will improve the customer experience and reduce the number of calls. Tools such as virtual fitting rooms can also play an important role here.

Jeroen Leenders, co-founder of Salesupply, is certain: “These approaches enable online retailers to provide exceptional customer service even during the busiest times of the year. At Salesupply, we believe that combining human expertise with advanced technology is the key to outstanding customer service.”

Jonathon Jay Huggett

Jonathon Huggett