Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year… Your customers marked these events in their calendars, weeks or even months ago. And now, it’s only a couple of weeks before they go on with their shopping spree of the year. Long wishlists are prepped, holiday shopping is in order. Perhaps, you already have an eye out for one or two things.
And, as the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on consumer behaviors, online shopping has become the better option for the holiday season for many people worldwide. So, while this means a huge advantage to all the e-commerce businesses out there planning their sales efforts, it also means that you need to have the best contact center strategy to address the increase in customer call volume. That is, of course, if you want more than a 107% revenue boost over this holiday season.
So, we planned out the 4 questions you’ll need to ask yourself to make sure that your contact center is ready to address the customers waiting with money burning a hole in their pockets:
- Is your contact center operation scalable (do you have e-commerce holiday staff scalability)?
- How will you provide shipping tracking and manage other customer tickets?
- Are you utilizing shopping season forecasts and trends to prepare for the holiday rush?
- Will you be able to maintain your customer experience levels throughout the peak season?
Is your contact center operation scalable (do you have e-commerce holiday staff scalability)?
On Cyber Monday alone, seasonal call volume increased by 110%! And while this leads many businesses to hire seasonal contact center agents, it also means new hardware and licenses for each new hire. And considering the training they’ll need, maybe you’ll even need to start their employment a month earlier to get your new hires ready for the holiday rush. As you can guess, paying a year-long license fee and covering expensive hardware expenses for temporary employees is not quite beneficial. It also doesn’t make sense to waste lots of time training employees who won’t stick around. Contact center holiday staffing could be quite a pain to operations. That’s where Call Center Studio steps in! We know how unprecedented call centers can be. Thus, we offer one of the most valuable benefits to our customers, scalability! So, as you get to employ peak season employees for e-commerce call center, make sure that you only pay-as-you-go with no annual charges! Plus, with a dashboard that is as simple as it gets, your new employees will be mastering your operations in no time! This means you’ll have the best workforce management ready within days of your call spike!ROI Formula for This Holiday Season
CCS Scalability+CCS Easy Onboarding=The Highest ROI For Your e-Commerce Business
How will you provide shipment tracking and handle other customer tickets?
During the holiday rush, customer tickets show an average increase of 42%. They can be regarding tracking, inventory, returns, and so much more. But, do you really need to waste your agents’ time on basic tasks during this holiday season when you can make the most of your sales efforts instead? We beg to differ! Shipping queries can be easily addressed via IVR systems, while chatbots can help with inventory management and so much more! So, you can help Jane find her shipment and Joe learn if you have a medium-sized t-shirt in stock in the most timely and cost-efficient manner! A win-win for both your agents and customers.Efficiency Formula for This Holiday Season
CCS IVR+CCS Chatbots=Most Efficient Processes For Your e-Commerce Business
Are you utilizing shopping season forecasts and trends to prepare for the holiday rush?
The days where people lined up in front of stores before Black Friday sales are long gone. Today, the new normal is crashed apps/websites and endless call storms with anxious customers waiting to seal the deal for the item they’ve been chasing for months. According to Adobe Analytics data, 2020 was the year online shopping broke a record with 100 million consumers, while in-store shopping saw a drastic drop of 37%. And forecasts show that this year will be no different as 78% of consumers plan to do their Black Friday shopping online. So, here are 3 actionable forecasts and trends for the 2021 holiday peak and tips to leverage them:
Shipping delays are expected in Q4 (DCL Logistics)
What does that mean for you? Expect a huge number of shipment tracking queries from your customers. As mentioned previously, you can utilize Call Center Studio IVR systems or chatbots to provide your customers with self-service processes.Gen Z and millennials account for most of the global consumers (Drapers)
What does that mean for you? As voice-based communication is still the most preferred channel, younger generations can opt for social media and WhatsApp as their communication platform. So, you should utilize multichannel customer service to become more accessible to your customers and make the most of your customer interaction. It will also help free your call queues while you serve your customers with less wait time.Customers are more prone to acting on holiday season deals (National Retail Federation)
What does that mean for you? Get those outbound practices rolling! You can send out emails or, even better, agentless campaigns over the phone! All you need to do is utilize Call Center Studio Dialers to expand your customer reach. So, you’ll be able to notify all of your customers about your Black Friday or Thanksgiving deals without wasting a minute of your agents!Leveraging Formula for This Holiday Season
CCS Blogs+CCS Consultancy=Gaining Leverage For Your e-Commerce Business
Will you be able to maintain your customer experience levels throughout the peak season?
Your holiday deals can be one of the most efficient ways to gain new customers. In fact, according to Bluecore, 59% of a brand’s customers were first-time buyers on Black Friday 2020. And, if you want to turn them into your regulars, you have to make sure you’re delivering the best customer support throughout the rush. To do that, you have to always keep in mind that your customers are most likely to be impatient, anxious, and even kind of edgy. Picture people fighting over something on a Cyber Monday sale while in-store. Yep, that’s how they feel as they wait in long queues to reach an agent. So, they can get upset quite easily if they connect to the wrong department or call center agent, instantly lose connection, have to repeat a query or experience any other obstacles. Well, what should you do? Expand customer service for peak season! Utilize CRM integrations and save your customers from the trouble of repeating themselves. Use reporting and monitoring tools to improve your FCR (First Call Resolution) rates while evaluating your agents’ performance. Offer callbacks instead of long wait times. Have your customers know that you care about what they think with humanless customer surveys. In short, put yourself in your customers’ shoes and roll out the best contact center operation during the holiday season!CX Formula for This Holiday Season
CCS Know-How+CCS software=Increased CX For Your e-Commerce Business
