The Ultimate Christmas Customer Service Guide

It's that time of year again.

The festive season seems to come around quicker every year. You immediately know when it's upon you. You begin noticing an increase in web traffic, sales volumes, and customer service questions.

But how are you supposed to keep up with all the Christmas customer service enquiries? You might not be in a position to hire additional staff or respond to all the queries. So is there another alternative?

Fortunately, you can implement solutions to respond to Christmas customer service enquiries on your website that doesn't require a recruitment drive. Here's how you can stay ahead without increasing your overhead.

1- Set Expectations During the Christmas Period

For the most part, customers can be reasonable, especially if they're kept up to date on when their enquiry will be resolved. They also are aware that the Christmas period is a busy time for many e-commerce businesses.

You can reduce customer frustration and impatience by informing them when they can expect their enquiry to be resolved. It could be by posting a banner or message on your contact us page with estimated timeframes of when you'll respond. If you use messaging services, you can let customers know how long they'll need to wait for an answer. It will save them waiting around for hours and draining their phone battery.

2- Implement a Chatbot

Chatbot technology has improved significantly and is an excellent 24/7 option for Christmas customer service enquiries. You can program it so it will respond to your most popular queries during this time of year.

For example, one of the most common questions during Christmas relates to delivery times and shipping options. You can provide an automated response on this topic, so your customer will get their answer immediately no matter what time of day it is.

3- Create a FAQ Page

If a chatbot isn't an option for your business, another alternative is to create a FAQ page for your website. You can even design it to specifically answer Christmas customer service enquiries.

These types of pages can provide solutions in an unobtrusive way around delivery date cut-offs, return policies, and any other important information customers need to know when ordering at Christmas time. Simply advertise this page as a banner or within your product pages so it's easy to find and people can access it when they need to.

4- Proactively Guide Customers

During the Christmas period, it's not uncommon for the cart abandonment rate to increase. It can be for a variety of reasons, including delivery times or postage costs. However, you can reduce this figure from increasing by proactively helping your customers via messages.

Implement some notices that trigger after a certain period of time, whether it's on the product page or in the checkout section. You can provide them with a link to your FAQ page or instantly display the most crucial information around common queries like delivery, postage, and return options.

5- Route Christmas Customer Service Enquiries to a Specialised Team

If you already have a customer support team ready to handle enquiries, you might want to consider restructuring it to address Christmas questions better. These types of queries are often high-value and can be the deciding factor whether someone completes the checkout process or not.

Regardless if it's via phone or chat service channels, you can route specific enquiries relating to Christmas to a dedicated team. You might even want to have your high performing consultants handling them, so your customers get the best possible experience.

The Importance of Customer Service During Christmas

The Christmas season is a time of year where you can expect more sales, revenue, and customers. However, with this increase in volumes comes added enquiries. For some buyers, this can be the deciding factor as to whether they will do business with you or not.

Fortunately, there are ways to provide efficient support during this time of year that doesn't require increasing your headcount, budget or operating hours. The sooner you prepare yourself for the influx of Christmas customer service enquiries by implementing one of these methods, the easier it will be on you and your business.