8 Customer support tips to ensure a stress free holiday

The holiday season is almost here, and most of you would already be putting out your festive decor, planning dinners and buying gifts. It is also a time when activities peak for support teams.

Support teams are bound to feel overwhelmed with high volumes of inquiries, seasonal promotions, and providing speedy support to match increased customer expectations. With Gen AI around this year, it makes sense to rely on its ability to handle frequently asked questions while keeping it informative and personal.

To thrive in this busy period, effective planning, smart use of AI, and keeping up the team morale are key. So why not use technology to not only make your teams and customers’ lives easier but to actually make a difference.

Here’s how your support team can navigate the holiday season:

1. Plan ahead

Preparation is your first line of defense against holiday chaos. Analyze data from previous years to predict trends in customer inquiries, peak traffic times, and common issues. Use this information to allocate resources effectively and review documentation. Update help center articles and FAQs to address anticipated issues, making it easier for customers to find solutions and reduce chaos during peak times.

2. Set clear customer expectations

Communicating clear expectations is a win-win for your customers and your team. Ensure your support channels display accurate wait times, estimated response windows, and hours of operation. Transparency builds trust and reduces frustration, even during peak demand.

Use automated messages to confirm receipt of inquiries and provide realistic timelines for resolutions. Customize your chatbot’s responses and messenger intro to reflect current holiday hours and availability. Empower customers to resolve simpler issues themselves with updated knowledge bases, AI chatbots, and detailed guides.

AI agents like Turing can provide instant responses, suggest answers, streamline tasks, and query the vast internal knowledge base.

3. Use AI

Busy periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday can overwhelm even the most dedicated teams. AI support tools can be game-changers by providing consistent, 24/7 assistance. AI agents (like Turing) can deliver human-quality support, communicating in your brand’s tone and accessing up-to-date product knowledge. When human agents are off-duty, AI keeps support going, allowing the team to manage the holiday rush.

4. Proactive support

Use historical data to predict customer questions. Chances are, many of the queries you received last holiday season will be common. Use these insights to get ahead of customer needs by displaying top holiday information on your website or in-app. Use an AI agent to greet customers and offer relevant information proactively.

5. Map complex issues to the right people

Some issues require the empathy and expertise of a human agent. Ensure complex or sensitive cases are routed to the appropriate team members promptly. Use AI to detect the sentiment or emotional tone of inquiries, then prioritize or escalate accordingly. Seamlessly handle complex cases across channels with an omnichannel chatbot.

DevRev’s PLuG ensures that handing off conversations to human agents, when needed, is seamless and contextually consistent. Customizable routing rules and a unified inbox make the handover process feel natural.

6. Empower customers with self-service options

Self-service is a customer favorite, especially when it comes to simple inquiries. Advancements in AI are making self-service support tools even more effective. Use these during holidays to respond with the most pertinent help articles to solve user issues without human expert intervention. Enable users to fix their problems on their own with a simple search for small tasks, handling common and repetitive queries, or assisting with common doubts.

7. Keep up the team morale

Amid the hustle, don’t forget to create moments of fun and connection for your team. Supporting your customers starts with supporting your team. The holiday season can be exhausting, so it’s important to maintain a healthy work culture where your team feels valued. Use metrics to ensure workloads are distributed fairly and prevent burnout.

Short breaks, rotating shifts, and flexibility can do wonders for morale. Small checkins, offering help, organizing holiday-themed contests, or daily gratitude sessions are small but good ways to lift spirits.

8. Analyze and optimize post-holiday

Once the holiday rush winds down, reflect on what worked well and where improvements can be made. Data and feedback are your allies for continuous growth. Gather insights from your team and customers to refine processes.

Use the data collected during the season to refine your holiday strategy. Analyze ticket volume trends, customer feedback, and team performance metrics to identify areas of improvement. Reflect on what worked well and what didn’t. Document lessons learned and apply them to future peak periods. Use this data to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of your AI agent for future peaks.

Train your team during the off-season to improve your team’s skills, ensuring they are even better prepared for the next surge.

You’ve got this!

The holiday season is a unique challenge for support teams—but with the right approach, it’s also an opportunity to shine. Prepare ahead, setting clear expectations, optimizing processes, while caring for your team.

With AI as your support system these holidays, tackle the holiday surge effectively without making extra demand from your support teams. Let Turing AI answer while you pick a holiday movie to watch ;)

Wishing you a successful and (relatively) stress-free holiday support season!