The holidays are just around the corner, which means e-commerce businesses will likely see an influx in demand for their products as customers fill their carts with gifts for this season of giving. Staying afloat during the festive rush can be straining in more ways than one, so how can your support teams stay on track of customer inquiries without being overloaded and compromising the quality of their services amidst the hectic season?
Conversational support rises on top as one of the best solutions that can help bridge the gap between your support teams and customers’ expectations. With a more efficient operation and higher quality delivery, your empowered teams can participate in the merriest time of the year without a hitch.
What Makes Conversational Support the Ideal Choice for Surviving the Christmas Rush?
Whether it’s a technical glitch, a delayed shipment, or something as simple as a missing item, your customers are expecting to get a response from your company immediately. The pressure is on, which is why your support teams should always have the ability to stay on top of the customers’ at all times.
The rising popularity of conversational support tools can help your teams remain consistent and deliver fast solutions with a higher level of accuracy. The numbers are in, and the list below shows just how crucial it can be for your support agents to go through training to master this fast-paced yet efficient method of communication with customers throughout the festivities.
Tip #1: Conversational Support Involves Automating Holiday-Related Queries
If you’re using automation for your e-commerce business, you may have already integrated several predefined holiday queries into your support platform. By basing your automated messages on holiday-related concerns, you can catch most of the common questions that pop up throughout the season, providing your customers with a fast, accurate, and personalized reply.
However, some queries may not be covered by your holiday-related settings. These queries may vary from one season to another, depending on the kind of product or service you offer. For instance, if you’re an online shoe store, one of the most common holiday queries for your customers might be about the status of their shipment, as well as the expected arrival date of their order.
When you integrate this in one of the earlier stages of your support, you can use conversational support technology to automate your response, providing your customers with a customized, pre-prepared message.
Tip #2: Create a Dedicated FAQs Page for the Holidays to Address the Immediate Concerns of Customers Without Having to Go Through Chat
Whatever the nature of your e-commerce business, you should always have the freedom to update your FAQs for the holiday season. By providing your customers with a dedicated FAQs page that can address their most pressing concerns, you give them the comfort of knowing that they’re addressing their concerns with a quick and easy response.
A well-made FAQs page should be created to cover all the immediate concerns of your customers, such as:
- When will my order be shipped?
- What is the status of my order?
- Do you have cash-on-delivery (COD) payments?
- Do you have customer service on weekends?
- I received an incorrect item; what should I do?
- Do you ship internationally?
- Do you accept gift cards?
- What are your holiday hours?
By creating this FAQs page, you can help your support agents focus on customer queries that have a higher level of priority in the sales funnel.
Tip #3: Have a Support Team in Place to Guide Customers During Checkouts
Your e-commerce store is likely to experience an increase in sales during the holiday season, and it can be quite challenging to handle this sudden spike in volume. One way to simplify the process and give your sales team the ability to focus on what matters most is by creating a support team that’s solely dedicated to helping your customers with their purchases.
This means having your agents guide your customers throughout the entire checkout process, from selecting their shipping details to submitting payment and/or delivery preferences.
With more time spent on the checkout, your support team can effectively handle customer inquiries, allowing your sales team to focus on their role in the sales funnel, whether it’s upselling, cross-selling, or simply increasing the rate of conversion.
Tip #4: Provide a Dedicated Support for Your Blog and Other Content
Whether you’re publishing new articles, videos, or any other type of content on your ecommerce store’s blog, you will likely see an influx of holiday queries from your customers who may have questions about your content.
For instance, if you run a fashion blog, your customers may ask about the best holiday-themed outfit ideas. That’s why it’s important to have a separate channel for your customers to reach you for content-related inquiries. By reaching out to you through the designated support channel, your customers can receive a fast and easy response, making their holiday season a lot more fun and exciting!
Tip #5: Establish a 24/7 Call-Back System
Your business is bound to experience some issues during the holidays, especially if your product or service is shipped via a courier service. With the increase in the number of orders and customers, it can be quite challenging to deliver on time for the festivities. However, you can provide your customers with instant reassurance that you’re on top of their inquiries by setting up a 24/7 call-back system.
The Bottom Line: Starting the New Year with a Bang Thanks to Conversational Support For Your Business
It’s no secret that your business will experience a sudden spike in the number of inquiries you receive from customers as people fully embrace the season’s spirit. With this, it’s important for you to have a support team that can respond to the inquiries accordingly to ensure a higher level of satisfaction for your customers.
Conversational support is the perfect solution to help you meet your customers’ holiday shopping expectations. By allowing you to automate holiday-related queries and set up a special FAQs page that covers the immediate concerns of your customers, you can create a more personalized and efficient response channel that would greatly benefit your entire team.
With this, your support agents are empowered to assist your customers throughout the checkout process, while your sales team can focus on the inquiries that have a higher level of priority in the sales funnel. This means better quality and speed in the delivery of your support, which inevitably leads to higher rates of conversion.
As you start preparing for the holidays, make sure to equip your business with a powerful support system that can confidently serve your customers, regardless of the time or day of the year.
How Can CrewBloom Help You?
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Thankfully, companies like CrewBloom have made the hiring process much easier for you. We are a remote staffing agency that connects you with top-tier affordable professionals for your remote sales and support roles.
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