Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner. Somehow, both work as a teaser of what eCommerce and retail can expect from the following Christmas season. Generally, the holiday season always comes with a lot of expectations — and certain desperation, we must say! Thus, it is never too early to think strategically and prepare a checklist to achieve a flawless (or at least less chaotic) holiday season.
For eventual inhabitants of planet Earth that never heard about it, Black Friday takes place on the last Friday of November, the 26th this year, and it is followed by Cyber Monday. And what makes it so special? Customers are indulged with extreme discounts, that can go up to 80% off.
With an abundance of discounts comes a heavy load of traffic and potential disruptions. It can get out of control pretty easily.
However, there is no need to panic. We got you covered, and we can prove why is it worth the investment. After all, researches already show that companies can make up to 40% of their revenue during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Here you’ll find a list of tips to prepare your customer support team for a successful Black Friday.
Prepare Your Team for Black Friday
All the departments work together to prepare Black Friday’s special offers and dedicated marketing campaigns. But the customer support team is the tip of the iceberg. Customers are not aware of the strategy behind each sales campaign, so if there is a question or an issue, they will go after one of your agents from the customer support team.
Take this period as an opportunity to create or reinforce the bond between all departments. It is the ideal occasion to review certain processes within the company and to refresh employees’ knowledge about the products and services.
Update Your Database
It doesn’t matter how big or small your team is, an outdated source of information is high season’s worst nightmare. A chat operator handling five customers at once cannot do without quick replies.
Thus, to ensure the quality of the answers provided by customer support agents, take a moment to review your current FAQ and the quick replies’ database.
Moreover, this can maybe be a call to boost your current support strategy, including a chatbot. In such a way, you provide 7/7, 24/h support to customers for when your agents are offline.
Anticipate the Most Common Issues
Updating information works as a cue to review mistakes from last year’s Black Friday. What went wrong and what sort of issues could have been avoided? Write a list of the most frequent problems encountered and what are the easiest ways to overcome them.
For example, how is your company communicating about delayed deliveries due to high demand? Will there be any compensation in case one or multiple items ordered are short shipped?
Lastly, think about a plan B for each one of these issues. Prepare quick replies and email templates, thinking about potential reactions to those problems.
Be Transparent About Shipping Policies
As the number of orders placed rises, meeting the shipping time estimation may be tricky. It is not as easy to manage as in “normal” times. Thus, it is best to prevent customers, so they will know that disruptions may cross their paths.
Leave a message on the website to let customers know that shipping might be delayed. Don’t forget to prepare your customer support agents as well, as they might receive questions about when will their order be shipped.
Be Ready to Answer Customers Right Away!
If you still don’t have a live chat service for your eCommerce, it might be time to adopt it. Live chat contemplates customers seeking flexibility and fastness. Therefore, providing quick and efficient answers during the busiest season is a huge advantage for the customer journey.
You might need to hire a third party or more people for the team specially for this period. Conversation24 can surely help you!
Achieve Success on Black Friday With Planning
As Black Friday approaches, the logistics sector of the supply chain needs to be fully prepared. Customers are more demanding than ever nowadays, so to be successful in sales, invest in technology. And do not forget to do a complete checkup of operational processes, in order to identify weak points that can be improved before Black Friday begins.
With preparation, good management, and the good help of technology, your business will have everything needed to achieve success, winning new customers and retaining the old ones through a high standard of service.
Could you use some extra help during Black Friday and Cyber Monday? It would be a pleasure to provide you with our amazing services. Say hello!
