Customer service is a fundamental part of the client’s experience, to the point that it can become a decisive factor in the purchasing process. On dates as important as Black Friday, offering a good service is an ideal opportunity to increase profits.
To make this experience even better, companies’ customer service teams need to be prepared to handle numerous requests. This requires strategic optimization of resources, staff training, and process automation.
In this blog post, we’ll show you some strategies that will help your agents manage Black Friday requests efficiently and enable them to deliver a 5-star service.
Why is customer service important during Black Friday?
For consumers, Black Friday represents the perfect opportunity to shop for necessities such as Christmas or New Year’s Eve gifts. However, although consumer interest increases on this date, it is difficult for companies to close sales and manage support requests.
For best results, it is vital to prepare your agents and optimize their workflow. In this way, you will be able to offer quality service and improve the perception of your brand.
Tips for managing customer service during Black Friday
Plan the Black Friday workflow with your agents
The objective of this strategy is to analyze historical data to evaluate the trend of the sector and the challenges during peak hours.
Keep in mind that Black Friday is no longer just one day. Thus, you should also consult previous dates for good analysis. Likewise, it is important to segment your databases well, so that you can provide a service that adapts to the needs of your customers.
Train your agents
In many cases, customer service is the only human element that companies offer in the purchasing process. For this reason, it is essential to maintain a high level of training. And continuous training for agents to ensure success in high-demand seasons.
For example, you can invest in specific training to teach them how to handle stress under a high number of calls. You can also train agents on how to deal with dissatisfied users or how to handle recurring incidents.
Plan your business hours
Today, customers expect companies to be available 24/7. In the case of customer service during Black Friday, in addition to availability, consumers want an immediate, efficient and agile response from agents.
It is also important to keep customers informed of extended and reduced business hours. This will enable them to make contact and manage expectations in a streamlined manner.
If the response times are very long, you should notify customers in advance. You can send them an automated response, an instant message, or communicate it via social media.
Implement an omnichannel strategy
Thanks to the constant evolution of technology, companies can now interact with customers through different channels. Therefore, the public expects to have access to these communication pipelines to receive assistance.
While some prefer self-service portals, others are more comfortable interacting directly with an agent. Every customer has a different preference. However, they all expect to receive fast and efficient attention when requesting technical support.
With customer preferences in mind, opting for a diversity of support channels will keep your support team connected at all times. All this will help you reduce the unnecessary burden on agents and keep customers satisfied.
Enable self-service by creating a killer FAQ page
FAQ, or frequently asked questions, has been out there for a long time, and the fact that it’s still so widely used simply proves its effectiveness.
Consider building it for your store or, if you have it already, review the current questions and update them with the latest information to prevent recurring inquiries during the upcoming Black Friday.
A strong FAQ page, that is well-structured, well-written, and easy to navigate, can noticeably improve customer experience, show your expertise, and reduce customer support time by allowing your website visitors to find the necessary answers themselves.
Equip your team with pre-made templates
Writing a response to each and every customer from scratch sounds like a luxury during the biggest shopping weekend of the year.
The truth is that most of the inquiries that reach your inbox are more or less about the same issues, just asked differently.
You can manage them in advance with pre-made templates that your customer service reps can adjust to specific situations – by adding names, relevant details, and so on, which would certainly take less time than starting from nothing every single time.
How can we help you?
For more information about this and other customer service solutions, you can contact our group of experts at GoCloud.
What are you waiting for? Contact us and receive a free customer service consultation.
