#contactcenterworld, @ccs4cx

The rush of the year is getting closer than ever, leaving contact center managers with a major concern:

How to ensure efficiency during this holiday season while working from home?

As the COVID-19 pandemic has led many businesses to cultivate remote working, it has also caused a tremendous shift in customer preferences. Today, more and more consumers opt for online shopping. So, while this means a massive advantage to all the e-commerce businesses out there, it also means more jobs to do for their contact centers.

In this article, I laid down the five critical questions you have to ask yourself to ensure you're on top of your game during this holiday season, whether you'll be working from your couch or bed. And, if you play your cards just right, you may be one of the lucky ones who experience a 107% revenue boost over this holiday rush!

• How will you ensure success while working remotely?
  
  
• Is your contact center operation scalable?
  
  
• How will you provide shipping tracking and manage other customer tickets?
  
  
• Are you utilizing shopping season forecasts and trends to prepare for the holiday rush?
  
  
• Will you be able to maintain your customer experience levels throughout the peak season?
  
  

How will you ensure success while working remotely?

No doubt working from home has its perks. However, with millions of people waiting to go on with the shopping spree of the year, your living room couch can be just too comfortable to tackle the hassle.

What you need is workforce management that will ensure that your operations are thriving with efficiency, no matter where you are! And, to have the best workforce management, you need proper reporting and monitoring tools.

These tools will help you:

• Track campaigns,
  
  
• Gain real-time insight,
  
  
• Measure performance,
  
  
• Aid agents during complex customer calls,
  
  
• Unleash your team's potential with the proper training,

And with so much more! Your operations will be streamlined, and it wouldn't matter if your agents are on a different continent!

Remote Working Formula for This Holiday Season

Reporting+ Monitoring = Best Remote Working Contact Center Ever

Is your contact center operation scalable?

On Cyber Monday alone, call volume increased by 110%! And while this leads many businesses to hire seasonal agents, it also means new hardware and licenses for each new hire. And considering the training they'll need, maybe you'll even need to start their employment a month earlier to get your new hires ready for the holiday rush.

As you can guess, paying a year-long license fee and covering expensive hardware expenses for a seasonal employee is not quite beneficial. It also doesn't make sense to waste lots of time training employees who won't stick around.

That's where you need an infinitely scalable contact center solution to step in!

I know how unprecedented call centers can be. Thus, it's of utmost importance to consider call center software that offers our customers one of the most valuable benefits: scalability! So, as you get to employ agents as much as you need and whenever you want, you make sure that you only pay-as-you-go with no annual charges!

Plus, with a dashboard that is as simple as it gets, your new employees will be mastering your operations in no time!

ROI Formula for This Holiday Season

Scalability + Easy Onboarding=The Highest ROI For Your e-Commerce Business

Would you be able to cultivate remote working during the high season?

As the worldwide pandemic caused a shift in consumer preferences, it also had a significant effect on businesses and

How will you provide shipment tracking and handle other customer tickets?

During the holiday rush, customer tickets show an average increase of 42%. They can be regarding tracking, inventory, returns, and so much more. But, do you need to waste your agents' time on basic tasks during this holiday season when you can make the most of your sales efforts instead? We beg to differ!

Shipping queries can be quickly addressed via IVR systems, while chatbots can help with inventory management and so much more! So, you can help Jane find her shipment and Joe learn if you have a medium-sized t-shirt in stock in the most timely and cost-efficient manner! A win-win for both your agents and customers.

Efficiency Formula for This Holiday Season

IVR + Chatbots=Most Efficient Processes For Your e-Commerce Business

Are you utilizing shopping season forecasts and trends to prepare for the holiday rush?

The days where people lined up in front of stores before Black Friday sales are long gone. Today, the new normal is crashed apps/websites and endless call storms with anxious customers waiting to seal the deal for the item they've been chasing for months.

According to Adobe Analytics data, 2020 was the year online shopping broke a record with 100 million consumers, while in-store shopping saw a drastic drop of 37%. And forecasts show that this year will be no different as 78% of consumers plan to do their Black Friday shopping online.

So, here are three actionable forecasts and trends for the 2021 holiday peak and tips for leveraging them:

1. Shipping delays are expected in Q4 (DCL Logistics)

What does that mean for you? Expect a massive number of shipment tracking queries from your customers. As mentioned previously, you can utilize Smart IVR systems or chatbots to provide your customers with self-service processes.

1. Gen Z and millennials account for most of the global consumers (Drapers)

What does that mean for you? As voice-based communication is still the most preferred channel, younger generations can opt for social media and WhatsApp as their communication platform.

So, you should utilize multichannel customer service to become more accessible to your customers and make the most of your customer interaction. It will also help free your call queues while you serve your customers with less wait time.

1. Customers are more prone to acting on holiday season deals (National Retail Federation)

What does that mean for you? Get those outbound practices rolling! You can send out emails or, even better, agentless campaigns over the phone!

All you need to do is utilize Customizable Dialers to expand your customer reach. So, you'll be able to notify all of your customers about your Black Friday or Thanksgiving deals without wasting a minute of your agents!

Leveraging Formula for This Holiday Season

Insightful Blog Reads + Consultancy=Gaining Leverage For Your e-Commerce Business

Will you be able to maintain your customer experience levels throughout the peak season?

Your holiday deals can be one of the most efficient ways to gain new customers. In fact, according to Bluecore, 59% of a brand's customers were first-time buyers on Black Friday 2020.

And, if you want to turn them into your regulars, you have to make sure you're delivering the best customer support throughout the rush. To do that, you have to always keep in mind that your customers are most likely to be impatient, anxious, and even kind of edgy.

Picture people fighting over something on a Cyber Monday sale while in-store. Yep, that's how they feel as they wait in long queues to reach an agent.

So, they can get upset quite easily if they connect to the wrong department or call center agent, instantly lose connection, have to repeat a query, or experience any other obstacles. Well, what should you do?

Utilize CRM integrations and save your customers from the trouble of repeating themselves and improve your FCR (First Call Resolution) rates. Offer callbacks instead of long wait times. Have your customers know that you care about what they think with humanless customer surveys.

In short, put yourself in your customers' shoes and roll out the best contact center operation during the holiday season!

CX Formula for This Holiday Season

Your Know-How + Best-fit software=Increased CX For Your e-Commerce Business

#contactcenterworld, @ccs4cx