Finally! It is almost time for a well-deserved holiday. Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first?
The good news is that your customers will continue shopping during the holiday, which is good for business. The bad news is that your customers will continue shopping during the holiday, which can pressure your incomplete customer service team. Read on for our advice on maintaining a high customer service level during holiday periods without stretching your team too thin.
The common challenges mentioned below are not only holiday-related. However, they do become more evident when your team is short an agent or two for an extended period of time. If you recognise the challenges, consider if the suggested solutions could also alleviate your holiday worries.
Could you start from the beginning, please?
When a customer refers to a dialogue they have had with one of your colleagues who is now recharging their batteries on an exotic faraway beach, easy access to all active and previous conversations is extremely helpful. Otherwise, you may have to ask your customer the dreaded question: Could you start from the beginning, please? Even though you are being helpful, you are wasting your customer’s time and your own.
Keeping customer conversations in personal inboxes is a very limiting factor for cooperation and knowledge sharing between colleagues or teams – especially when some of your agents are away.
Resume the dialogue instead
The solution is increased accessibility with a professional customer service platform such as Zendesk. From the onset, Zendesk was built with customer service and omnichannel in mind. This means that the system can easily collect all enquiries from various channels such as SoMe, email, chat, calls, etc. in one place. All your
customer enquiries will thus end up in one place where all customer service employees can access them.
With this kind of shared access and improved overview, you can naturally resume the dialogue with the customer instead of having to start from the beginning. You will probably be able to find a solution faster, providing your customer with a much better experience. Also when the holiday period is over.
52% of dissatisfied customers share their bad experience with family and friends, and 68% of these customers will not be buying from you again.
Fewer Agents + Same number of enquiries = Less time
It is simple maths; fewer people with the same workload will require you to work more efficiently in order to meet your customers’ expectations. The current on-demand culture has customers expecting a response as soon as they need it. And the longer they have to wait, the less satisfied they become.
Working with customer service, you probably often get the sense that you are answering the same questions over and over. You are absolutely right.
80% of all customer service cases are recurring issues.
In case you missed it: That was 80%.
Maybe you have some standard answers on hand to those repeated questions that you can copy-paste into an email to your customer. While that saves you some time, there is a smarter solution. There is even a more intelligent solution.
Allow customers to help themselves and hire a chatbot
Let us look at the smarter solution first, as it is also the most straightforward of the two: Enable your customers to find answers and solutions to common questions themselves. A good FAQ section or a proper self-service solution on your website are great ways to utilise all your standard answers. By making them available to the customers directly, you can stop copy-pasting and start answering new questions.
The more intelligent solution involves employing an AI-powered chatbot. The result is the same for you, but as it requires even less of your customers, a chatbot often provides a better customer experience. Employee satisfaction will also likely increase as your agents’ work becomes less repetitive.
Both solutions can be obtained by implementing Zendesk and adapting the system to your business needs as well as your customers’ needs. Imagine being able to deflect up to 80% of all customer inquiries. Imagine the amount of time and resources this can free up. Finally, imagine the effect on your CSAT when your customers’ enquiries are answered a lot faster.
Make every day a holiday with Zendesk and helphouse.io
At helphouse.io, we are Zendesk experts – and the biggest Zendesk Premier Partner in Europe. We help companies optimise their digital customer service by implementing brilliant solutions such as Zendesk.
We have carried out over 500 set-ups, including advanced system integrations and custom development. Our vast experience ensures that you can exploit the full potential of Zendesk and make the most of your investment in one of the best customer service tools on the market today – and tomorrow.
According to one of our happy clients, Shaping New Tomorrow, the effects of implementing Zendesk are evident in terms of improved internal cooperation and customer service.
Zendesk has made it easier to cooperate, to work efficiently, and to provide our customers with the best customer service during holiday periods. Sebastian Juul Jensen, Customer Relations Manager at Shaping New Tomorrow
Another client, TV2 PLAY, has achieved a ticket deflection of no less than 95% by implementing an excellent and thorough self-service solution.
For more client experiences, see all our customer cases here.
Zendesk does make it easier to keep up with demand during holiday periods because your team can work smarter and faster. However, the many benefits obtainable with Zendesk provide value above and beyond holidays.
Optimised workflows and increased efficiency could even enable scaling your business without needing more customer service resources.
If you want to know more about Zendesk and how big a difference the system can make for your customer service organisation, please contact us and tell us about your current customer service set-up. We are ready to offer feedback and advice.