Did you know sales during holidays like Christmas and New Year account for around 19% of a retailer’s annual revenue? That’s nearly one-fifth of total sales!
However, holiday CX challenges can threaten this critical piece of revenue—leading to increased customer churn. Sadly, it’s a common notion in customer service that “The holidays are here—and so are the CX blues.” But before you panic—this is only bound to happen IF you don’t tackle the downers for delivering a wonderful holiday customer experience ASAP.
Let’s talk about them in this blog and the practical steps to overcome them during this crucial time.
The top 8 CX holiday blues to watch out for
CX holiday blues impact customer satisfaction and brand reputation if not addressed effectively. In fact, 87% attest that improving CX increases customer loyalty and value. A well-defined customer experience strategy is essential to address these challenges comprehensively.
Here are the top eight holiday CX blues to be aware of:
#1: Skyrocketing ticket volumes
One of the biggest challenges during the holidays is the surge in customer support tickets. When ticket volumes skyrocket—more often than not—service bottlenecks happen.
Long wait times? Hello frustrated customers! Plus, they’re just a click away from taking their wallets to your competitors. To combat this, gathering customer feedback can help identify and address these issues to improve support processes.
#2: Stressed and overwhelmed support teams
Holiday blues isn’t just about increased ticket volume. It’s also about the impact on your team’s morale, productivity, and ultimately—your customer experience. Because when a customer service representative is stressed, they’re less likely to provide the support that your customers deserve. Burnout becomes a real risk. In general, 89% of U.S. adults feel overwhelmed during holidays.
Think about the stakes. This is the time of year when every interaction counts. One bad support exchange during the holidays? That’s not just a lost sale—it’ can be a lost customer for life. In addition, approximately 45% shared their bad experiences with friends and family.
Side note: Sometimes, internal factors like unrealistic performance expectations and a lack of recognition cause the strain too.
#3: Delayed responses and missed SLAs
Let this sink in—when customers reach out during the holidays, it’s because they have no time to waste. Every customer interaction, whether it’s about a wrong delivery, a last-minute purchase question, or a billing issue, needs a fix now. Consider a delay a disruption to their entire holiday customer experience.
Also, missed SLAs create a cascading backlog for your team. The longer it takes to respond, the more escalations, duplicate tickets, and angry follow-ups pile up.
#4: Increased returns and refund requests
Here’s the thing—every return or refund request is a moment of truth for your brand and a critical point for maintaining strong customer relationships. Customers are emotional during returns—some are disappointed, while others are angry. These emotions tend to amplify during the holidays when every refund feels like a failed gift. Mishandle this stage, and you’re losing a potential customer for life.
A customer might return one item but become hyper-aware of you and start second-guessing their entire customer experience with your business. One refund can quickly multiply into long-term consequences for your brand’s reputation.
#5: Poor coordination across channels
Imagine this: A customer emails about a missing package, then DMs your social team for a quicker response. Meanwhile, they’re on hold with your phone support. Yep, 40% of consumers said “multiple options for communication” were the most important feature of customer service departments.
Plus, poor coordination across channels makes your brand look disorganized. Utilizing a customer journey map can help businesses understand every touchpoint and improve coordination across channels.
#6: Technical glitches and system downtime
Customers expect perfection during the holidays. Their mindset? “You should have been prepared.” Effective customer experience management is crucial here. If your customer experiences a glitch—for instance, a payment error—it costs you credibility.
The system downtime that delayed one customer’s checkout also delayed ten others. Now your support team is flooded with complaints, your fulfillment team is off-schedule, and suddenly, what started as a small outage feels like a full-blown crisis. The kicker? Customers don’t care about excuses—they care about results.
#7: Increased customer expectations
Customers expect a positive customer experience and exceptional service during the holidays. Each time an industry leader raises the bar (think Amazon’s same-day delivery or 24/7 customer support), every other business gets dragged into the comparison game. Miss the mark, and it’s customer dissatisfaction on steroids.
#8: Negative social media sentiment
Negative social media posts during the holidays aren’t an isolated incident. They influence how other customers perceive and interact with your brand, impacting brand loyalty. Even customers who haven’t had issues start to second-guess their own experiences because they’ve seen others calling you out. Nearly 90% say social media influences their holiday shopping decisions.
How to tackle these CX blues
Now that you’re aware of that top customer experience blues you need to tackle ASAP, let’s dive into practical solutions for customer experience management to overcome them.
Prep your team before the rush
Are your agents equipped to handle the holiday rush? The foundation of a great CX strategy is a well-prepared team. Don’t leave preparation to chance.
- Schedule customer service training sessions tailored to common holiday issues.
- Use mock scenarios to give your team hands-on practice with high-pressure situations.
- Finally, build a resource plan that ensures your team isn’t spread thin when it matters most.
When you invest in training and planning, that preparedness spreads across the team. Potential bottlenecks can become smooth workflows instead.
Upgrade your CX tools
During the holidays, your volume will increase and your team will be stressed. But when you automate (like ticket classification or basic customer inquiries) your agents can focus on higher-value interactions. They won’t be bogged down by repetitive questions like “Where’s my order?”.
It’s really about enhancing quality too. So start by evaluating your current CX tools—are they built for the holidays? If you’re still using outdated systems, now’s the time to consider scalable solutions that integrate AI-powered chatbots, automation to handle routine requests, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems that sync seamlessly with your support channels.
Communicate expectations with customers
It’s easy to forget that during the holidays, your customers are also as busy as your team is. If you’re not upfront with transparent shipping timelines, return policies, and support availability, they’re guessing. And when they are, that’s when frustration usually sets in. Customer feedback is crucial in understanding and meeting these expectations. So:
- Keep customers informed about their order status with automated tracking updates via email or SMS.
- Send pre-holiday emails or notifications about order deadlines, shipping timelines, and support hours.
- Display return and refund policies prominently on your website and in email confirmations.
It’s simple: Be clear, be upfront, and keep the lines of communication open. When customers know what’s going on, they’re less likely to feel let down
Partner with an outsourcing specialist
Partnering with an outsourcing specialist is like calling in reinforcements when the tide’s about to take your CX team under, especially when trying to onboard new customers. Why outsource customer service? Well, when you’re dealing with the chaos of holiday traffic, your support needs fluctuate. If you’re experiencing consistently high wait times or struggling to meet SLAs, consider outsourcing.
Choose the right partner. If an outsourcing specialist like LTVplus steps in, you practically have an extension of your team. Service agents trained to manage customer interactions with the same care and precision as your in-house crew. They give you scalability—the ability to adjust your support up or down based on demand.
Implement a holiday-specific customer experience strategy
Aside from predicting higher ticket volumes and a standard CX playbook, map the entire customer journey seasonally as part of your customer experience strategy. Understand the dynamics so you can anticipate specific needs—faster shipping updates, empathy-driven responses, or optimized self-service options. Then design your CX strategy to hit those notes consistently.
Here are some suggested tactics:
- Develop scripts and workflows tailored to holiday scenarios, such as gift-related inquiries or complaints about delayed shipments.
- Create holiday-specific FAQs addressing common holiday-related inquiries.
- Use data from previous holiday seasons to predict peak times, common issues, and areas of improvement.
Don’t forget to plan for the post-holiday fallout. Send personalized emails thanking customers for their holiday purchases and acknowledge your team’s hard work.
Evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs)
If you’re not tracking the right KPIs, such as customer lifetime value, you may always think you’re on the right path. Not a data-driven approach. Monitoring KPIs like
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- First Response Time (FRT)
- Churn Rate
- Average Handle Time (AHT)
Once you start seeing spikes or dips in your customer service objectives, (it’s not a gut feeling anymore), you’ve got the data. Your KPIs tell you exactly where to focus your energy—whether it’s handling delayed responses, improving return processes, or clearing up communication. Stay on top of them, and you’ll catch those holiday CX blues before they even begin to take hold.
Solve holiday CX blues to deliver a merry season and boost customer satisfaction
Thrive the holidays by tackling the top holiday customer experience blues and creating a remarkable customer experience. When you address them head-on, you’re not only resolving immediate issues but also building a relationship of trust and loyalty with your customers. Shoppers remember how they were treated especially during the holidays.
And the best part? The strategies you implement now can continue to pay off long after the season. Discover how LTVplus can help you—no matter the season! Book a free consultation to get started today, we’re here to support you when it matters most.
