If you’re a CX manager, understanding customer expectations is your daily grind. Then comes the holidays—the peak season that brings increased sales opportunities.
But with increased sales opportunities come these challenges:
- the looming threat of negative reviews if service isn’t as expected (prompt delivery of their orders, integrated shopping experience across various channels, websites to be fully operational without downtime)
- overwhelmed customer service team
- and a potential decline in overall customer satisfaction.
The truth is, peak season exposes every weakness in your customer experience strategy. One solution to focus on is your omnichannel customer support. When done correctly, this can increase retention rates by up to 90%.
This blog will talk you through omnichannel support and how you can elevate your omnichannel customer support game during peak season and beyond.
Why peak season puts omnichannel support to the test
Peak season—whether driven by holidays, big sales events, or industry-specific cycles—is a double-edged sword for most businesses. While it promises increased revenue, it also brings a surge in customer inquiries and support requests.
This surge, coupled with the expectation of seamless, immediate support, puts immense pressure on support teams. We’re talking about:
- 3-5x more customer interactions
- compressed resolution windows
- and customers using EVERY possible communication channel simultaneously
Yes, you read that right. “Every channel simultaneously.” Yet, they expect the same speed and quality of service regardless of the channel they use. It’s easy to say that peak season indeed amplifies the gaps in your omnichannel customer support strategy.
However, excellence in this area is non-negotiable during peak periods. Customer service agents play a crucial role in managing interactions across different channels—utilizing effective communication tools and technology to enhance productivity and job satisfaction.
9 tips to deliver exceptional omnichannel support
Exceptional omnichannel support means seamless and consistent experience for customers at every touchpoint and every platform. Customer service software is crucial for enhancing support capabilities by streamlining communication across various channels and providing agents with comprehensive customer histories.
Here are nine tips to level up your omnichannel customer service strategy:
1. Piece together your customer journey
The first tip is to unify your tools and data by understanding the customer’s interactions across various channels. Disconnected support channels and fragmented customer data are inefficient problem-solving. When customers need to repeat themselves across channels, it’s a recipe for surefire churn and dissatisfaction. 72% of consumers consider it poor service when they need to explain their issue multiple times.
Action item: Implement a centralized omnichannel customer support software that connects all support channels. Use customer service tools that provide a 360-degree view of each customer interaction. That way, service agents see the complete history of customer interactions, whether they’re handling chats, emails, or phone calls.
2. Train your team on omnichannel best practices
Inconsistent service delivery is when a customer receives a warm response on live chat but a cold, generic email later. That can only confuse customers and weaken your brand identity.
Action item: Create standardized communication scripts, empathy guidelines, and problem-solving protocols that work across all channels. Train your customer support team to ensure a smooth and cohesive experience, regardless of the communication medium.
3. Leverage AI and automation
During peak seasons, manual handling of every inquiry is almost impossible. Play the CX support game smart by leveraging:
- Automation and AI-powered chatbots for handling routine queries to initial triage.
- Then use machine learning algorithms for intelligent ticket routing and prioritization.
- Automated first-response systems that can provide immediate acknowledgment and basic information.
You not only speed up your response times but also enhance your support agent’s productivity. In general, 49% feel comfortable using AI so support responds faster.
Action item: Integrate various communication channels to provide consistent and personalized interactions.
4. Say no to generic, one-size-fits-all support responses
During peak seasons, don’t make your customers feel like they’re just another ticket number. Even if customers today demand prompt responses, they still prefer experiences tailored to their specific history, customer preferences, and context.
Action item: Use customer data to craft personalized responses in your omnichannel support. Implement systems that pull previous interaction history, purchase data, and preference information to customize each interaction. Train your service agents to use this information to create memorable, individual experiences regardless of the channel used.
Trivia: 37% of U.S. adults in a consumer survey got a product the site recommended.
5. Prepare self-service options
Sometimes, delays happen because customers need to always wait for a live support agent. As a CX manager, you know that each unnecessary interaction is a potential point for customer dropout.
Action item: Aside from your team’s omnichannel customer support software, take the time to develop comprehensive knowledge bases, FAQ sections, and community forums. An effective FAQ page can reduce the workload of your customer support team and allow them to focus on other important tasks. Continue to empower your customers with self-service options by creating video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and interactive troubleshooting tools that will give them complete control to finding solutions quickly.
6. Optimize for mobile
Personally speaking, many support channels are still not optimized for mobile users. In fact, Statista reports that mobile devices now generate half of all web traffic. So if you are giving a non-mobile-friendly support experience, you’re essentially driving away a large portion of your customers.
Action item: Ensure all your support touchpoints—chat interfaces, knowledge bases, contact forms—are fully responsive and mobile-friendly. Test them on multiple devices and screen sizes. Consider developing mobile-specific support apps or interfaces to provide a seamless experience across different channels.
7. Adapt to changing customer needs—in real time
Support strategies can become outdated quickly, especially during high-pressure periods. Failing to monitor and adapt means a decline in your CS quality over time. So instead, your omnichannel customer support strategy should implement robust dashboards. It doesn’t have to be fancy. As long as it includes analytics and feedback to track performance. Channel-specific adjustments on the fly!
Action item: Map out the entire customer journey. Leverage detailed customer data across various channels to connect interactions from different platforms—ensuring you don’t miss any valuable insights so you can proactively improve support based on customer preferences.
8. Start recruitment and training processes in advance
Treat support hiring like a growth strategy, not a last-minute panic. Proactively hire additional customer service agents who are trained in omnichannel customer support software before busy periods. This ensures you can maintain high service levels even during peak demand. Scrambling to hire and train support staff during peak season is like trying to build a boat while already at sea.
Action item: Take advantage of virtual assistants on your omnichannel systems to ensure seamless support. Hire remote support talent in different time zones to create a 24/7 coverage model that never sleeps.
9. Learn from experience to improve customer satisfaction
Have a post-peak reflection. You must not repeat the same support mistakes year after year—especially if you have the data to improve. Each peak season has a whole lot of useful stuff. So, perform comprehensive post-season reviews. Yes, look at data aside from your omnichannel support.
Action item: Analyze your performance metrics, customer feedback, and team insights. Better yet, create a continuous improvement framework so you keep the momentum all year round.
How to scale your omnichannel support like a pro
The key to scaling omnichannel support is understanding that each channel represents a unique customer journey—and your support strategy must reflect this by effectively integrating multiple channels.
Use AI and automation to handle the volume
Customer service software is a crucial tool that enables businesses to enhance their customer support capabilities and improve response times. But implementing AI and automation is far more sophisticated than simply deflecting tickets.
AI and automation are not only for today’s investment—they are also for scaling omnichannel support. For instance, AI-powered chatbots can resolve simple issues. You can also automate the support workflows when escalating specific complaints.
Hire and train temporary staff early
This is about building a flexible, adaptable support workforce that can seamlessly integrate into your omnichannel ecosystem—including an efficient customer support team. This may require a comprehensive approach to recruitment and training that includes onboarding programs, continuous skill development, and a deep understanding of your product.
Monitor channel-specific KPIs to stay on track
The most successful omnichannel customer support strategies are data-driven ones. Monitoring channel-specific key performance indicators and understanding the customer’s interactions across various channels is crucial because it builds a dynamic, adaptive process that can quickly identify friction points, understand emerging customer needs, and proactively adjust.
By tracking channel-specific key performance indicators (KPIs) like response time, resolution rate, and customer satisfaction, you can gain insights into your team’s performance and identify areas for improvement.
BONUS: How to maintain omnichannel excellence beyond the holidays
Thank you for getting here! As a bonus resource, we’ll share some tips so your omnichannel excellence extends far beyond simply managing holiday season traffic:
Analyze post-peak season metrics to spot opportunities
Future-proof your omnichannel approach, not just for the next peak season but for everyday excellence by having a post-peak season analysis. It’s an opportunity to dig deep into your entire customer journey, interaction, channel performance, and sales data.
Were there any unexpected spikes or dips in certain channels? Did customers show preferences? View this analysis as a strategic intelligence-gathering mission that uses advanced data analytics.
Gather customer feedback to improve processes
Peak seasons or not, actively solicit and analyze customer feedback to understand customer preferences, accurately identify pain points, uncover opportunities for improvement, and refine your support processes. Think deep-dive interviews, post-purchase surveys, sentiment analysis across social media platforms, and creating continuous feedback loops.
Keep building customer relationships across channels
Don’t stop once the holiday rush is over. Your relationship with customers shouldn’t end there—re-engage through multiple communication channels. The real value of the holiday surge is in turning those one-time interactions into lasting ones.
- Use personalized follow-ups like thank-you emails, exclusive post-holiday offers, or loyalty program invitations.
- Send tips for using purchased products or offer relevant add-ons.
- Continue providing value-added content and personalized recommendations,
Helpful tip: Strengthen connections by building a social media community and responding promptly to customer inquiries there.
Omnichannel excellence—your competitive lifeline
Peak season performance is a direct reflection of your year-round commitment to customer experience. By implementing the tips we’ve discussed, you’re preparing for a seasonal surge and building a team that delivers exceptional omnichannel support excellence consistently—truly a competitive lifeline!
Customize your CX strategy with us here at LTVplus. Book a free call today to discuss your specific needs and learn how our expert solutions can help you deliver extraordinary customer experiences.
