28.12.2022
It's the season of giving, and your customers are expecting you to wrap up the best possible customer experience and deliver it with a big red bow. And customer expectations are not the only thing going up - so are support requests. As stores (both online and offline) fill up with holiday shoppers scrambling to get their purchases in by the time the clock strikes twelve, support queries spike an average of 5-10 times. So, how do you provide excellent customer support during the holiday rush, without hiring extra elves (aka agents) or breaking people’s holiday spirit by making them wait?
Well, as you may have guessed from the headline, our answer is AI.
AI-powered customer support assistants like Hoory are the perfect solution to help you handle an increasing volume of customer support queries without turning your support team into a bunch of Grinches.
Here are five ways Hoory can make your customer support worth celebrating.
Instant Support
Every culture has its own holiday tradition. In Sweden, they build a giant Yule Goat. In Japan, they celebrate with buckets of KFC. In the States, they kiss at midnight.
But there’s one “tradition” we all have in common - leaving the holiday shopping to the last conceivable second. And as your customers rush against the clock to find the perfect gift, ingredient or decoration, every second counts. So, if you’re not there to answer their questions right away, well, consider it a gift to your competitors.
Just remember - for many customers, holiday shopping means a lot of queues. And while you can’t save them from standing in line at a supermarket, you can definitely make sure they don’t waste a second waiting for their questions to be answered.
That’s where assistants like Hoory come in. With AI by your side, you can automate customer service with most of your anticipated holiday-related queries and have your assistant give instant responses to your customers.
24/7 Availability
More than on any other day, during the holidays, customers expect you to go above and beyond. And that includes going above and beyond the 8-hour business day.
Without automation, around-the-clock support would be extremely difficult and expensive, or in some cases - downright impossible. After all, who wants to work night shifts when they could be cuddled up at home watching Home Alone?
AI assistants are a game changer here. Now, no matter how busy the holiday season gets, you can resolve customer issues any time of the day (or night), without the hassle of hiring extra staff, juggling complicated shift schedules, or incurring additional costs.
Personalization
The best gift isn’t the most expensive one. Or the biggest one. Or the most surprising. It’s the most personal one - the one you know was chosen with you in mind.
Same goes for customer support. The more you personalize, the more you give customers that feeling of utter joy when you open the gift box and find that exact pair of shoes you've been coveting but couldn’t afford to buy yourself.
With AI assistants like Hoory, you can personalize responses by country, city, etc., giving your customer just the right dose of holiday attention.
Just imagine how useful this could be during this special time. At the very least, you could delight your customers by having your assistant customize their holiday greetings. For instance, it could surprise your Houston-based customers with something like “Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday in Ho-Ho-Houston!” instead of, you know, the standard “Happy Holidays”.
Proactive Support
As great as Santa is, there’s one way he falls short. He waits for you to write a letter before giving you what you want.
Nowadays, customers are expecting brands to go one step further and find ways to resolve issues before they occur and answer questions before they ask them.
And no, we’re not talking about outdated FAQs hidden somewhere on your website. We’re talking about anticipating customer needs and reaching out to them with relevant information before they reach out to you.
Once you have an AI assistant working for you, you can easily analyze previous years’ support logs (Hoory tracks each customer interaction and stores details about conversation histories, browsing data, etc.). Start by identifying the most common questions, problems, and roadblocks and go from there.
Knowing Your Customer
Holidays are the time when we get to know our close ones better. And if you want to keep your customers close (we’re sure you do), AI assistants can help you use the holiday season to gather more information about your customers.
After all, a spike in support volume means a spike in customer data. Make the best of it by extracting valuable knowledge about customer behavior - their priorities, preferences, likes, and dislikes. You can use this data throughout the year to not only improve your customer support but also create tailored promotions, find new ways to connect with customers, and more.
Last Words of This Year
When it comes to holiday cheer, nothing spreads it quite like a business that goes the extra mile to make its customers happy. So, as you're getting ready for the most wonderful time of the year, don't forget to put your customer support on the nice list!