Main Mistakes of E-Commerce Holiday Support

It’s less than 60 days until Christmas. The hot season has officially started. Apart from being the most magical time of year, it can be quite intense. Up to 69% of people report feeling stressed because of the lack of time or funds. 51% feel the pressure from having to give or receive gifts. 

This is also the time when customer service queries increase by 75%. Holiday season communication is stressful and very important for e-commerce reputation. 

What are the main mistakes of e-commerce holiday support, and what are the best ways to deal with them? 

Insufficient Amount of People on the Team

During holidays, e-commerce website traffic can increase by more than 60%. Not expanding customer support and service team is a crucial mistake an e-commerce businesses can make for two reasons: 

• Higher customer churn — 85% of customers churn due to bad customer service. Expanding your team beforehand, and making sure every member can help customers with anything, is the way to showcase a high level of customer service and support, retain old buyers, and attract new ones through word-of-mouth. 
• Team burnout — bigger workload prompts faster burnouts and higher turnover rate. Proper scheduling and proportionate task allocation will prevent the team from burning out. In times of higher pressure, keeping your team motivated by providing additional bonuses and perks and making sure they all are synced up is the only way to streamline support processes and communication. 

Neglecting to hire and onboard more people to deal with the holiday customer inflow can damage the reputation and business processes of any e-commerce company. 

Insufficient Team Training

74% of professionals feel they cannot reach their full potential because they lack training offered to them by their place of work. 70% of workers would consider leaving their job for a company known to invest in its team’s professional development and training.

Insufficient training can lead to bad customer service, damage relationships between teammates, and affect company-wide communication. In short — it is a bottleneck that can break during the holiday season due to huge and increasing inquiries inflow.

Setting up an effective onboarding department can improve team productivity by 62% and increase team engagement by 54%. Holiday season or not — these numbers cannot be ignored by any business. 

Neglected Team Communication

In their day-to-day operations, 80% of professionals feel stressed due to ineffective team communication. This percentage will rise during the holiday rush, when everyone’s workload increases. 

Streamlining team communication needs to be integrated into company DNA. There are several steps a business can take to sync its team: 

• Show your team appreciation by celebrating big and small achievements, milestones, and special occasions. 
• Start regular team check-ups on a corporate level. Demonstrate the corporate will for transparency and streamlined communication.
• Conduct team training sessions.
• Hand-pick team members who will fit your values and communication style to a T.
• Provide your team with necessary tools: chats, video conferencing accounts. 
• Establish a culture of experience exchange. 
• Motivate smaller teams to experience exchange by meeting facilitation.

These steps will establish a firm connection between team members and will help set a supportive atmosphere for the holiday season and for every-day operations. 

Dealing with e-commerce holiday support requires more cooperation, understanding, calm attitude, and multitasking. Paying extra attention to the support team and making sure they have everything they need to be on top of their game will help reach smooth customer service and experience. 

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