With Halloween just around the corner, we’re all in scary, ghoulish, trick-or-treat mode. But when the calendar flips over to November the following day, we’ll all be in festive, cheerful, holiday mode. In other words, business is about to pick up! For the majority of retailers across North America, the holiday season brings an expected rush of new customers who will be looking to purchase gifts for their loved ones.
As a result, their customer service practices are simply going to have to step up. It’s no secret that the final two months of each year are generally the busiest. It’s a time of year that gives business owners not only opportunities to increase sales but chances to grow customer bases. If you’re able to make good impressions throughout the holiday shopping season, chances are you’ll have a very happy new year!
Here are five customer service tips to implement for the holiday season:
1. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. This is a tip that can be used year round. But it’s especially important to consider things like a customer’s urgency for getting in and out of stores quickly in order to complete all of his/her holiday shopping. When you’re doing your holiday shopping, what do you expect from the stores you visit? Fast service, quick answers to questions and products at competitive prices, right? Consider this when interacting with your customers.
2. Hire additional help. You may not be able to handle all of the extra shoppers entering your store with your current staff. Many business owners hire seasonal workers to take on the added responsibilities of serving higher numbers of customers. This will help to keep customer satisfaction high and employee stress low. These are integral parts of getting through the busy holiday shopping season successfully.
3. Extend your store hours. Convenience plays a major role in customers’ buying decisions. The easier you make it for people to make purchases, the more people who will come to you to make them. Often, this means extending your hours so that consumers can shop after work or on the weekends when they usually wouldn’t have the time. As well, you stand to boost sales simply by virtue of being open longer.
4. Offer your products online. It should come as no surprise to you that online shopping continues to grow in popularity all throughout North America. When it comes to the convenience factor that we pointed out earlier, there is nothing that tops being able to make purchases in your pyjamas. By allowing customers to have items delivered straight to their homes, you stand the chance of significantly boosting sales and the size of your customer base going forward.
5. Ensure your website is updated. Even if you don’t have an online store set up on your company website, you’ll definitely want to make sure that it is updated with all of the pertinent information about your business during the holidays. Everything from your extended hours to your new promotions should be highlighted on your site. Remember that most shoppers browse online before visiting physical store locations to make purchases.
MeloTel’s Website Maintenance Services is exactly what you need to keep your website in tip-top shape this holiday season! Our monthly webmaster plans are perfect for the individual or small business that has a small amount of sites in their network and can benefit from about two to 15 hours of work each month. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
