Skip to main content
Return to SuccessCX.com

How can we help?

12 Steps to Prepare Your Zendesk for the Holiday Season 🎉

The holiday season is an exceptionally busy time for businesses, making it crucial to ensure that your customer service teams and offerings are fully prepared to manage the surge in customer demand. To help you maximise the benefits of Zendesk during this festive period, we've outlined 12 vital steps to get your Zendesk system ready for the holiday rush.

This comprehensive article will explore the following key topics:

  • Reviewing and Updating Knowledge Base Articles
  • Optimising Self-Service Options (Including AI Agents)
  • Implementing Automated Workflows
  • Updating Business Hours and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
  • Training Your Support Team
  • Implementing Zendesk Co-Pilot to Enhance Agent Support
  • Enhancing Multichannel Support
  • Monitoring and Analysing Historical Data
  • Promoting Proactive Communication
  • Scaling Your Zendesk Plan if Necessary
  • Setting Up Holiday-Specific Macros
  • Implementing Customer Satisfaction Surveys
  • Updating Talk Greetings for the Holidays

📘 Reviewing and Updating Knowledge Base Articles

Prior to the holiday season kicking off, it’s important to thoroughly review and refresh your Knowledge Base articles. Make sure all information is accurate, detailed, and addresses common questions that tend to arise during this busy period. By having comprehensive and up-to-date articles, you can significantly reduce the number of incoming support tickets, easing the workload on your team. For example, you might consider creating new articles or updating existing ones to cover topics such as holiday gift guides, expected shipping and delivery timeframes, any changes to your operating hours including shortened or extended times or closure periods, how customers can process returns after the holidays, and emergency contact procedures during closures. Additionally, you can explore specialised guides tailored to different sectors, such as retail, human resources, or IT service management, to further enhance your Knowledge Base.

🔍 Optimising Self-Service Options  (Including AI Agents)

Encouraging customers to resolve their issues independently can significantly improve their satisfaction while reducing pressure on your support team. To achieve this, customise your Zendesk Help Center by updating frequently asked questions (FAQs) and promoting self-help resources prominently. This approach empowers customers and streamlines support operations. Some effective steps include:

  • Refreshing your Help Center with a vibrant, new theme to create an engaging user experience. You can explore a variety of readily available themes such as those offered by SuccessCX or the Zendesk Marketplace.
  • Adding festive imagery to your Help Center theme to create a warm and seasonal atmosphere. Guidance on customising your Help Center theme is available to assist you with this.
  • Integrating the Messaging widget into your Help Center and external website to facilitate easy communication. This can also involve migrating from the classic Web Widget to the newer Messaging platform, with detailed guides available to help you get started.

In addition to these foundational improvements, implementing Advanced AI Agents can dramatically enhance your self-service capabilities. These sophisticated AI-powered assistants use natural language processing and machine learning to understand and respond to customer enquiries in real time. By automatically answering common questions and guiding customers through problem resolution steps, Advanced AI Agents reduce the need for human intervention, allowing your support team to focus on more complex issues.

Advanced AI Agents continuously learn from interactions, improving their accuracy and the relevance of their responses over time. This not only speeds up resolution times but also elevates the overall customer experience, as customers receive immediate, personalised assistance 24/7. The scalability offered by AI means your business can handle increasing volumes of enquiries without compromising service quality, making it an invaluable tool for growing organisations.

Integrating Advanced AI Agents within your Zendesk Help Center and messaging platforms ensures a seamless support journey. Customers can effortlessly switch between self-service options and live support when necessary, creating a flexible and efficient support ecosystem. By combining updated self-help resources with cutting-edge AI technology, you can significantly boost customer satisfaction while optimising your operational efficiency.

⚙️ Implementing Automated Workflows

Take advantage of Zendesk’s powerful automation capabilities to streamline your support workflows. By setting up automated triggers, macros, and ticket routing rules, you can prioritise and categorise holiday-related enquiries more efficiently. For instance, you might configure triggers to assign high priority to all order-related requests or adjust existing triggers to reflect holiday schedules. Additionally, establishing a pending ticket notification workflow can be highly beneficial. This workflow automatically sends reminder notifications to customers regarding pending tickets without requiring manual follow-up from agents, ensuring timely communication and reducing ticket backlog. We strongly recommend implementing this feature to enhance your support efficiency.

  • Assigning high priority to all order-related requests through automated triggers.
  • Adjusting existing triggers to accommodate holiday schedules, ensuring timely responses and notifications.
  • Setting up a workflow to send notifications for pending tickets, keeping customers informed without agent intervention.
  • HOT TIP 🔥: Implementing a Pending ticket notification workflow is highly recommended. This automation sends automatic reminders to customers about their pending tickets, eliminating the need for agents to manually follow up.

🕒 Updating Business Hours and SLAs

It’s essential to adjust your Zendesk Schedule to accurately reflect your business hours during the holiday season, including any special closure dates. Review your Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure they remain relevant under the changed operating conditions. For example, you might need to modify the SLA first reply times to better cope with the increased volume of support requests. Clear communication of expected response times helps manage customer expectations effectively during this busy period.

🚀 Training Your Support Team

Providing refresher training to your support agents on Zendesk features and any holiday-specific updates is vital. This ensures your team is fully equipped to handle the surge in ticket volume and is familiar with any temporary workflow changes. Zendesk offers free training resources available at training.zendesk.com. Additionally, you can access quick links for various training modules, including Zendesk Support, Talk, Messaging, Chat, and Omnichannel for Agents. If you require tailored training specific to your setup, consider reaching out to SuccessCX for customised courses.

Implementing Zendesk Co-Pilot to Enhance Agent Support

Introducing Zendesk Co-Pilot into your support environment can significantly elevate the efficiency and effectiveness of your agents. This powerful feature is designed to provide real-time assistance, enabling your team to deliver faster and more accurate resolutions to customer inquiries. One of the key functionalities of Zendesk Co-Pilot is Auto Assist, which intelligently recommends agent responses based on the context of the ticket. This not only speeds up reply times but also ensures consistency and quality in communication.

Another crucial capability is auto triage. This feature automatically analyses incoming tickets, extracting relevant information to prioritise and route them to the most appropriate agent or department. By automating this process, Zendesk Co-Pilot helps reduce response delays and ensures that urgent or complex issues receive immediate attention.

Furthermore, Zendesk Co-Pilot supports agents by providing step-by-step procedures that align with your organisation’s compliance rules and standard operating procedures (SOPs). This guidance ensures that every action taken adheres to company policies and regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of errors and improving overall service quality. By integrating these structured workflows directly into the agent’s interface, Co-Pilot empowers your team to handle tickets confidently and consistently.

Overall, implementing Zendesk Co-Pilot not only enhances your support team’s productivity but also improves customer satisfaction by delivering timely, accurate, and policy-compliant responses. It is a valuable addition to any Zendesk setup aiming to optimise support operations and maintain high standards of service.

🌐 Enhancing Multichannel Support

During the holiday season, customer enquiries often come through a variety of channels. To provide a seamless experience, ensure Zendesk is integrated with all relevant communication platforms, including email, chat, and social media. Zendesk supports a range of built-in social media channels, which can be categorised as public and private channels. Public channels include Facebook public wall posts and X (formerly Twitter), while private channels cover WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, Facebook Messenger, X Direct Messages, and Instagram Direct Messages. For TikTok, integrations are available via third-party applications. We highly recommend linking your social media channels to the web widget, allowing customers to initiate conversations via the widget and continue them on their preferred social platform. For managing all types of Instagram messages within Zendesk, a third-party app from the marketplace is necessary.

  • Public Channels: Facebook (public wall posts) and X (formerly Twitter).
  • Private Channels: WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, Facebook Messenger, X Direct Messages, Instagram Direct Messages.
  • TikTok integrations are accessible through third-party apps.
  • HOT TIPS 🔥:
    • Linking social media channels to the web widget enables your customers to start conversations on your website and continue them on their preferred social platforms seamlessly.
    • For configuration details, see: Enabling customers to continue conversations through social channels.
    • To manage all Instagram message types within Zendesk, you will need to use a third-party app from the marketplace.

📊 Monitoring and Analysing Historical Data

Leverage Zendesk Explore to analyse historical data from previous holiday seasons. This analysis will help you identify recurring patterns, common issues, and peak enquiry times, enabling you to allocate resources more effectively and enhance overall operational efficiency. Key aspects to focus on include reviewing peak times to ensure adequate staffing, analysing trending ticket types from past years to prepare for anticipated issues, and examining Help Center search queries that return no results to identify and fill knowledge gaps with new articles.

  • Assess peak support times to ensure your team is well-staffed to manage increased demand.
  • Analyse ticket trends from previous years to anticipate common issues and prepare accordingly.
  • Review Help Center search queries that yield no results and create relevant articles to address these gaps.

📢 Promoting Proactive Communication

Proactively communicating with your customers about potential delays, special offers, or any service changes during the holiday season can significantly improve customer experience and reduce unnecessary support requests. Using Zendesk, you can create outbound tickets to inform customers of updates before they even reach out to you. This proactive approach helps manage expectations and fosters positive customer relationships. Tools such as the Proactive Bulk Tickets app by Sparkly enable you to send mass proactive tickets efficiently, even in volumes of 1,000 or more. Additionally, you can utilise third-party apps like the Zendesk Relay App to create and send WhatsApp and SMS campaigns.

⚖️ Scaling Your Zendesk Plan if Necessary

Evaluate your current Zendesk plan to determine if it meets the demands of the holiday season’s increased ticket volume. Upgrading your plan can provide access to additional features and ensure optimal performance during peak times. For example, moving to the Zendesk Enterprise plan or a higher tier unlocks a full suite of features, excluding paid add-ons. The new Advanced AI add-on, available for Professional and Enterprise plans, can enhance your support capabilities. Additionally, for enterprises concerned with data security, the Advanced Data Protection and Privacy add-on offers robust safeguards to keep your information secure.

  • Access to more advanced features by upgrading to Zendesk Enterprise or a higher plan. See the Zendesk Plan comparison page for details.
  • Advanced AI capabilities are now available as an add-on for all Zendesk accounts, enhancing automation and support quality.Learn more about the Advanced AI add-on here.Note: Available for Professional and Enterprise plans only.
  • Advanced Data Protection and Privacy add-on ensures your data remains secure.Find out more about purchasing this add-on here.Note: Available for Enterprise plans only.

🔧 Setting Up Holiday-Specific Macros

Creating holiday-specific macros can greatly speed up responses to frequently asked questions during the busy season. These macros help your support team handle repetitive tasks efficiently, saving valuable time and maintaining consistent communication. You can find examples of effective holiday macros to inspire your setup.

🌟 Implementing Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Gathering customer feedback through Zendesk’s satisfaction surveys is essential for understanding customer sentiment and identifying areas for improvement during the holiday period. Zendesk provides comprehensive tools to enable, customise, and utilise Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) ratings effectively. Additionally, you might be collecting feedback from third-party services such as Google Business Reviews or Google Play Reviews. Integrating these services with Zendesk creates a centralised platform for your agents, improving visibility and efficiency.

☎️ Updating Talk Greetings for the Holidays

Enhance the experience for customers who call your support line by updating your Zendesk Talk greetings with customised messages for the holiday season. These greetings can convey warm holiday wishes, set a positive tone for interactions, and inform callers about any expected closure periods. This small touch can make a big difference in customer perception during the festive season.

By diligently following these twelve steps, you can ensure your Zendesk environment is fully equipped to manage the heightened demands of the holiday season. Taking a proactive and organised approach to customer support not only boosts customer satisfaction but also contributes significantly to your business’s overall success during this critical period. 🌟

What to do after the holidays?

Once the holiday season concludes, it’s important to review the strategies and actions implemented to identify successes and areas for improvement. Reflecting on your holiday support performance will help you refine processes and prepare even better for future busy periods. For guidance on how to conduct this review and implement improvements, check out our detailed guide: Reflecting and Implementing Improvements Post-Holiday Season.

 

If you need any assistance, the SuccessCX team is ready to help. Arrange a call with our experts today at https://www.successcx.com/contact/.

Related to:

Related articles

Let's work together!