Managing Seasonal Surges: How Outsourcing Customer Service Helps You Handle Peak Times

Seasonal surges are always exciting for businesses — you can look forward to increased sales and extra opportunities to boost brand awareness. However, managing customer service amid peak times can be challenging, especially if you don’t need a high call volume call center for the rest of the year.  

Contact center capacity planning is vital to prepare for the influx of customer service tickets that accompany peak times. Many businesses are turning to business process outsourcing (BPO) to manage the extra demand on their existing systems, and the BPO market is expected to reach $127.9 billion in 2023. Outsourcing gives organizations a competitive advantage in the marketplace. If you haven’t considered it before, seasonal surges are the perfect time to explore customer service outsourcing and reap the benefits.

Effective management of seasonal surges: the role of outsourcing 

During a busy holiday season, you can expect call spikes of up to 10 times your average call center volume, so the first step to effectively managing seasonal surges is to prepare accordingly. You can plan for the known outcomes — like seasonal surges and product launches — with effective business process outsourcing.  

Outsourcing can also alleviate the stress on your internal teams. Remote teams are trained in customer service and can easily prepare for high call volumes. You can support your internal resources with external talent to meet customer service expectations, remain cost-efficient and mitigate risks in peak times.

The importance of customer service improvement strategies 

It’s no secret that exceptional customer service leads to repeat customers. If you can delight your customers when they make contact, they’re more likely to stick with your brand. In today’s fast-paced landscape, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and agents play a significant role in customer service during high-volume periods.  

Outsourcing customer services gives you access to professionals who understand the specific needs of businesses during peak times. Experienced BPO providers like Peak Support can help you choose the best support channels for your business and set you up with a team of dedicated customer service experts to handle the volume and scale your operations.

Choosing the right outsourcing partner: Peak Support 

Peak Support is dedicated to helping you manage customer service or technical support tickets during high-volume periods. Partnering with us gives you access to a dedicated team of experts ready to help design your systems, hire the right team and optimize your support processes.  

In peak periods, you need a functional team up and running as soon as possible. Peak Support can provide you with a team in as little as two weeks, preventing bottlenecks and streamlining new hire onboarding when you need it most. We can manage your entire customer support operation, from managing training to tracking and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs). We can scale up quickly and scale back after the busy season, depending on your needs.

The impact of outsourcing customer service on e-commerce and retail companies during peak times 

Online transactions are convenient, allowing people to enjoy the holiday period. Many people would rather shop online during the holidays to save time, so e-commerce businesses can expect a surge during these periods. The customer experience is still important for online operations, especially when people are shopping there for the first time — 73% of consumers say customer experience is the first thing they consider when deciding on a purchase.  

Dealing with customer service issues in e-commerce 

Serving your customers may become more complicated during seasonal surges, and the way you handle your customers during this time will directly impact your reputation, sales and returns. Your customer service policies can mean the difference between a successful peak season and an expensive lesson.  

External customer service professionals can help mitigate the potential risks and give you confidence during your busiest period. They can help you turn first-time customers into loyal cheerleaders and handle customer inquiries professionally and promptly.  

Scalability and flexibility in e-commerce business operations 

One of the main factors regarding navigating holiday surges is the ability to scale your services to align with customer expectations. Business process outsourcing offers the following benefits for managing seasonal surges: 

• Improved customer satisfaction 
• Increased customer loyalty 
• Elevated brand reputation 
• Increased revenue 
• Reduced customer churn rates 
• Better time and cost savings 
• Enhanced service quality 
• Improved morale and company culture 
• Boosted competitive advantage 

When you outsource customer service, you can provide customers with a positive experience without the cost and time commitment associated with training a new team. You have the flexibility to hire experienced staff for a limited time, streamlining your operations.

Optimizing resources during peak times: the impact of outsourcing customer service 

Customer expectations are constantly evolving, and making an impact is essential during high-volume periods. Peak season is the first time that many customers will interact with your brand. This interaction indicates the service quality they can expect from you, which is a powerful motivator in whether they will buy from you again or recommend you to friends and family.  

While peak times present a fantastic opportunity to build new business and strengthen current connections, it can cause friction within your internal team as they attempt to adjust to the increased demand. Optimizing your resources is critical to avoid overloading your team and maintain a measurable level of customer satisfaction. Your strategy for peak surges should include providing customers with self-service options and staffing accordingly for the times you anticipate the highest volume of calls.  

Managing employee workloads during peak times 

Peak season can be challenging for your team. Workload is the main cause of stress at work, and the additional pressure can lead to exhaustion, making your employees less productive. If your employees experience burnout, it impacts your customer service, with 42% of employees claiming to lose between 15-30 minutes of productivity a day due to stress. When your team finds their work challenging, it can have lasting financial and reputational consequences.  

Here are some tips to keep employees happy and productive during peak times:  

• Plan ahead: Use your existing data to predict the number of customer support tickets and ensure you have an appropriate number of employees available.  
• Provide support: Business leaders and management must demonstrate a supportive and helpful attitude during high-volume periods. Focus on providing an appropriate work-life balance to your team, and ensure their work environment is as comfortable as possible.  
• Outsource: Augment your existing team with agile and experienced customer service experts. When you work with a trusted provider, their teams fit seamlessly into your existing workflow and can handle anything from 15-100 tickets daily.  

The advantages of hiring outside experts 

Hiring outside experts gives your team more time to focus on their core competencies. They can maintain their existing roles and hours while your peak-season teams handle the additional workloads. While you have the option of hiring additional staff in-house, the process has some risks. You may have legitimate concerns about whether they can handle the work and will need to provide training to ensure they meet your requirements and understand your business values.  

Outsourcing partners have the business experience and expertise to guide you through peak periods and assign a team that integrates with your company culture and priorities. Your new team will have training and experience in customer service, as well as the agility to adapt to your product or service.  

These expert customer service representatives become brand ambassadors for your business. They may solve customer issues and answer questions, but they also promote your products or services and provide feedback on customer preferences and interactions. This information can inform your future customer service strategy for daily interactions and high-volume periods.

Peak Support’s approach to business process outsourcing during seasonal surges 

At Peak Support, we understand that every business has different needs during seasonal surges. Our expert teams have considerable experience handling many customer service challenges, including peak periods, and will work with you to create a strategy that suits your unique needs. Our approach to business process outsourcing during seasonal surges includes:  

Planning 

We believe in planning, and our experience tells us that managing seasonal surges while they’re happening is the least effective method. Your customer service should remain exceptional regardless of the additional volume, and achieving this requires hiring and training your new customer service agents.  

The earlier you integrate high-impact tools and practices, the better your customer support will be when peak season comes around. We’ll set you up to capitalize on the opportunity that peak-volume periods present and help you make progress in understanding your customer expectations so you can keep refining your services.  

Identifying opportunities 

Depending on your business, a seasonal surge is often the first interaction customers have with your brand, and a customer service interaction is an opportunity to create a loyal customer. Customer retention is more important than ever in today’s market. Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more than new customers. Peak Support will help you identify opportunities to give customers an exceptional experience, whether by adding more communication channels, setting up self-service options or streamlining resolution times.  

Developing staffing projections 

Every organization experiences the impact of holiday surges differently, but the core element of a successful customer service strategy remains the same — your customer support team. It’s necessary to try and predict what your peak times will look like to develop accurate staffing projections and ensure you cover all the basics. Some steps we’ll take with you include: 

• Work with your teams: High-volume periods often involve sales and marketing strategies, like promotions and discounts. Our teams will work with yours to understand the factors that will drive peak volumes so we can refine your strategy.  
• Select metrics: You can use several metrics to project how much support you’ll need during a seasonal surge, such as tickets per unit sold, tickets per customer and tickets per dollar of revenue. We will identify the most effective way to connect sales volume and support and forecast holiday volume.  
• Consider additional variables: You can never predict every outcome, but our teams at Peak Support have the experience to plan for the unexpected, like process improvements, promotions and mental health days.  

Creating a staffing strategy 

With your staffing projections in mind, you have a general idea of the level of additional support you’ll need during a holiday surge. From there, you can decide whether to scale by hiring internally or outsourcing a professional team. Outsourcing offers significant advantages, like access to expert support agents and eliminating the stress of recruiting, hiring and managing short-term staff.  

Outsourcing gives you the flexibility to scale faster than you can on your own. If you’re about to experience an influx of tickets, outsourcing can expedite your preparations and give you the confidence to increase or reduce your support depending on your call center volume.  

Reducing ticket volumes 

Outsourcing a support team is one way to prepare for seasonal surges. Your customer support strategy should have a two-pronged approach — improving customer service and reducing ticket volumes. Our Peak Support teams can help you identify your most common tickets and provide ideas to reroute customers so they don’t always need to contact your team. Some of these might include:  

• Automating delivery notifications to reduce “where is my order” (WisMO) inquiries.  
• Identifying common product questions and improving product descriptions. 
• Setting up a self-service option for customers.  

Supporting team efficiency 

Your customer support team must have the tools they need to assist customers quickly and effectively. Our team can help you set productivity targets and key customer service KPIs and add macros and templates to handle common questions. Cementing these process improvements before the peak season starts ensures your team is comfortable with the changes and can iron out any issues.  

Ensuring exceptional support to high-growth companies 

Partnering with Peak Support can transform your customer service when you need it the most. Some of the many benefits you can expect when you work with us include:  

• An exceptional team: Our agents are passionate about customer service and have an average of eight years of experience serving brands across the world. 
• Your choice of support channels: We can develop additional support channels for your business, like social media and email support.  
• Rapid scaling: We understand changing customer service demands, especially during peak times like the holidays. We can have a foundational team ready in a few weeks and onboard new team members quickly when needed.  
• A partner that cares: All of our client teams have an experienced account manager in the leadership role, dedicated to making process improvements, streamlining reporting and elevating service quality.

Manage seasonal surges with Peak Support 

With the next seasonal surge just around the corner, now is the perfect time to refine your strategy and think about scaling your customer service. Outsourcing is an ideal option for filling the gaps and managing high call volumes without sacrificing your organization’s voice or culture. Finding the right partner is crucial for a successful peak season, and Peak Support is here to help.  

Our expertise can transform your customer service offerings and create an exceptional customer experience in every interaction. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you take advantage of the upcoming seasonal surge today!