Holiday season is upon us and this means an increase in sales and customer contact. While many departments of your business will feel the stress of the holiday season, contact center agents are the first line of contact with your customers, so it’s important that they maintain the highest customer service standards - no matter how busy they may be.

Here are a few ways you can support your contact center agents during this busy holiday season.

Use Predictive Analytics to Prepare

Predictive analytics take data gathered from previous busy seasons and turn it into usable statistics to improve performance going forward.

Using predictive analytics can boost the success of your contact center, and it can be especially effective during busy season. This is because it allows you to schedule agents more accurately, plan for times of high and low call volume, and determine which customers warrant a callback.

This can increase customer retention, improve the quality and efficiency with which calls are handled, and help your agents be prepared for the volume of calls coming in.

The Verint Media Recorder Workforce Optimization suite helps run your contact center more efficiently year round, but especially at the times you need it most like the busy holiday season.

Hire More Staff

Use the data provided by predictive analytics to trigger the hiring of more staff during peak times. There are a number of ways you can handle seasonal staffing at your contact center. You can staff share with other businesses, enlist the help of a temp agency, or outsource.

Re-emphasize a Focus on Customer Service

Urge your contact center agents to focus even more on customer service during the holidays, and give them the tools to help them do it. Ensuring your knowledge base is up to date, that your social media and email channels are active, and generally taking a proactive approach to customer service are all important elements of this.

Offer More Time Off During Less Busy Times

If hiring more seasonal staff isn’t an option for your contact center, you can offer your contact center agents more vacation days or paid time off once the holidays are over.

Reap the biggest rewards of your busy holiday season by fully supporting your contact center agents in their daily tasks. Whether it’s through improved scheduling, additional time off at a later date in lieu of time off during busy season, additional staff to help, or an overall improved focus on customer service, your contact agents are sure to thank you for the additional support. To learn more about how Kova Corp’s Verint Media Recorder Workforce Optimization suite can help, contact us today.