Top 4 tips for a holiday support strategy that sleighs

This article was originally published in Top-Tier Support, Front’s Head of Support Kenji Hayward’s LinkedIn newsletter for customer service leaders. For more frontline advice and actionable insights, subscribe today to get them delivered to your inbox every other week.

This is the time of year when just because you’re on holiday doesn’t mean your customers are. Industries like retail, travel, and logistics, among others, don’t get to hit pause during the holidays, so delivering exceptional service can transform a challenging customer experience into a moment of genuine connection. Here are my top four tips for turning holiday stress into customer loyalty:

1. Plan early

Spoiler alert: November is too late. We start having staffing discussions a year prior to make sure we have proper coverage and give ample notice to the agents on call. But if you find yourself in a last-minute pinch, you’ll need to have open and honest communication with your team to decide on shifts. There are a few ways to approach this: randomized, volunteer, or on-call. Choose a method that works best for your team, but we use an on-call order with the right blend of skill sets to have a balanced team.

Being transparent with your customers is also helpful, so clearly post your holiday support hours or update your auto-replies to mention reply times may be longer than usual. At the end of the day, any backup plan that preserves your customer experience is a good one.

2. Staff strategically

At Front, we run two coverage models over the holidays:

1. On-call support during off-peak hours

2. Tiger team of three Tier 1 and two Tier 2 support agents per day. Tier 1 covers our email and chat channels, and is our first line of defense for incoming support inquiries. When the inquiry is more technical and requires deeper investigation, it’s escalated to Tier 2.

Of course, if a severe escalation or incident happens, we have open lines of communication alerting support managers and our engineers.

Everyone’s holiday staffing strategy will look different, but take your lessons learned from last year’s holiday surge (or lull) to forecast peak times and headcount. 

3. Ramp up self-service support

Keep an eye on your most popular channels and bake into your annual planning to double down on your self-service support by this time of year as well — that way you can cover more ground, whether it’s human-, AI-, or self-led support.

4. Recognize on-call teammates

Last but not least, don’t let your unsung heroes go unsung. I check in daily to say hi and show appreciation. Celebrate your on-call team by making sure they’re recognized for their commitment. Give them a special shout-out at your company-wide all hands. Award them with Bonusly cookies. Let them choose their next time off to make up for the holiday covered. 

More tools for your support teams

• Prep for the holiday rush by understanding this year’s trends - check out this free report!

• Nick Clark recently talked about a holiday customer service snafu in his Service Matters newsletter - walk away with 3 lessons learned for any company trying to get their holiday support right

• Your team might be coming across customers who may be more demanding than usual, so it’s good to have some self-care safety nets in your back pocket

• Did you know a whopping 50% of CX leaders don’t report on their team’s contribution to business success? Check out our latest guide on how to report on the support metrics and KPIs that matter most.

• One way to amplify support’s impact is through cross-functional partnerships. Luke Atkins, Senior Customer Support Specialist at Front, gives actionable tips to break down silos across teams like engineering, go-to-market, and more.