During the rush of the holiday season, you may find yourself scrambling to train additional employees, handling an increased order load, and managing complicated shipping logistics. However, in the hustle to fulfill orders, it can be easy to lose sight of what the customers themselves experience.

Our partners at CTS Service Solutions put together an insightful survey that polled customers on their holiday shopping experiences. The below infographic lists the results of the survey, which polled 450 U.S. males and females between the ages of 18–65.

Take a moment to read through the infographic, and as you’re preparing your customer service team for the last minute holiday-rush, keep in mind what your customers are experiencing – you may find that it will change how you coach your team to work with customers.

Specifically, the survey uncovered the following points:

  • Many retailers are losing out on business opportunities – whether it’s caused by long lines, not enough customer service assistance, or annoyances with the purchasing experience, companies may be unwittingly turning away customers by not planning through the shopping experience from the customers’ perspective.
  • Customers find other customers to be a source of unpleasantness. This ranges from customers having strong opinions about how customers treat employees, to feeling unsafe in big crowds. With this in mind, think through how you can make the shopping experience pleasant for everyone, so that you’re not driving away valuable shoppers because of the overall experience.
  • If customers have an unpleasant shopping experience with you, 46% will not come back after the holiday season ends.

Courtesy of: Customers That Stick

Customer service during the holiday season is a holistic process

As you gear up to finish out the holiday shopping time – and the post-holiday returns – keep in mind that customer service training during the holidays is not just for your employees; it requires a holistic experience, which should start in the C-suite, as the management team looks at every aspect of the customer experience.