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November 18, 2023

Maximising Customer Satisfaction During Black Friday Promotions: Proactive Support Strategies for All Industries

Customers, products and service users all love promotions. Tell them there’s a price slash, and they’ll hear you out. This level of interest in reduced price tags is obvious in the celebration of Black Friday, an annual festival that consumers across various industries including SaaS, streaming services, online education platforms, etc, are always eager for. Initially beginning as a term used by police officers to describe the chaos caused from the traffic formed by tourists shopping in the city just after Thanksgiving, Black Friday is now a cultural practice in the consumer world, giving businesses and service providers an opportunity to appreciate customers for their patronage through incentivized advertising and coupon distribution for product publicity.

Just as it is with Black Friday sales, customers and product users look forward to every news, update, and information about the particular promotion exercise they are expecting or participating in. This is because these promotions, incentivization, and marketing discounts are often highly sought after, and items or coupons available for discount prices may be swept all at once. Because of this, users always want to be abreast of latest developments to guide their decisions, and can complain of poor satisfaction if they feel that the company has been partial with distribution of information, rendering assistance, and as such, can be accused of poor customer service.

As thus, in this article, we shall be discussing strategies that ensure customers and service patrons don’t feel left out by their service brands during promotion periods, so they can be adequately informed when making decisions.

Preemptive Communication of Upcoming Promotions and Events

As its name implies, preemptive communication entails informing customers about upcoming promotions, changes in services, and other significant events prior to their occurrence or date of effect. This is important during peak promotional periods as it is crucial for maintaining transparency, building trust, and fostering positive customer relationships. Think about it from a customer's perspective: imagine missing out on a Black Friday sale because you forgot, or you had no idea when the item you wanted was on sale. With frequent updates, customers can be guided to adequately plan and make well informed decisions. When customers are regularly updated on upcoming promotions, discounts, special offers, or exclusive deals, their overall shopping experience and satisfaction is enhanced.

Moreover, providing advance notice about changes in services demonstrates respect for the customer's time and preferences. Whether it's alterations in product offerings, modifications to on-sale terms, or adjustments in delivery services, informing customers in advance allows them to adapt and minimises the likelihood of frustration. This proactive communication helps build a sense of loyalty, as customers appreciate being kept in the loop with latest developments. Therefore, they are more likely to remain engaged with the business.

Effectively Handling Enquiries

The influx of inquiries during promotion periods can be overwhelming. Thus, effectively handling inquiries during this period can be crucial for business reputation and growth.  By effectively handling users and customers inquiries, businesses can stand out and maintain relevance over their competitors. Here are some tips to help customer rep teams manage high traffic inquiries effectively:

Preparation and planning comes first. How possible is success without preparation? Support teams have to anticipate peak periods during promotions, product launches, etc, and allocate additional resources accordingly. Ensure that your team is adequately staffed and trained to handle increased volumes of inquiries.

Next is the use of advanced tools. In our digital age today, we can all agree that AI has come to help us, if used responsibly. The use of automated response chatbots to handle routine inquiries has brought great change. Reps can make use of AI chatbots to answer initial enquiries, allowing human agents to address more complex issues.

When human agents receive complex issues, they now have to ensure they communicate clearly. Poorly communicating with customers at this stage leads to time wastage further delaying other customers. Clearly communicating helps free up time, ensuring customers have the right information to shop the way they want.

And when a particular set of inquiries are consistently noticed, FAQs and knowledge bases come in next to play. FAQs and knowledge bases are educational materials created to answer some of the most common customer inquiries, without them having to wait for a human agent to respond. During promotional periods, businesses need to update the FAQ and knowledge base to the in-demand inquiries to ensure customers easily find answers to their questions. This empowers customers with self service options, reducing pressure on support teams and making shoppers shop faster.

Such strategic setup greatly eases the log of inquiries support reps have to deal with, saves time for shoppers, and allows them maximise their shopping plans with the available time given.

Utilising Social Media for Support

Social media is very important for support services during promotional periods. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and other public community forums can be used to easily address queries publicly as a sign of transparency and responsiveness. For instance, general announcements on updates can be cumbersome to send out emails to each product user/community member. But by leveraging these channels, communication is easier with the wide audience, ensuring nobody is left in the dark.

Social media also greatly enhances customer engagement and satisfaction. When businesses use social media to share updates and announcements, users can also air their opinions, share their views, and further discuss the announcements right in the same platform. This fosters a sense of community and trust among customers, as the business can also see, hear, and take suggestions from their users based on their perspectives. This is greatly important to ensure everyone feels satisfied, heard, and understood.

Building Brand Trust

Think of yourself as the customer. How would you feel if customer support remains exceptional 24/7? I bet you’d be satisfied. Exceptional customer support especially during high traffic of peak promotional periods gives a positive impression to every customer. The fact that concerns are promptly addressed, information is quickly communicated, and  user interests remain prioritised demonstrates commitment to customer satisfaction. Businesses benefit from such levels of commitments by gaining customers' trust, this trust which is the foundation for long-term loyalty and patronage. As customers appreciate the positive experiences from the company, they are encouraged to return, and recommend the brand to others.

Think about it. Everybody loves Black Friday, so much that we all look forward to it. Losing the opportunity to get an item at a bonus rate can be really frustrating. This can be avoided when customers are properly informed. When they are catered to and managed right, they feel satisfied and are encouraged to continue to patronise that brand, believing the services will remain top notch. But when issues during promo periods become a norm, patrons are likely to grumble. This makes what should be a great economic opportunity for the business, become a major setback for their operations.

That is why businesses have to stay proactive in the provision of support to the user base, to ensure that beneficial opportunities aren’t lost due to their own shortcomings and mistakes. With the strategies shared above, professional support representatives can easily maintain satisfied users during high promo traffic seasons such as Black Friday, helping companies maintain positive growth rate and business health.