November is here and Halloween is now over.  For many shoppers this signals the start of their Christmas shopping.

Get prepared and focused in the first few weeks of November to ensure you have a smooth December with these useful tips:

Communication

99% of all customer service issues start from poor communication; people get more and more annoyed if they feel like they are being ignored. Avoid future issues by ensuring you have excellent communication:

• Setup auto-responders so customers know you have received their correspondence
• If you cannot solve an issue immediately; explain this to the customer and say that you are trying your best
• Let the customer know that they are dealing with a human rather than a huge corporate machine – they will tend to be less aggressive if there is an issue
• Make your terms prominent and simple to read – no one wants to read thousands of lines of legal jargon
• Create a bank of FAQs this helps both your customers and your staff
• Don’t be scared to ring a customer directly – it shows you are human and you care
• Pass on the tracking information from couriers – it gives customers peace of mind and saves you a lot of questions

Stand out

Evaluate what is unique about you and your business, why should people buy from you rather than everyone else? What do you do that is special? Once you work out what that is shout about it everywhere!

Some great things you can try to stand out for the holiday season are:

• Offer Gift receipts
• Offer Gift Wrapping
• Offer to ship directly to the gift recipient
• Offer extended returns
• Create bundle products
• Sell gift cards
• Throw in a little free gift with every parcel – it doesn’t have to be big to make someone smile

Hope for the best, plan for the worst!

Problems happen… Fact! How much they affect your business depends upon your preparation beforehand.

Plan for common problems and make sure everyone knows what to do when that happens. Write processes down so everyone has a plan when issues inevitably arise.

Common Issues include:

• Running out of stock
• Delayed deliveries
• Delayed stock
• Faulty products
• Product recall
• Illness
• Technical problems

The best solution for the majority of issues is to communicate it to affected customers quickly!

Dates for your diary:

Thursday 27th November:           Thanksgiving

Friday 28th November:                 Black Friday

Monday 1st December:                   Cyber Monday