The 2024 Holiday Survival Guide

Drive AI Outcomes for Happy Holidays with Happier Customers

Pattern

"It comes but once a year”

 

Or so the saying goes. For this year’s Holiday Survival Guide, we conducted both consumer and brand research. This helped us to understand where and how much consumers plan to spend in 2024, as well as how retailers are preparing for The Holidays – what challenges they are expecting and how ready they are to deal with them.

For many, seasonal shopping kicks off over the Thanksgiving weekend and last year close to two-thirds of US citizens made a purchase. With spending expected to rise again, the right strategies to keep shoppers loyal are imperative to happy holidays.

Three things you need to know about this year’s consumers…

  1. 83% of shoppers plan to spend $500 or more on gifts this holiday season.
  2. 84% of shoppers expect to spend the same (45%) or more (39%) than they did last holiday season.
  3. 48% will select another retailer if you can’t quickly resolve issues on their channel of choice.

What advice would you give retailers to improve their interactions with you?

  • “Maintain consistency across devices when shopping”

    25 to 34-year-old consumer

  • “Provide live chat support on product pages for quick questions”

    35 to 44-year-old consumer

75% of retailers expect their inbound customer service volumes to increase this holiday season graphic
3x more likely to be highly confident that they can handle the incoming seasonal volume. 6x less likely to handle increased customer service volume only by hiring more staff graphic
Al-Powered Self-Service: 01 Increase customer self-service. Unified Workforce: 02 Increase agent capacity with assisted service

Retailers using AI for self and assisted service

  • 65%

    Are using IVA/chatbot for customers to self-serve

    Higher containment rates through self-service mean agents handle fewer customer queries, resulting in increased contact center capacity.

  • 58%

    Are using automated routing to the relevant agent or bot

    Interactions are intelligently directed – based on context – to the right resource at the right time, regardless of channel, helping to elevate CX through lower average handling time.

  • 53%

    Are using agents working across channels with relevant context provided

    Enabling agents to work across multiple channels means a more flexible workforce and fewer resources required to cover an increased number of interactions.

  • 46%

    Are using real-time agent guidance during interactions

    AI-powered coaching helps all agents perform like your best agent. Training time is reduced thanks to in-the-moment guidance, ensuring high service levels are maintained despite the holiday rush.

  • 39%

    Are creating post-call summaries with generative AI

    Using generative AI to eliminate after-call work expands agent capacity, as well as removing the pressure of accurately summarizing complex calls.

The CX Holiday Survival Guide 2024 cover