Preparing Your Black Friday Customer Service: Guide

Recent retail data shows that over 55% of consumers take advantage of early holiday sales. For businesses, this means increased profits and more opportunities to expand their customer base. However, the success during this specific period largely depends on the Black Friday customer experience the business provides. If your company is ready to provide timely, empathetic, and proactive support, you are much more likely to gain long-term benefits from this busy period. 

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In the article below, we will get into great detail on how to prepare your business for Black Friday and turn positive experiences into lasting customer loyalty.

How to Prepare Your Business for Black Friday: Starting With Your Support Team

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Despite most of the shopping experience transferring into the online space, the “customer storm” is still something that modern eCommerce companies should expect during Black Friday and Cyber Monday period. So, if back in the days retailers had to prepare their physical stores, stocking up with the most anticipated products, now businesses should think about how they can make their websites more welcoming and user-ready. 

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This, of course, includes attending to the efficiency of your customer support, as your agents will basically be on the front lines of your sales. But how can you possibly prepare a special Black Friday customer service force? 

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Below, we’ve collected a couple of steps you can take to help you turn support into a winning asset this season. 

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1. Forecast Customer Volume Before It Hits

Reports show that around 57% of eCommerce platforms report record online sales growth during Black Friday weekend. Which means businesses can expect an influx of customers and an increase in the number of orders. Since these types of sales are happening every year, companies can use the historical data from previous periods to prepare.

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What should the attention be paid to?

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Well, first and foremost, the increase in customer volume. You can check out your records on how many customers and orders you got last year, and prepare based on that. It’s also a good idea to collect information over a period of a couple of years, for instance, 2022-2024, as this way you can also calculate an approximate increase in potential customers. Having a proper Black Friday customer data analysis allows you to plan for the number of support agents you will need to cover all incoming requests, as well as help you optimize your website so it doesn’t go into downtime right after the customers come.

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2. Analyze Last Year’s Data

Historic data, with the focus on last year’s statistics, can also reveal other information, aside from sheer ticket volume. For example, that’s how Finder has established that during 2024, the top-three most searched items were PS5, Nintendo Switch, and iPhones – all tech products. Following this example, your business could identify the best-selling or most anticipated products and plan further inventory and promotional efforts according to those insights. 

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If you analyze last year’s support data and performance metrics, you will also be able to understand your audience’s behavior much better:

• When exactly are they visiting your websites;
• How often do they interact with your support;
• What are the customers’ major pain points;
• Which are the most popular communication channels;
• And how much time passes from adding a product to the cart to actually buying it.

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Additionally, this data can help identify the strongest marketing strategies, engagement with your promotions, and the expected revenue for this period. 

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All of this information will help your business to better prepare operations to match the usual customer behavior and live up to their expectations. 

3. Automate to Save Your Agents’ Time

Automation is the number one solution for the busy periods simply because it takes away a huge part of repetitive work from your plate. The question is, what can you automate?

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• CRM workflows

With the help of specialized tools (often powered by AI), you can automate key parts of customer communication, such as sending “thank you” or “bonus point” emails after a purchase, reminders about abandoned carts or expiring vouchers, and targeted promotional messages. AI solutions also enhance efficiency through automatic case classification and routing, helping make sure each customer request reaches the right person quickly and is handled more effectively.

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• Feedback collection

We will talk about the necessity and importance of collecting feedback a bit later on, but overall, this process can also be automated. That is, of course, if you already have post-interaction surveys in place. In that case, you can set up a mailing system that would send out those questionnaires after the customers have received their orders.

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• Ticket handling

The incorporation of chatbots is not a new thing, but it can prove to be especially helpful during Black Friday period. These automated systems will be able to take on the handling of the most frequent FAQs, order status inquiries, and basic troubleshooting. Leaving AI chatbots to handle repetitive customer queries will free your team to deal with more urgent or complex cases, in the end allowing them to win over more customers.  

4. Expand Multilingual & Omnichannel Coverage

Offering versatile support through various communication channels and covering multiple languages has already become standard practice. Survey of 3,180 global shoppers reveals 71.7% expect omnichannel communications. And, considering modern eCommerce businesses don’t shy away from going international, multilingual capabilities are also significantly expected.

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Not only do these features help expand your business's reach, but they are also more likely to encourage customers to complete their purchases and stay with your business in the long run. 

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How does this work? 

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During peak shopping periods, customers flood in from different regions and time zones, all expecting the same seamless Black Friday customer experience. An omnichannel and multilingual support strategy ensures that no matter where a shopper comes from or which platform they prefer to use — live chat, social media, email, or phone — they’re met with consistent, accessible, and personalized assistance. 

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This prevents frustration from language barriers and slow responses, as well as helps build trust and credibility at the very moment purchase decisions are being made. In essence, offering support that speaks your customers’ language ( both literally and figuratively) turns chaotic sales surges into opportunities for connection, conversion, and long-term loyalty. And it doesn’t mean you need to hire special agents into your in-house team. 

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Multilingual outsourcing for international Black Friday customers exists, and eCommerce businesses should leverage the benefits this type of collaboration brings. 

5. Prepare Communication Templates

Clear and consistent communication is key to gaining a positive reputation and satisfying more customers. Nevertheless, your support agents are human and, with the pressure of customer cases piling up in the backlog, they might want to close tickets faster. And, thus, make mistakes.

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To avoid such communication slips from happening and handle customer requests during Black Friday effectively, preparing scripts can be helpful. They will give your agents a clear structure and a better understanding of what to say to customers, even during the most chaotic periods. 

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It’s a good practice to prepare adaptable communication templates for the most common scenarios, like, for instance:

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• Voucher or discount codes issues;
• Order tracking questions;
• Inquiries about shipping delays;
• Questions on refund and return policies.

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Try to avoid creating scripts that are too rigid. Despite offering a certain structure for your support team, they still should be quite flexible. They should serve only as guides on how to keep communication clear and on-brand. Remember, the key goal of your templates should be to help agents write empathetic, clear customer updates during peak season.

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If all of this seems too confusing, here’s a simple checklist you can use to evaluate how ready your business is for the upcoming sales season.

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Top 3 Black Friday Support Tips on How to Handle Customer Support for an eCommerce Store

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As we got the basics out of the way, we can now discuss more proactive approaches to handling common eCommerce support challenges during peak sales seasons. Drawing from our own experience, we’ve decided to outline the 3 most helpful Black Friday support tips to help you make the most out of this year’s busiest season. 

1. Use Outsourced or Remote Teams for Quality Scaling

The number one advice we can give any type of business, from small to large, is to consider customer support outsourcing. You may ask, why outsourcing can help handle Black Friday ticket surges. 

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• First of all, not all companies have the capacity to permanently expand their in-house support teams. After all, it requires extra budgeting, as well as time and effort for sourcing and hiring new employees.
  
  
• Secondly, some businesses may experience largely different support ticket volumes during peak season compared to regular periods. So it wouldn’t make sense to expand the internal team of agents if they won’t have enough tasks after the major sales are over. 

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In these cases, hiring a customer support outsourcing company offers a great solution, as it provides one of the most cost-effective ways to scale your support team. With a specialized provider by your side, you will be able to meet your SLAs, keep your customers informed even when tickets keep coming, and generally maintain a high satisfaction level throughout the sales period. 

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One thing to be aware of is the instructions your outsourced team receives. Experienced providers surely do have tried-and-true customer service training programs, but that wouldn’t be enough to ensure a truly seamless customer experience. 

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Thus, arrange all the necessary information about your: 

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• Products,
• Brand voice,
• As well as any pre-established communication templates you might have. 

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Sharing these details with the partner outsourced support provider will help ensure that hired agents have the necessary knowledge and can integrate seamlessly with your existing team. 

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And if you want to learn more about finding a good outsourced support team, we recommend checking out our guide on how to choose a reliable outsourcing partner. 

2. Avoid Chaos with Proactive Messaging

Prepping your Black Friday customer service is not simply about adding more agents to your team, though. You also need to make sure your support acts proactively. 

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You may start by improving your outreach campaigns. Of course, most business owners know that Black Friday doesn’t start just on the 28th of November, as most launch their sales efforts far beforehand, sometimes as early as mid-October. What they might miss out on is that on the day of the major sale itself, reaching out is still needed. 

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Companies need to reach out to their audience first (and not vice versa) to notify them:

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• When the sale starts exactly;
• Which promotional offers will be available;
• What will be the expected shipping and delivery times;
• As well as the expected response times from the support teams (you remember that honesty is the greatest policy, right?).  

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Another thing you can do is set up live chat before the sales rush. Make sure the server runs smoothly and can be immediately available once the customer enters your website. It can be a good idea to set up a greeting message in the chat, which can also include information on the hottest offers or key details your clients need to know before ordering at the time. 

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Don't forget that you have an opportunity to implement chatbots for instant answers to the most common questions, addressing order tracking inquiries, and even guiding users through the checkout process.

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Finally, be clear and upfront about any technical issues your users can expect. You should notify them about the exact checkout processing and order fulfillment times to manage their expectations, as well as protect your business from unnecessary accusations. 

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We recommend a proactive approach as a solution that will help you keep the situation under control, no matter how stressful this period gets. 

3. Notify Customers About Delays

On the same note, it’s crucial to proactively update customers about delays or order changes. Why did we decide to highlight this particular need as a separate tip? 

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The thing is, many companies may feel compelled to try and convince the client that everything is under control when in reality it isn’t. We are all people, and we all know mishaps can happen. That’s why we at EverHelp strongly believe that being open and transparent about any complications is the priority. 

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If you notify customers about delivery delays and confirm any order changes upfront, it will show your customers that:

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1. You respect their time, needs, and wishes;
2. You can recognize your mistakes and so possibly correct them;
3. Your business doesn’t go behind clients' backs, meaning they can trust you.

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It’s even better if you can pair your notifications with an offer: a discount, a voucher, or a small complementary product. This will not cost your business as much as a lost sale and an unsatisfied customer leaving a negative review online.

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So, to make the point straight, honesty and transparency are the only ways you can keep your business running smoothly, even when some operations may experience difficulties. 

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Turn Black Friday Insights into Future CX Wins

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When the rush is over and the last orders have been shipped, it’s time to shift from managing chaos to learning from it. Every Black Friday season leaves behind a goldmine of data, experiences, and customer insights, granted you know how to use them. Turning these lessons into actionable improvements is what separates reactive teams from truly customer-centric ones. By organizing a thorough post-Black-Friday debrief and collecting meaningful customer feedback, your team can refine its processes, strengthen support workflows, and enter the next big season better prepared than ever. 

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And below, we discuss exactly how you can do it. 

Gathering Feedback and Improving

To learn from your experience, you first need to gather data about it. Black Friday customer feedback forms are just one popular way to collect structured customer feedback once the rush is over. You can also send short (1 to 3 questions max) surveys to customers who have completed their purchases, or remind them via email to leave honest reviews of their experience with your brand. Set up post-support interaction surveys to better understand their behavior, experiences, and satisfaction. Even asking a simple question like “Was your issue resolved?” will give you enough data to understand if your support processes were appropriately organized.

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Efforts like this will give your business valuable insight into what you customers liked, disliked, what they found helpful, and what didn’t work at all. 

Organizing a Post-Black-Friday Debrief

Your customers aren’t the only ones with whom you should talk things over. Once the Black Friday storm settles, one of the smartest steps you can take is to bring all your teams together for a comprehensive post-season debrief. 

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Here, it’s important to NOT focus just on the numbers. Such meetings are an opportunity to discover what worked, what didn’t, and why. Make sure to involve every department that played a role during the sale: marketing, logistics, IT, and especially customer support. Support teams are often the first to spot recurring issues, customer frustrations, or unexpected opportunities, making their insights invaluable for shaping future strategies. 

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To organize an effective debrief:

1. Schedule it while the experience is still fresh;
2. Collect key data points (like response times, ticket spikes, and customer sentiment);
3. And encourage open discussion without finger-pointing. 

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What companies should avoid is turning this meeting into a blame session or focusing only on surface-level results. The goal is improvement, not critique — so recognize the wins and foster a collaborative atmosphere where every team feels heard and motivated to refine processes for next time.

Make Black Friday Sales an Opportunity to Form Strong Customer Relationships

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We have laid out all the possible options to help you prepare for the upcoming Black Friday season. Now, it’s up to you to choose what will work the best for your business, and what exactly you need to fix. 

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Yet, such preparations don’t come without challenges. Considering you might have other urgent issues on your mind at the moment, we would love to offer our help. 

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Just book a meeting with our EverHelp team, and we will break down what exactly we can do to help your customer support team go through this year’s Black Friday with ease.