Contact center load testing prepares your CX environment for the busiest days of the year. With Mother’s Day right around the corner, that kind of preparation is essential for contact center leaders in industries like retail and hospitality – which see huge growth in consumer spending and customer service requests leading up to the second Sunday in May.
Think your team doesn’t need to schedule CX load testing and performance testing for Mother’s Day? Here are a few key reasons to think again and start your contact center load testing now so you’re confident that it will be able to deliver when the Mother’s Day calls and cards go out.
Experts forecast $33.5B in retail spending
The National Retail Federation has been tracking Mother’s Day consumer spending for over a decade. In 2024, they forecast $33.5 billion in total spending for the holiday across the US. That’s the second highest spending total reported since the survey began. The same report identifies where consumers plan to spend that money: 35% on online shopping, 32% in department stores, and 29% in specialty stores including greeting card/gift stores, florists, jewelers, and electronics stores.
All of this consumer behavior will lead to increased traffic and an increased demand for customer service. For retailers this is a great opportunity. But if customer communications are slow, inconvenient, or broken, can quickly become a major threat.
In the world of retail, if you’re not able to respond to customer inquiries quickly and get them what they’re looking for, they’ll find someone else who can
said Kacey Kemmerer, Senior Vice President of Sales at Hammer. "With high volume holidays like Mother’s Day that’s especially true. Things like dropped calls, long hold times, and missed chat messages take directly away from your bottom line."
Mother’s Day meals bring a $5.9B bill
Placing a reservation for lunch or dinner shows just how quickly delays in customer service can lead to dropped business. According to 2023 research from the National Restaurant Association 40% of American adults plan to take Mom out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner as part of her day. This year those special outings will lead to a forecasted $5.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation’s survey.
Whether businesses are accepting orders and reservations over the phone or through web applications like Open Table, Door Dash, or Resy, they’re relying on the CX solutions in place to get reservation requests in (and reservation confirmation messages out) efficiently and accurately. If they can’t handle that, diners will dash on to the next option.
Hammer CX testing and monitoring for retail
Retail giants and recognized brands around the world use Hammer CX testing and monitoring solutions to ensure that their customer experience is quick, easy, and available however customers choose to reach out. With high volume holidays like Mother’s Day, businesses can’t afford to just trust that their contact center will perform as it’s supposed to. Hammer delivers comprehensive end-to-end testing of phone, text, and chat systems. These tests identify performance gaps, delays, and quality drops in your CX environment before your customers do by hammering your contact center with communications that simulate the most extreme Mother’s Day rush.
Find out how Hammer can help your retail organization prepare for Mother’s Day and all of the high traffic events to come. Contact us today to get started.
