Integrate data-driven forecasting

Audit last year's ticket volume by intent (topic), not just channel. Before building, verify that your top 3 most frequent holiday topics (WISMO, Return Policy, Exchange, etc) have dedicated, high-priority automated solutions.

Create a Holiday Business Schedule

This is non-negotiable. A key best practice is to set a specific, shorter holiday SLA (ex: a 6-hour first response time) and link it to your Schedule to ensure the Proactive SLA Escalator workflow is triggered sooner during peak demand.

Define clear expectations across channels

Set up professional auto-replies across ALL channels that explicitly reference the Holiday Business Schedule's expected response time, helping to manage customer patience immediately upon contact.

Deploy Sentiment & Intent-Based Routing

Leverage AI to categorize tickets beyond just keywords. Use a sentiment analysis step such as those found in Kustomer’s AI tools to identify "Frustrated" or "Angry" customers. Automatically bypass lower-tier AI agents and fast-track them to a human agent, preventing negative feedback.

Sharpen Escalation & Evacuation Workflows

Test and double-check your "evacuation flows." If an external system such as a fulfillment API goes down, the workflow must fail gracefully and automatically tag and queue the ticket for a human agent rather than simply crashing or failing to send an update.

Your workflow is only as strong as its weakest integration

Before peak season, verify that your workflows connecting to external APIs (Slack, ERP, Loyalty Programs etc) have high enough execution limits and can handle a surge in traffic.

Prioritize Agent Assist Tools for New Hires

While customer-facing AI agents deflect volume, you must enable and simplify features designed to help your agents for full time employees & seasonal staff (ex: suggested canned responses). This guarantees that new agents provide accurate, on-brand policy answers such as holiday return dates without having to search or ask a supervisor.

Up-Level your AI Agents

Train your AI with "negative data.” Show it what NOT to answer and limit its scope to only the knowledge base articles you've verified for the holidays to prevent "hallucinations."

Automate Agent-Facing Validation

Use workflows to automatically flag conversations for QA review when a new seasonal agent handles a high-priority or VIP request. This ensures quality control is maintained even when supervisors are overloaded.