The Holidays Are Coming: Let’s Get Your Business Ready

The holidays are one of the busiest, most meaningful times of year for your customers, and we love being the friendly voice that gets to greet them when they call. Some of our customers have AnswerHero answering 24/7/365, and others rely on us for after-hours, overflow, or just weekend coverage. No matter which setup you have, we can only give callers the right answer when we know your holiday schedule. Here’s why that matters, and how to send us your holiday schedules.

Why Your Holiday Hours Matter

• Accurate call routing: The receptionists answer, schedule, and escalate calls based on the notes and scripts on your account. Without your current holiday schedule, they’re working from your regular hours, which may not be accurate that day.
• Customer trust: Yext customer research found 73% of consumers say they’re unlikely to return to a business after expecting it to be open and finding out it’s closed, and 52% say they’re not confident visiting when a business hasn’t set clear holiday hours. A caller who gets the wrong answer on the phone forms that same impression.
• Fewer missed opportunities: Holiday weeks often bring a spike in appointment requests, orders, and urgent questions. The right information means every one of those callers get taken care of correctly.
• Accurate on-call information: This matters most for businesses like medical practices, law firms, and service providers, where emergencies happen at any time, even holidays. If a caller needs to reach someone urgently during a closure, we need to know who’s on call so we can route them correctly.

What to Share With Us

• Closed dates: Full-day closures, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Day.
• Modified hours: Early closures, late openings, or shortened days around a holiday.
• On-call and escalation contacts: Especially important for medical offices, who should be called for true emergencies if your usual on-call contact is off for the holiday.
• Promotions or special instructions: Holiday sales, limited services, or anything else the receptionists should know is different that week.

If your business has more than one location, please send the hours for each one separately so we can take great care of callers at every office.

How Far in Advance to Let Us Know

Send your holiday schedule at least two to four weeks before the date. For major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, earlier is better.

That lead time gives us room to review the updated script, confirm escalation contacts, and ask questions before call volume picks up. A last-minute update still gets entered, but it leaves less time to catch conflict, such as an escalation contact who’s already out that day.

How to Submit Your Holiday Hours

1. Gather the details: closed dates, modified hours, and your emergency escalation or on-call contact.
2. Email our Customer Care team at customercare@answerhero.com, or give them a call, with your holiday schedules.
3. We update your account, including the scripts and notes the receptionists use to answer your calls.

If anything changes after you’ve submitted the information, such as a new closure date or a different escalation contact, just send Customer Care an update. We’ll apply the latest version.

Update Your Holiday Hours Today

We’re honored to be part of your front desk, and we want every caller who reaches out this holiday season (and everyday), whether it’s for a quick question or something urgent, to feel welcomed. A few minutes now spent sharing your closed dates, hour changes, and escalation contacts with our team, helps us keep that promise all season long.

Email our Customer Care team at customercare@answerhero.com or give them a call today, and we’ll have your holiday schedule on file before the holidays arrive. Thank you for trusting us with your calls, however we’re covering your line. We’re here for you and your callers every call, every time.

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