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Typewise's Holiday Support Surge Report

As the festive shopping season kicks off, Typewise has unveiled its 2025 Holiday Support Surge Report, highlighting the pivotal pressures faced by customer service departments during this time. An analysis of over 10 million customer interactions from January to November has revealed a 22% increase in service volume, marking a notable shift in operational dynamics.

Highlights of the Report

According to the findings, customer service representatives are managing an average of 195 interactions per week, a sharp rise from 160 in the weeks leading up to Black Friday. However, it is not just the volume that presents challenges; the nature of the workload has dramatically changed. Agents find themselves with 13% less time to think and formulate responses. In contrast, the time spent typing increases by 8% during this peak period. In sectors such as retail and e-commerce, this disconnect is even starker, with thinking time dropping by 17% and typing time surging by 14%.

David Eberle, co-founder and CEO of Typewise, emphasized the operational demands placed on brands during this period. He stated, "Seasonal inefficiencies are essentially year-round challenges that become glaringly obvious during busy periods. The reliance on repetitive phrases combined with a decline in the use of templates signifies a pressing need for improved efficiency in customer service. Properly implemented AI solutions can alleviate much of this burden, enhancing overall quality and enabling agents to efficiently address customer needs."

To compound these issues, the report highlights a 27% decrease in the use of predefined templates and responses. This unexpected fall in efficiency tools correlates with a dramatic rise in manual typing, which has led to a worrying increase in typographical errors. Throughout the year, common mistakes such as typing "thans" instead of "thanks" occurred over 112,000 times, suggesting that cognitive overload is to blame rather than mere carelessness. Many of the inquiries received by customer support are predictable, making them an ideal candidate for AI automation.

In fact, Typewise's data suggests that approximately 46% of customer queries are predictable by AI, which rises to 60% in sectors like insurance and finance. Organizations already harnessing AI for text completion and writing assistance report reductions in typing time by 20-40%. Retail and e-commerce industries, in particular, have claimed up to 35% savings in response time, equating to over an entire workday saved per month.

A Shift in Communication Channels

Interestingly, the peak holiday season also brings significant changes to communication channels. Under ordinary conditions, customer service interactions are distributed evenly across channels, with live chat accounting for 43% of total inquiries. As the rush of holiday shopping begins, real-time chat availability plummets to just 7%, while email inquiries surge to an overwhelming 93%. This intentional throttling of live chat is aimed at managing potential backlogs, but ultimately leaves customers with pressing issues without real-time support when it’s most crucial.

Typewise's 2025 Holiday Support Surge Report serves as a critical reminder of the evolving challenges in customer service during peak shopping times. Addressing these issues is imperative for maintaining service quality and operational efficiency while providing customers with the timely support they deserve.

To access the entire report, you can download it here.

About Typewise

Typewise is a cutting-edge AI Agent Platform designed to optimize and automate customer service experiences through intelligent Agent Assistants and custom AI solutions. Trusted by numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Unilever and DPD, Typewise boasts reductions in operational efforts by 50% or more. Backed by Y Combinator, it has consistently achieved recognition as a top performer in AI-powered automation, as rated by G2.