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The holiday season has always been one of the most intense times of the year for global businesses. Between unpredictable call spikes, shifting team schedules, and higher sales activity, the weeks from November through January can put real pressure on your customer experience. But with the right data and the right reporting framework, you can turn the holiday rush into a period of efficiency, insight, and improved customer satisfaction.

Holiday season reporting helps businesses understand how customer behavior changes during the holidays, which regions need additional support, when call volumes spike, and how well your teams keep up with demand.

With Global Call Forwarding, you can use call analytics, AI Call Insights, phone number tagging, and custom reports to build a clear, structured view of your busiest months and make proactive adjustments that ensure a smooth holiday experience for your customers and your teams.

Below, we break down how to build a holiday reporting strategy and what to measure, so you head into the season with confidence:

• Why Holiday Call Reports Matter
• What to Include in a Holiday Voice Report
  • Call Volume
  • Regional Breakdown
  • Customer Experience and Sentiment
  • Routing and IVR Performance
  • Seasonal Campaign Performance
  • Staffing Preparedness and Needs
  • Recommendations for Next Season

Why Holiday Season Reporting Matters

During the holidays, customers shop more, travel more, and require more support. That change in behavior often translates into:

• Higher inbound call volume
• Longer call duration
• More escalations and time-sensitive requests
• Greater regional variation in call patterns
• Increased demand for after-hours and weekend coverage

These aren’t normal fluctuations; they’re seasonal trends that businesses can predict when they’re supported by good reporting.

A holiday dashboard turns reactive support into proactive planning, giving your business greater resilience, agility, and customer satisfaction during its most demanding season.

By closely tracking key call data points throughout the season, managers can:

• Shift staffing quickly during high-traffic periods
• Reassign routing or activate backup flows when a team is overloaded
• Update IVR menus based on common issues found in transcripts and summaries
• Support regional teams more effectively during timezone-specific spikes
• Identify and resolve friction points before they turn into customer dissatisfaction
• Track campaign performance and adapt promotions in real time

What Visibility Do You Get with Holiday Call Reports?

When set up correctly and with the right tools, holiday call reporting gives you visibility into:

• When your call traffic is highest
• Which regions generate the most support requests
• How sentiment shifts during peak periods
• What caused missed calls last year
• How well your agents, routing plans, and IVR performed
• Which holiday campaigns generated real call-driven revenue

By combining AI Call Insights, advanced call analytics, and number tagging, you can understand not only how many calls you received, but why customers were reaching out, what they needed, and how effectively your team responded.

What to Include in a Holiday Reporting Framework

Below we highlight the core call metrics and data that businesses can use to prepare for the holidays and the seasonal demands that come with it. This data can help support, sales, and operations teams make informed decisions before and during the holiday rush.

Look out for our How to resources throughout this guide to see how to set this up with Global Call Forwarding.

1. Call Volume Overview (Nov–Jan)

Your holiday reporting should begin with a top-level view of call activity during the busiest months. This establishes a baseline for understanding demand and helps you determine whether your system and staffing kept up or if adjustments are required this year.

Reviewing multiple seasons in a row also reveals patterns: which days consistently spike, which promotions drive traffic, and which weeks require extended coverage.

Start with a macro view. Identify:

• Total inbound calls
• Answered vs missed calls
• Abandoned call trends
• Volume changes vs last year’s holiday season

If your missed calls rate climbed during past peak days, you may need overflow routing, additional agents, or time-based routing. If your total volume shifted earlier or later than expected, adjust your staffing and campaign timing for this year.

GCF features that help:
Custom reporting, scheduled reports, time-based routing, redundant routing

2. Regional Breakdown

Holiday behavior varies dramatically by market. Retail and travel-heavy regions may experience surges weeks before others, while some time zones show concentrated demand after business hours. A regional breakdown lets you understand not just how much traffic you received, but where and when customers needed you.

Analyze holiday traffic by region or local phone numbers:

• APAC early-morning spikes
• EMEA midday bursts
• Americas evening surges

Adding phone number tags for regional lines makes it easy to pinpoint which markets drove demand and when.

If APAC saw unexpected overnight spikes last year, consider adding local ring groups or routing after-hours calls to agents in compatible time zones. Strong regional data also helps validate whether you need additional local numbers or expanded Local 2-Way Voice coverage in high-demand markets.

GCF features that help:
Phone number tags, Local 2-Way Voice, Regional Analytics, advanced routing

3. Customer Experience & Sentiment

The holidays are emotionally charged; customer expectations are higher, patience is lower, and issues are often urgent. Understanding the quality of interactions (not just the quantity) is essential for maintaining customer trust. Track:

• Call duration
• Call abandonment rates
• Sentiment scores
• Repeated customer issues
• Common keywords that come up in conversations

AI Call Insights can reveal common holiday frustrations, shipping-related inquiries, billing issues, or seasonal demand patterns.

If sentiment dips or call duration spikes, you may need updated scripts, better holiday FAQs, or an improved IVR to direct callers more efficiently. Identifying repeated seasonal questions helps you prepare documentation, seasonal landing pages, and proactive messaging for this year.

GCF features that help:
AI Call Insights, call transcription, Custom Reports, keyword search

4. Routing & IVR Performance During Seasonal Peaks

Routing performance plays a major role in how well your business handles holiday traffic. While your analytics may not always show the exact routing path, final failover destination, or which backup flow was triggered, you can still use available data to understand how effectively callers reached the right teams and where your routing strategy may need adjustments.

Your holiday reporting should look at indirect indicators of routing performance, such as:

• Surges in missed or abandoned calls during certain hours
• Spikes in voicemail traffic that may signal under-resourced teams
• Higher-than-usual call duration, indicating customers aren’t reaching the right department quickly
• Sentiment drops correlated with long queues or slower connection times
• Increased after-hours or weekend calls despite published holiday hours
• IVR selections and menu usage that show where callers tried to navigate

If voicemail traffic or missed calls increase during peak windows, it may signal a routing mismatch or insufficient coverage. If callers frequently choose the same IVR option, consider simplifying your menus or directing that option to a more robust ring group during the holidays.

Use year-over-year trends to decide whether to activate backup routes earlier, extend support hours, or adjust regional routing behavior. Review this early so you can rebuild your holiday call flows before traffic rises.

GCF features that help:
Holiday routing, time-based routing, backup call flows, IVR management

5. Seasonal Sales Performance & Campaign Attribution

Holiday calls aren’t just service-focused; they’re revenue drivers. Tracking which campaigns, regions, or phone lines influenced conversions helps you understand how holiday demand impacts your sales funnel and which marketing efforts are worth repeating.

Many holiday campaigns include special numbers, promo lines, or inbound sales routes. You can track calls and measure:

• Leads generated from campaign-specific toll-free or local lines
• Conversion trends by region or caller location
• Calls tied to CRM opportunities
• Performance of phone-enabled landing pages
• Which promos drove the most inbound calls

If a specific campaign number drove a disproportionate share of qualified leads, assign similar numbers or repeat the offer this year. If certain regions converted at higher rates, adjust your ad spend or extend local support hours for better coverage.

GCF features that help:
Phone number tags, CRM integrations, outbound caller ID, softphone, CRM integrations, campaign call tracking

6. Staffing & Team Preparedness

Holiday reporting also highlights operational health. When call volume surges, the ability of your team to keep up can determine whether customers feel supported or overlooked.

Now some staffing metrics like hours understaffed are tracked internally within workforce systems. With our call data, you can unveil clear indicators of where your support or sales teams may have been stretched thin. Focus on behavioral patterns in your call logs that reflect staffing pressure, such as

• Call spikes clustered around specific hours – Suggesting times when more agents may be needed.
• Impact of missed calls or higher unanswered call counts during certain shifts – Often an early sign of undercoverage or competing priorities for the team.
• Longer call durations during peak days – Meaning agents may have been resolving more complex holiday-related issues.
• Sentiment drops in transcripts and summaries – Indicating moments when customer frustration increased, possibly due to slower response times.
• Voicemail or after-hours call volume increasing unexpectedly – Signaling misalignment between staffing and customer demand.
• Patterns in agent performance if you use individual or department-specific numbers – Phone number tags and assigned lines help show which teams carried heavier seasonal load.

If missed or abandoned calls spike at certain hours, adjust your routing or staffing during those windows. If sentiment trends negatively during specific days or campaigns, consider additional seasonal training or updated scripts. If after-hours calls are higher than expected, revisit your holiday hours or set more granular time-based routing.

By comparing performance across previous seasons, you can see whether you need:

• More seasonal agents
• Better shift coverage
• Clearer escalation paths
• Updated call scripts or FAQs

GCF features that help:
Call summaries, sentiment analysis, scheduled call reports, number tagging, time-based routing, call outcome analysis

7. Recommendations for Next Season

Your holiday report is only valuable if it leads to action. The insights you collect should guide planning for the upcoming season, helping you build a more resilient and customer-friendly experience.

Your insights should help you determine:

• Which regions need expanded coverage
• How to optimize routing for predictable holiday peaks
• Where IVR menus should be streamlined
• Whether customer sentiment indicates friction points
• What staffing adjustments would improve outcomes
• Which promotions or campaigns should be repeated or retired

Create a “Holiday Readiness Checklist” based on your findings and begin updating routing, FAQs, IVR scripts, and staffing plans at least 4-6 weeks before peak demand begins. Refine your dashboards so next year’s reporting becomes even more precise.

Building Your Holiday Dashboard with GCF

Creating a holiday-specific reporting dashboard is one of the most effective ways to monitor real-time performance during your busiest season. While the holidays often bring unexpected spikes in customer demand, a well-structured report helps your support and sales leaders stay ahead by visualizing call trends, spotting early signs of friction, and making fast adjustments to routing or staffing.

With Global Call Forwarding, you can build practical, data-driven call reports that reflect how your business performs during peak holiday windows. You can then use this data as is or feed it into your own reporting system like Excel, Looker Studio, Power BI, etc.

Your holiday voice dashboard should include the following components:

• Inbound and outbound call volume
• Completed vs missed calls
• Regional visibility using local phone numbers and phone tags
• Hourly and daily peak charts
• Sentiment monitoring
• Voicemail and after-hours call trends
• Campaign phone line performance
• Call outcome trends (transferred, answered, voicemail, missed)

By keeping these data points visible, support and sales managers can shift staffing, adjust routing, and respond quickly when customer activity spikes.

Let Your Data Do the Heavy Lifting This Season

Holiday reporting transforms seasonal chaos into clarity. When you understand how customers behave, where call volume surges, and what your teams need to succeed, you can deliver a smoother, faster, more reliable experience—no matter how busy the season becomes.

With Global Call Forwarding’s advanced routing, AI Insights, analytics, and flexible phone system features, your business can stay ahead of demand, protect customer satisfaction, and create a holiday season that is productive—not overwhelming.

If you’d like help building your holiday dashboard or reviewing last year’s data, our team is here to assist.

Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or start a live chat to get holiday-ready today.

The holiday season continues to be one of the busiest (and most profitable!) periods for global businesses. But higher call volumes, shifting schedules, and seasonal customer expectations can put pressure on your support and operations teams. For global businesses, this period is an opportunity to strengthen customer relationships, boost sales, and improve operational workflows. Preparing early helps ensure your teams stay aligned, customers reach the right department quickly, and no call goes unanswered during your busiest months.

Today’s holiday readiness plan should go beyond basic staffing and scheduling. With advanced call routing, AI-powered Call Insights, analytics, and backup call flows, Global Call Forwarding gives you the tools to keep your business reachable and resilient, no matter how busy the season gets.

Below are new, modernized ways to prepare your business for the holidays—rooted in both voice communication best practices and broader business readiness to help you maintain continuity and keep customers happy.

How to Make Your Business Holiday-Ready

The holidays often reshape how customers interact with your business. Call traffic becomes more unpredictable, teams juggle shifting schedules, and sales and support activities intensify—especially for companies operating across multiple regions and time zones. This is where proactive planning becomes essential. With the right mix of routing strategies, analytics, and operational readiness, you can deliver a smooth experience throughout the season.

Here are 7 ways to prepare your business for the holidays:

1. Launch holiday marketing campaigns early
2. Understand customer behavior before the rush
3. Build holiday call flows with advanced routing
4. Set up custom call reports and holiday-specific reports
5. Prepare your customer service and sales teams
6. Update your website, contact pages, and self-service options
7. Handle internal operations before things get busy

1. Launch Holiday Marketing Campaigns Early

Your holiday communication strategy shouldn’t exist in silos—your email, social, paid ads, and voice channels all work together to drive seasonal engagement. By launching early, you give your campaigns time to build momentum while allowing your team to adjust based on performance and customer behavior. Use last year’s marketing and sales data and call analytics to anticipate demand trends and tailor your messaging by region.

Holiday marketing should be aligned across email, social, paid ads, and voice channels. Prepare:

• Holiday content marketing — Put out relevant content for your customers about how they might use your product or service during the holidays (knowledge base, how-to guides, etc.). Holiday landing pages optimized for local regions
• Holiday promotions — Run special offers and deals for the holidays to bring in more customers. Use past years’ call and customer data to refine campaigns and run more targeted promotions.
• Updated company contact information — Reassure existing customers that your business will be reachable during the holidays and provide them with resources for off-hours assistance (chatbots, online ticketing and support center, etc.)
• Business phone system — IVR updates that highlight holiday offers, CRM tagging for holiday-related inbound calls.
• Overall clear messaging around shipping times, appointment availability, or service hours.

Plan your holiday marketing strategy to keep customers happy and maintain business continuity during the holidays. Launching early also ensures your teams have time to monitor performance and optimize campaigns throughout the season.

2. Understand Customer Behavior Before the Rush

Holiday demand isn’t just about higher call volumes; it’s about understanding what customers actually want during your busiest months. The more visibility you have into their needs, pain points, and expectations, the better you can prepare your routing, staffing, and messaging.

With AI Call Insights from Global Call Forwarding, you can identify:

• Common issues customers called about last year
• Sentiment shifts across regions or product lines
• Where call flows caused delays or frustration
• Agent performance trends to guide staffing

With transcript search, call summaries, and sentiment scoring, you can quickly surface patterns and adjust your support strategy before the season starts.

Beyond AI Call Insights, you can also use:

• Custom call reports and analytics — Review missed-call trends, length of calls, regional spikes, and number tags to understand where demand came from and when. This helps you determine which hours, departments, or markets may need additional coverage during the holidays.
• Customer feedback and frontline input — Your support agents hear real concerns daily. Use surveys, ticket tags, QA reviews, and agent feedback sessions to uncover seasonal issues, common product questions, and recurring friction points. This qualitative insight often reveals gaps that your data alone may not capture.

Together, AI-driven analysis, historical reports, and real customer feedback provide a full picture of how customer behavior changes during the holiday season so you can prepare proactively instead of reacting in the moment.

3. Build Holiday Call Flows With Advanced Routing

Holiday traffic is rarely predictable, but your phone system can be. Use holiday call routing and time-based routing to pre-define exactly what happens to your calls on specific days, weekends, or alternate support hours. This lets you:

• Route calls to backup teams, after-hours agents, or on-call schedules
• Play seasonal greetings or custom holiday announcements
• Send overflow calls to voicemail, a secondary number, or an emergency call center
• Shift routing by region to manage spikes in different regions like APAC, EMEA, or the Americas.

You can also create backup call flows, so if your primary team is unavailable, calls automatically roll over to the next best destination, ensuring callers never hit a dead end.

Your business might have specific holiday schedules not just during the holiday season but throughout the year. It could be employees taking vacation and time off, or your whole business taking a day or two off for national and public holidays. So you can create these types of schedules for the next year as well.

How do I set up holiday call routing? Check out our guide on how to set up holiday routing with Global Call Forwarding.

4. Set Up Custom Reports and Holiday-Specific Reports

During the holiday season, call patterns shift dramatically. Certain regions spike earlier than others, support queues get longer, and customer needs become more urgent. A regular reporting cadence isn’t enough. You need holiday-specific call reports that highlight short-term trends, compare year-over-year performance, and help your teams react quickly to seasonal fluctuations.

Your call data can help you predict, plan, and measure holiday performance, but only if you can see it clearly.

Use our Custom Reports feature and generate or schedule exports to:

• Track peak call times across global regions
• Review missed call patterns to see where coverage needs improvement
• Compare this year’s call volume to last year’s
• Measure campaign performance by phone line, number tag, or region
• Send automated weekly reports to team leads.

You can create dedicated call reports just for November–January activity, filter by promotional dates, or track performance during extended hours and weekend shifts. These insights help you see how holiday traffic differs from the rest of the year and give your teams the data they need to make fast, informed decisions.

With these holiday-specific reports, you’re not just monitoring performance, you’re anticipating it. This ensures you have the staffing, routing, and backup flows needed to stay ahead of customer demand during the busiest time of the year.

5. Prepare Your Customer Service & Sales Teams

As holiday demand ramps up, your frontline teams become the core of your customer experience. Even a small surge in inquiries can overwhelm unprepared departments, so giving your agents the right tools and information ahead of time is crucial. Start by reviewing last year’s call patterns to anticipate peak days and regions, then align staffing and workflows accordingly. This helps reduce stress on your team and shortens customer wait times.

Whether you use seasonal staffing or shift adjustments, holiday readiness should include:

• Flexible scheduling for high-traffic days
• Training refreshers for new and existing agents
• Updated call scripts, FAQ responses, and escalation rules
• Failover strategies if a region experiences outages or high volume

Bonus: Use call transcripts and summaries from past years to train new seasonal hires on real customer scenarios, helping them ramp up faster and deliver consistent support from day one.

6. Update Your Website, Contact Pages, and Self-Service Options

During the holidays, customers look for quick answers, often before they even pick up the phone. Ensuring your digital touchpoints are clear, accurate, and up-to-date helps reduce unnecessary call traffic and improves the overall experience. Review every customer-facing page for seasonal changes and make sure your website can handle increased traffic from campaigns and promotions.

Many customers try self-service first, especially during the holidays. Make sure:

• Contact pages list accurate hours, holiday closures, and phone lines
• IVR menus match what’s shown online
• Support documentation and chat widgets reflect seasonal changes
• Your checkout, pricing, and product pages load quickly
• Local numbers for regions like APAC, EMEA, and LATAM are easy to find.

This reduces unnecessary call volume and improves conversions while keeping your support queues more manageable.

7. Handle Internal Operations Before Things Get Busy

The operational side of holiday preparation is just as important as customer-facing work. With multiple teams juggling PTO, increased workloads, and year-end tasks, aligning internal processes early keeps everyone organized. Audit your systems, technology stack, and workflows to ensure everything runs smoothly, even when demand spikes.

Outside of communications, make sure your business is operationally ready:

• Finalize vacation and PTO schedules. so teams know who’s on duty
• Audit your inventory, supply chain, or delivery timelines
• Perform a year-end systems cleanup: permissions, roles, user seats
• Ensure billing, invoicing, and accounting workflows can handle seasonal spikes
• Check integrations (CRM, helpdesk, UCaaS) so agents aren’t slowed down

A well-organized backend keeps customer experience smooth on the front end and minimizes disruptions during your busiest period.

Getting in the Holiday Spirit

As you prepare your business for the holidays, don’t forget to get into the holiday spirit and celebrate with your teams, in whatever capacity is appropriate. This is a time to take a step back after weeks of preparing and be present in the moment.

Need a call routing solution for the upcoming holiday season? Chat with our representatives online or call us at +1 (561) 908-6171. Happy holidays!