Sleigh your holiday support with AI-ready knowledge

It’s that time of year for extra eggnog, cozy sweaters, holiday lights, and of course the inevitable ticket surge. Every customer service leader knows the feeling. Peak season hits, queues double overnight, and customers expect answers yesterday. It’s the same for industries across retail to travel, healthcare to banking, and the stakes keep rising as questions become more varied and complex.

Expectations are also higher than ever. According to Zendesk’s 2026 CX Trends Report, eighty-three percent of consumers believe customer experience should be much better than it is today, and 67% now expect more personalized service from brands thanks to advances in AI. During the busiest weeks, the gap between what customers want and what teams can deliver can feel wider than ever.

Having guided thousands of brands like Uncommon Goods, New Look, and Sezzle through these moments, Zendesk has seen what sets leaders apart. They don’t just bolt on AI or hire more people—they invest in connected, always-on knowledge that powers effortless self-service. A strong knowledge foundation turns AI into a true force multiplier: it gives AI reliable information to pull from, which means customers receive accurate answers instantly and agents are equipped with the right context to handle the rest with confidence.

Because while tickets surge, they’re also getting more complex. Policies change quickly, promotions shift, and exceptions multiply across teams and systems.Without that shared, accurate knowledge behind every interaction, even the most advanced AI or experienced agent can struggle to keep pace and deliver consistent answers.

So how do service leaders prepare without exhausting their teams? It starts with AI-ready knowledge that fuels intelligent self-service and lets humans focus on what only people can do. The best gift you can give customers and teams this season is the right combination of smart knowledge and AI to deliver fast, accurate, and personalized support.

Resolutions that stick: Winning the holiday season with AI-ready knowledge

When a gift is running late, deflection won’t cut it. Only a complete and accurate resolution can keep the holiday spirit alive. That happens when self-service and AI are grounded in connected, trusted knowledge.

Miko, known for its interactive educational robots and programs, faces this challenge every holiday season. With its products among the most popular gifts, support requests surge as parents try to get devices up and running quickly for their children. To keep pace with growth, Miko built a strong knowledge foundation to power its AI-driven self-service—turning seasonal spikes into smooth, scalable resolutions.

Miko now resolves a majority of requests automatically, freeing its teams to focus on more complex, high-touch cases. It’s a clear example of how knowledge and AI together turn peak-season pressure into high-quality resolution—boosting satisfaction while giving teams the space to focus where it matters most.

Five ways to deck the halls with smarter self-service

Self-service success is built with clear intent to serve customers better, support agents effectively, and align with business goals. After working closely with thousands of service teams navigating their busiest seasons, we’ve identified five practical ways to make your knowledge and AI truly work when they need to shine.

1. Keep your knowledge current and reliable

   When peak season hits, the difference between smooth support and frustration often comes down to whether your content is accurate and up to date. Whether you’re a travel brand needing to update weekly or a retailer that adjusts return policies as promotions shift, focus on the articles that generate the most questions such as policy changes or shipping timelines and make sure they reflect the latest information. A handful of targeted updates can prevent thousands of repetitive inquiries.

   Zendesk’s Knowledge Builder can use your ticket data and company profile to quickly create a strong knowledge foundation, so your team can concentrate on what matters most.

2. Connect your knowledge sources in one place

   Scattered information slows down service and creates inconsistency. Even the best resources lose value if they live isolated in different tools or documents. Connecting these sources ensures agents, customers, and AI all draw from a single source of truth, helping to avoid conflicting information and speeding up support for customers.

   Zendesk’s Knowledge connectors bring together all of your service knowledge across platforms in one place with minimal effort.

3. Make answers effortless to find

   Customers want fast resolutions, not a scavenger hunt to find information. AI-powered search that understands intent surfaces the right answers instantly. For example, a retailer can highlight critical FAQs like shipping deadlines right at the top, reducing effort and time to answer.

   Zendesk’s generative search delivers grounded, relevant answers fast, improving self-service success. In fact, 76 percent of help centers see higher resolutions during sessions that include quick answers from generative search.

4. Be consistent across every channel

   Customers expect to get the same quality of support whether they visit your website, mobile app, social media, or chat. For example, a bank handling the humbug of fraud alerts must be able to provide the same clear next steps in-app, online, or via chat.

   Zendesk’s omnichannel Resolution Platform connects every touchpoint to the same knowledge, keeping answers consistent and trust high.

5. Let your AI agents tackle complex issues, too

   Peak season brings multi-step, high-stakes requests that can overwhelm even the best teams. Let AI agents take on these tasks confidently with connected, reliable knowledge that makes even the stress of open enrollment fade away. .

   Zendesk AI agents use that verified knowledge—and clear guardrails—to automate these interactions safely and escalate only when a human touch is needed.

Together, these practices build an AI-ready knowledge foundation that keeps your support running smoothly this holiday season, saving time, reducing frustration, and helping your team deliver the personalized service customers expect.

Deliver holiday happiness with humans and AI

Even with AI and self-service in place, peak season tests every team. The brands that thrive pair automation with human expertise to resolve routine requests at scale, while human agents focus on the high-value, nuanced conversations on their list.

The Zendesk Resolution Platform brings these forces together—AI, knowledge, and human expertise—enabling teams to manage the busiest season with calm, confidence, and care.

Because when people, knowledge, and AI work in sync, that’s the real magic of the season, giving shoppers a reason to return time and time again.