Are your Customers Worrying about Debt This Christmas?
Christmas causes December to be an expensive month for everyone, with extra purchases consisting of presents, cards, gift wrapping, food, clothes, socialising with work and friends, decorations, travel and many other items and services.
TotallyMoney have put together a fact sheet for the festive season Christmas by Numbers, here’s just some of the statistics:
- £1.8 billion will be withdrawn from UK cash machines over Christmas
- £1.6 billion is the total spent by the UK at Christmas
- £48 million is the total amount spent on Christmas puddings by the UK
- 6.8 million iOS and Android devices that will be activated on Christmas Day
- £330 is the average amount a UK adult spends buying Christmas presents.
Not only are there more expenses to compensate for in December, payday can also cause issues for many people. Due to the bank holidays, organisations can either bring paying their employees forwards, which means a longer period to their January paycheque or that December’s payday is prolonged a few days past their usual payment date.
With direct debits and bills still needing to be paid, consumers can begin to worry about their personal finances as they start to overspend, using overdrafts and extended credit excessively.
The Twelve Tips of Christmas
Click4Assistance customer Citizens Advice & Rights Fife published The Twelve Tips of Christmas, a helpful guide for making Christmas spending easier. Here are their points in a nutshell:
- Calculate your budget
- Draw up a Christmas List
- Go D.I.Y
- Check for unnecessary gifts
- Make use of loyalty cards
- Do something nice gifts
- Shop around
- Cut the cost of Food
- Boost your Christmas Budget
- Exclusive Discounts for young people (applicable to Fife residents)
- Go eco-friendly
- De-clutter
Read their guide on their website for a full explanation of these points.
Gaining Advice about Debt
When worrying about debt, it can become difficult to get yourself out of that situation, with many people too ashamed to reach out or not sure on whom to contact.
Citizens Advice & Rights Fife introduced live chat in 2015 as part of a revamp to their website. The instant communication helps the organisation to advise individuals with tackling their debt, as it can be a more anonymous channel. The system has been fully customised for visitors to feel fully confident they are speaking directly with representatives from the Bureau. 
Approaching others for help with finance issues can be difficult. Citizens Advice & Rights Fife understands this and have made the communication channel easy to use with many useful links to further information.
When clicking on the Bureau’s online chat button, the visitor is presented with a pre-chat form where they are encouraged to enter their name and which area of the organisation they require guidance from. A mandatory validation checkbox has been added to the form, ensuring they have confirmed agreement to the privacy policy.
The pop-up style chat window has more real-estate than an embedded window, and therefore the organisation has been able to continue their customisation promoting their brand. The additional room has also enabled them to share a useful link to their advice pages, signposting the visitor to helpful information.
This link continues through the visitor journey into chat, along with the Bureau’s branding. The simplistic design allows individuals to concentrate on the chat and the advice they are being provided with.
When none of the Bureau’s representatives are available or logged in, the chat button displays in its offline status. They have used the unavailable page to present their chat operational hours and provide alternative methods to receive help.
Are you customers worrying about their spending and personal finances over the festive period? Chat for website can help your organisation offer free and confidential advice, so that others can also have a peace of mind this Christmas.
Click4Assistance has been providing chat for website to finance organisations for over 10 years, for more information on the solution book a free demonstration by calling our finance co-ordinator on 01268 524 628 or email theteam@click4assistance.co.uk.
