Before you close for the holidays, fix five things: your online hours, your email auto-replies, your voicemail, your shipping cut-offs, and the message a customer sees when they can't reach you. None of it takes long. All of it keeps someone from driving across town to a locked door.
Here's the short list, in the order most likely to bite you.
Update your hours everywhere customers actually look
A customer checks Apple Maps on their break, sees you're open, drives over, and finds the lights off. That's the most common holiday miss, and it's the easiest to prevent. Updating one place isn't enough, because people check different ones.
Set your holiday hours in all of these:
- Google Business Profile. Start here. It's where most people land first.
- Facebook, Instagram, and Yelp. Plenty of clients check these before anything else.
- Your website. A banner with the holiday schedule, where nobody has to dig for it.
- Apple Maps. Easy to forget, and a lot of Mac users live in it for directions.
An announcement you can reuse: "Happy Holidays! We'll be closed from Thursday, Nov. 27 through Sunday, Dec. 1. Normal hours resume Monday morning, and we'll be back to help you promptly."
Set a warm auto-reply so email isn't a black hole
When you're away, a good auto-reply is your receptionist. It tells people you got their message, when you'll be back, and what to do if it can't wait.
A sample you can adapt: "Thanks for reaching out. We're closed for Thanksgiving from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 and will reply as soon as we're back. For anything urgent, please call (XXX) XXX-XXXX. Have a good holiday."
Keep the message short
Customers don't need your holiday plans. Skip the relatives and the office party. Give them three things: when you're closed, when you'll respond, and how to reach someone if it's urgent.
Over-sharing clutters the message and can leak details you'd rather not broadcast, like exactly when the office is empty. Save the stories for social media.
Test your phone and voicemail before you leave
Holiday callers are usually short on time and quick to give up. Make sure your voicemail greeting states the closure dates clearly so nobody's left guessing.
Call your own line and listen. Plenty of businesses run the same outdated greeting for years without realizing it.
A voicemail script to start from: "Thank you for calling [Business Name]. We're closed for the holiday weekend. Please leave a message and we'll call back Monday morning. For immediate help, press 1 to reach our on-call team. Happy Holidays, and thanks for your patience."
Post shipping cut-offs early if you ship
If you ship orders, put your order-by deadlines where people can't miss them: on the website and in your email campaigns, and promote them early.
A late delivery stings. A surprise late delivery, when the customer thought it would arrive in time, costs you their trust right when it matters most.
The point is to set expectations
Good holiday tech etiquette comes down to telling people what to expect, saying it warmly, and respecting their time. A handful of small changes spares you the stress and protects your reputation through the busy stretch.
The goal isn't just avoiding mistakes. It's showing customers you still care while you're offline.