If December is defined by urgency, January is defined by uncertainty.
As the holiday decorations come down and the last gifts are exchanged, shopper conversations don’t slow. They shift. The language of December (like “Is this on sale?” and “Will it arrive in time?”) gives way to a very different set of questions in January. For brands and retailers, those questions are some of the most valuable signals of the year.
January conversations reveal where expectations weren’t met, where clarity was missing, and where the customer experience quietly broke down. Smart sellers adapt by connecting more deeply with new customers, turning holiday shoppers into long-term brand advocates. The brands and retailers who don’t adapt risk losing those hard-won customers.
January isn’t calm. It’s a CX diagnostic month, and AI can help you make sense of opportunities to improve.
Why January Is a CX Pressure Test
There’s a common assumption that once the holidays end, customer activity tapers off. In reality, January often brings more complex and sometimes emotionally charged interactions than any other time of year, such as returns, support requests, or gift card purchases.
- The National Retail Federation found that “holiday 2025 is expected to bring higher return volumes,” with merchants expecting 17% of holiday sales will be returned in 2025.
- Other studies find even higher return rates and an uptick in support requests. eCommerceNews reports, “a 45% increase in return requests in the immediate post-Christmas period,” and on top of that, “the number of overall support requests increases by 34%.”
- Support requests may include customers seeking help with exchanges, sizing issues, refunds, and damaged items.
- The NRF also found that 50% of consumers want to receive gift cards during the 2025 holiday season. Shoppers start redeeming those gift cards after December 25, and redemptions peak in January, introducing a second wave of shoppers who are browsing with intent but without urgency.
The result is a sudden shift: Many customers who represented new revenue in December become support tickets in January. And underlying it all is a psychological flip, from “I need to buy this now” to “I’m not sure this is right.”
You can hear that shift clearly in the language shoppers use:
- “Can I return this?”
- “Do you have this in the next size?”
- “My gift arrived damaged. What do I do?”
- “I think I want something different.”
- “Does this fit true to size?”
Each of these questions is more than a request. It’s feedback.
What Shoppers Talk About in January and What It Means
January conversations tend to cluster around a few themes. Smart brands don’t just resolve them; they study them.
Returns and Exchanges = Regret Reduction
Return and exchange requests dominate early January. Psychologically, these aren’t about transactions; they’re about regret reduction. Customers are trying to correct a mismatch between expectation and reality.
That mismatch could stem from unclear product descriptions, confusing sizing guidance, misleading imagery, or even gift-buying under pressure. When shoppers ask about returns, they’re revealing exactly where confidence broke down.
The key insight: return conversations are not failures. They’re diagnostic data.
Sizing and Fit Questions = Missed Conversion Clues
Sizing and fit are a primary driver of apparel returns. As customers return or exchange items that don’t fit as expected, questions like “Does this run large?” or “Should I size up?” can show up in your January support interactions in a way they didn’t back in December.
These questions indicate customers didn’t feel confident enough to ask before purchasing or couldn’t find the answer easily. That means sizing information on product pages wasn’t doing its job. Every January sizing question points to a missed opportunity earlier in the funnel, so fixing those gaps reduces support volume and increases future conversion rates.
Warranty and Defect Questions = Trust Signals
Damage and defect questions carry more emotional weight than returns. Customers asking about warranties aren’t just looking for instructions. They’re also assessing whether the brand stands behind its product.
If January brings an influx of warranty or defect conversations, it’s a sign that expectations around durability, quality, or post-purchase support weren’t set clearly enough before checkout.
Handled poorly, these interactions create churn. But a brand can build long-term trust by clearly explaining next steps, removing friction from the resolution process, and reassuring customers that the brand stands behind its products without defensiveness or fine print.
“I Got a Gift Card” = A Low-Friction Conversion Window
Not all January conversations are about fixing problems. Gift-card recipients represent a powerful, often underutilized audience.
A study from Astute Analytica found that during the 2024 holiday season, 30% of recipients used their gift cards within 15 days, and over 84% of holiday gift cards are redeemed within five months of receipt. It suggests most of these shoppers aren’t motivated by flash sales or countdown timers. Instead, their language reflects exploration and guidance: “What’s popular?” “What fits within this amount?” “What would you recommend?”
For brands, this is a chance to shift from urgency-driven messaging to helpful curation and convert with confidence instead of pressure.
How January Psychology Should Change Your Messaging
If December messaging is designed to trigger action quickly, January messaging should reduce friction and restore confidence.
Shift From Hype to Clarity
January shoppers don’t want louder promotions; they want clearer answers. Messaging that worked in December (“Last chance!” “Ends tonight!”) often feels misaligned in January.
Instead, brands should lead with guidance: how to use a gift card, how to choose the right size, or what to do if something isn’t right. Clarity builds trust, and trust drives repeat purchases.
Address Ambiguity Where It Lives
Many January questions point back to specific gaps: unclear PDP copy, insufficient sizing detail, confusing return policies, or missing explanations of “what’s included.”
January is the best time to audit these touchpoints. Every repeated support question is a signal that something should be clearer before purchase.
Use Empathetic Language for Returns and Exchanges
The psychology of some January shoppers has shifted from buying for others to fixing a mistake. That demands a tone change.
Language that acknowledges the situation (“Let’s get this sorted”) and removes friction (“Here’s the easiest way”) goes much further than rigid policy statements. Empathy isn’t just good service. It’s a relevant retention strategy, too.
Create Proactive January Content
January is an ideal time for content that anticipates uncertainty:
- “How to pick the right size if you received X as a gift.”
- “Your gift card: Three easy ways to find something you’ll love.”
- “Returns vs. exchanges: What’s best for you?”
This content doesn’t just deflect tickets. It helps customers feel supported at a moment when confidence is fragile.
How AI Systems Turn January Stress Into Loyalty
If December is where retailers win revenue, January is where they win (or lose) loyalty.
AI-powered systems can play a critical role here:
- detecting frustration or hesitation in customer language,
- adjusting tone dynamically to match emotional context,
- surfacing missing information (like fit guides or policy summaries) at the right moment,
- and learning from repeated January questions to improve CX year-round.
Instead of treating January interactions as one-off resolutions, AI systems turn them into feedback loops that improve product pages, FAQs, and messaging long after the holidays end.
January Conversations Are the Map for Your Entire Year
December tells you what customers want. January tells you what they didn’t understand.
If December is defined by what people search for, January is defined by what they question, return, complain about, and linger over. Both months matter, but January’s language reveals your biggest CX and conversion gaps.
The themes that dominate January support tickets show you exactly where to improve: what to clarify, what to rewrite, and what to explain better next time.
For brands willing to listen, January isn’t a slow month. It’s the most honest customer feedback cycle of the year, and the kickoff to delivering a much better experience and stronger sales (with tons of repeat customers) in the year to come.
- What do shoppers talk about right after the holidays, and how should that change the words you use in Q1?
- Now that the holidays are over, the language shifts dramatically again. And if retailers don’t adapt to this new psychological mode, they lose customers they just worked all December to acquire.
- January isn’t calm; it’s a CX diagnostic month
- Support queues spike by 2-3x
- Returns hit their annual peak
- Gift-card redemption introduces a second wave of shoppers
- New customers (who bought gifts) suddenly become support tickets instead of revenue
- And importantly: shopper psychology flips from urgency (December) → uncertainty (January)
- Language examples:
- “Can I return this?”
- “Do you have this in the next size?”
- “My gift arrived damaged; what do I do?”
- “I think I want something different.”
- “Does this fit true to size?”
- What shoppers actually talk about in January and how smart brands rewrite their CX and marketing to match
- Returns and Exchanges = Regret Reduction Psychology
- Sizing and Fit Questions = Missed Conversion Clues
- Warranty and Defect Questions = Long-Term Trust Signals
- “I got a gift card” = Low-Friction Conversion Window
- How January shopping psychology should change your messaging
- Shift tone from hype → clarity
- Address ambiguity head-on (PDP copy, sizing info, return policies, bundling recommendations)
- Use empathetic scripts for return/exchange interactions as psychology shifts from “I’m buying gifts for others” → “I’m fixing mistakes.”
- Create content proactively (ie, “How to pick the right size if you received X as a gift” or “Your gift card: 3 easy ideas for getting exactly what you want”)
- How AI systems can turn stressful moments into loyalty-building interactions
- If December is where you win revenue, January is where you win loyalty.
- AI systems can detect tone (e.g., frustration or embarrassment) and change language accordingly.
- They can surface missing info shoppers are struggling with (“Is this true to size?” → push the updated fit guide).
- They transform high-emotion January interactions into fast, empathetic moments that increase LTV.
- They learn from January patterns so retailers don’t repeat Q4 messaging mistakes next year.
- The lesson: January conversations are the map for your entire year
- If December is defined by what people search for, January is defined by what people complain about. Both matter, but January’s words tell you how to fix next December.
- The themes in January support tickets reveal your biggest conversion leaks.
- The language shoppers use tells you how to rewrite your PDPs, policies, emails, ad copy, and FAQs.
- AI agents turn this insight into ongoing optimization so you improve all year, not just in holiday crunch time.
Share
.png)
