By Chad Everaert
Do you put customers on hold? Silly question….of course you do! For most businesses with a telephone it’s inevitable, and chances are your callers may not be too happy about it. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Studies have shown that 88% of callers prefer On-Hold Messaging to silence or background music; a statistic that should not be ignored by conscientious business owners. A properly planned and crafted On-Hold Message can serve you in a multitude of ways. Here are a few examples of how our services are helping our customers:
1. INFORM & PREPARE CALLERS – After incorporating on-hold messaging, several of our clients in the medical industry have reported increased efficiency in scheduling appointments and dealing with customers. By using the messaging to instruct their waiting callers to have their health coverage and pertinent information ready when their call is taken, they’ve improved not only their internal processes, but the overall caller experience as well.
2. BOOST RETAIL SALES – We service many large retail accounts that have seen great benefits from marketing on-hold. By updating their messages on a monthly basis they are able to align their on-hold messaging with their current online, mail and digital marketing offers, thus touching their target audience on multiple fronts.
3. DEVELOP BRANDING – Creating an audio brand image through on-hold messaging has really helped some of our clients showcase the lifestyle of owning their products. We’ve created messaging for a popular motorcycle brand that has helped them cross sell their apparel and accessories lines.
4. SOOTHE AND RETAIN CALLERS – We provide messaging to a large call centre with frequent lengthy wait times. Naturally in this setting, callers can easily become impatient and quickly grow tired of hearing the same messaging. We created custom messaging that was a mixture of entertainment, relevant business information and musical breaks resulting in a diverse message that was long enough to stay fresh for most callers. The client reported an improvement in customer demeanor and a better customer experience.
5. CONTROL CONTENT – For businesses that dwell in highly competitive markets, having total control over the content your callers hear on-hold is important. For example, the automotive industry is a big advocate of radio advertising, so playing a local radio station on-hold could be very risky in that your competitors ads could actually be heard while your callers are waiting to speak to you. We provide customized messaging to many companies in this industry which ensures that their callers only hear content that is both current and relevant to their business.
So there you have it. Placing callers on-hold is actually a positive opportunity for your business that can help your solve existing challenges, increase your caller experience and improve your bottom line.
Contact us to discuss how we can help you!
