Get Creative With On Hold Messaging During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to more people calling ahead to businesses that they would have visited in person, often phoning staff that has been reduced or work from home, thus leading to longer wait times and increased call volumes. This means your on hold messaging is going to have a lot more one-on-one time with callers!

Even though on-hold messaging often has a reputation as annoying, its purpose has always been to create a more pleasant waiting experience, and to make wait-time feel as if it’s moving more quickly. However, with creative, powerful on hold content, you can control emotion, mood and many other things.

Rather than wasting an invaluable marketing opportunity by having dead-silence for waiting callers, or  an annoying 30-second loop of elevator music, below we examine the art behind creating a great on hold experience with  powerful on hold messaging.

Think about a more creative approach to on hold messaging during uncertain times.

Since we know that inbound call volumes have exploded, and longer on-hold wait times have skyrocketed, playing an old, outdated, stale on hold message that caller’s have been hearing for years simply isn’t going to cut it. People will just tune out, not listen and become frustrated, thus turning what was once a terrific marketing tool, into something that can be counter-productive.

Across a variety of industries both essential and non-essential need creative phone on hold messages that no longer tout an extra long laundry list of product and service offerings that’s too much to even retain. Instead, businesses need messaging about new safety regulations, efforts they’ve implement to ensure customer safety, as well as other changes to their businesses such as online ordering, text ordering, contactless delivery or curbside pick up and more.

Final Thoughts…

We live in uncertain times right now, many businesses face unsurmountable challenges they’ve never imagined, so it’s really quite simple  it’s a feast or famine business landscape. If you’re going to sit back and hope things improve, you may find yourself waiting quite a long time, or even worse not be able to sustain the time it takes until things resume to what is considered normal. Instead, it’s time to pull up your creative marketing boots and get going!

The telephone has never more of an ally for businesses during these challenging times, and even after the pandemic ends, many people will continue relying more heavily on calling businesses over the phone, leading to more opportunity for businesses if they implement a proper, creative on hold marketing strategy.

Need help? Contact Original On Hold for a No Obligation “Caller Experience” consultation.