How Frequently Should Your On Hold Messages Be Updated?

Picture yourself on hold, waiting to speak to someone. You hear the same message you heard last time you called, and the time before that. Chances are it’s NEVER been changed. It becomes “wallpaper sound” – bland, uninteresting and bordering on irritating – and reflects badly on the company, even if it’s subliminally. You think: “How hard can it be to change your message every now and again?”

Good question, and the answer as you are about to find out, is not hard at all. Below, we’ll take a look at the when, how and why you should update your on hold messages to keep them fresh.

Why Should I Update Our On Hold Messages?

When was the last time you updated your on hold messages? Old, stale messages that callers repetitively hear doesn’t give a great impression of you or your business. Callers get bored quickly, you lose customers. We recommend sprucing your messages up from time to time, and change the voice and background music!

Like with any other form of marketing, when it comes to on-hold message marketing, it’s recommend you take a proactive approach to refreshing your on hold messages. Regularly changing what you say says a lot about your company; you’ll be perceived as being interesting, informative and progressive, in touch with your clients, with many stories to tell and lots going on.

It’s also a good idea to make sure that your on hold messages are reinforcing other marketing campaigns that you may be running on TV and Radio, in print, on-line or on Social Media. Remember, if you’re not being proactive, and play the same old messages, with the same old information —  even your best customers will know you’re not evolving to meet their needs.

When Should I Update Our On Hold Messages?

Depending on your particular industry, the size of your business and the number/frequency of callers, we strongly suggest updating monthly or at the very least quarterly. Below are some tell tale signs that it’s time to update your messages.

Is any part of your current on hold message outdated? It’s time to fix that. You don’t want to appear behind the times. Or worse still – tell your callers something wrong – and lose their interest. No one wants to know about 2016’s winter sale, it’s 2017!

Have you got something new to promote? This is a perfect opportunity to remind or inform callers. Tell your customers about your new 2-4-1 drinks offer, 10% discount for students and loyalty rewards scheme!

Has your business won an award or had any recent successes that callers should know about? Go on, promote your wins! Keeping things fresh and current will help build your value with clients. Believe it or not, your customers like to know they’re dealing with someone that can trust. They like to know they’re in good hands. If you have done something recently that proves you’re on top of your game, humbly tell them

Just about “any” reason is a good reason to update your messages!

There’s lots of reasons to update your on hold messages such as:

• Seasonal changes
• Calendar events (tradeshows, etc.)
• New products/ services coming on stream
• Special promotions
• A department that needs a push
• Combatting a competitor’s campaign or offer,
• And more.

How to Update Your On Hold Messages?

Now that you know why and when to change your messages, so it’s time to look at the how.

We’ve recommended that you should change messages frequently, but it also needs to be an easy process, with everything streamlined, so that you’re 100% confident that you’re running the right messages at the right time.

As in any industry not all on hold messaging providers are created equal. Ease of updating messages is one of the pitfalls with most providers. Updating messages shouldn’t be cumbersome. Look for a service provider who is geared to meet your needs.

Original On Hold has been in the on hold message business for nearly 30 years, and with our convenient, easy-to-use online Messages On Hold Marketing Manager, we’ve got updating on-hold messages down to a fine art. Whether from your office desk, hotel room or while relaxing poolside or in your beach chair, with Original On Hold you can literally control your on hold campaigns anytime, from anywhere you can access the internet.

Final Thoughts….

Industry products, services, trends and styles frequently change, and this means your marketing should also be able to adjust accordingly. This one of the many luxuries of on hold messages, because unlike other advertising methods (eg. print ads, tv or  radio) which takes weeks of back and forth before a finished product, your on hold message recording can be changed quickly with an affordable on hold message update plan.

Remember, it’s your job to keep prospects and customers focused on your business, and one of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to on hold message marketing is that you can produce a recording once and play it forever. Every successful business knows that when it comes to their marketing – “there’s never a once for all of time marketing campaign!”

Need help with a message update? Don’t know what to include when refreshing message content? Not sure which on hold message update plan fits your needs? … Contact Original On Hold, or better yet, take us for a test drive and hear what your brand can sound like with our risk-free custom demo trial offer.