The “How-To-Guide” for On Hold Marketing to Waiting Callers
Are you a first timer when it comes to the world of on hold message marketing? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Many people are novices when it comes to truly understanding the nuts and bolts of creating effective on hold marketing, let alone the numerous benefits it provides for your brand and the caller experience.
When it comes to waiting callers at your business, it boils down to this; you have 3 options — dead silence, canned music, or custom branded on hold marketing programming. Out of these options, only one has proven to be a viable method for keeping callers on the line and focused on doing business! Which is it? It’s simple, custom marketing on hold messaging.
In fact, according to an AT&T report: over 70% of all business calls are placed on hold, of which, 40% who wait in silence or music hang up in less than 1 minute, and 34% of them will never call you back. The results of having a poor on hold experience for waiting callers can be fatal for your business.
Below is our “How To” guide for on hold marketing to waiting callers on hold.
It’s all about the caller on hold experience.
While this might seem like a no-brainer, the “caller on hold experience” is all about, well the caller! For this reason, when crafting your on hold marketing message script-copy, the messages should be created based on information and news that callers find interesting and relevant.
The caller experience can make or break your brand. A bad caller experience will cause callers to hang-up and call a competitor, resulting in lost calls, lost sales and wasted advertising spend. However, the right caller on hold experience will either engage callers and keep them waiting on the line until you can serve them. So pay close attention to the following:
- Why is the caller reaching out; what is the purpose of the call?
- What topics and information will the caller find interesting?
- What action can the caller take after learning about something interesting?
What content should my custom on hold messages include?
When you begin to consider the content of the on hold marketing messages that callers should hear while they wait, be sure to focus on your callers and their needs. Think about this;
- Why are they calling?
- What would keep them interested and engaged?
- How can you motive and even inspire callers to take action?
Remember, people who have reached out to you, and are in an excellent position to make buying decisions based on what they hear while on hold.
Have a strategy in place for how often you should update message content.
Nobody wants yesterday news! The secret to on hold marketing (or any marketing for that matter) is having a strategy to remain fresh, relevant, interesting and engaging.
So ask yourself:
- Do we have repeat callers?
- Do we have a seasonal products/services?
- How often do we introduce new services, features, products, etc. over time?
- How can we support other marketing channels (eg. media, social, etc) with our on hold programming?
As you being to search online for on hold message pricing, you’ll find that you can purchase a one time message, but no successful business has a once for all of time marketing. Instead, most businesses will find much better value when the have the flexibility to routinely update content throughout the year, and typically most on hold message update plans provider for a lower up front cost.
How Much Do Custom On Hold Messages Cost?
The answer to “How much do custom on hold messages cost?” is…. Not as much as you think! For a fraction of the cost compared to other advertising media (eg tv, radio, etc) a low monthly fee can be all it takes to get the professional sound of an established business—which is just what your new business needs to convince callers to choose you and stay with you as a customer for life.
How does on hold music work on my phones?
Before you get started with on hold message marketing, it’s important to know something about your own phone system before making a purchase with an on hold provider. Do you use voip (aka cloud based) phone system? An older pbx/key business phone system? A standard 2-to-4 line off-the-shelf analog phones? If you don’t have an I.T. person at your company, or you’re unaware of what type of phone system you use, a reputable on hold agency will get you squared away.
Final Thoughts…
Contrary to popular practice, what could otherwise be a minute or two of deadly silence can be turned into an opportunity to make your sales pitches, company updates and other strategies to build positive interaction with customers.
Several researchers also point out that maximizing on-hold messages is one of the most underrated advertising types. Many business owners have wasted seconds, if not minutes, by not being able to make good use of the time when callers are waiting for their calls to be taken.
If you’re ready to improve the caller experience with on hold message marketing, then contact Original On Hold and we can help, or start your risk-free custom on hold demo and try before you buy, and hear what your brand can sound like.
