Want Your On Hold Ad Copy to Sell More? Treat It That Way.

As the title suggests, today’s post won’t include how on hold messaging helps enhance your brand image, or how it improves the overall caller/customer experience or entertains callers helping to retain them. Nope! This post is clearly about how your business can sell more stuff  by using on hold marketing messages. I mean after all who doesn’t want to sell more stuff?  Sure, it’s nice to have “thanks for holding, we’ll be right with you” statements, but that won’t ring the cash register!  You don’t need hard sell copy to achieve more sales, you just need the right copy in order to drive more sales, and that means no fillers, fluff or lazy copy allowed.

Let’s begin… A successful advertisement gets a consumer to buy a product or service. This product or service can be a necessity, such as auto insurance, or an indulgence, like the new triple cheeseburger at the local fast food restaurant. Either way, the ad must motivate and ultimately lead to action by the consumer.

While there are several elements in good copywriting, let’s look at three key elements required in order to achieve the goal of selling more. First, your copy needs to inform your target audience members’ (callers on-hold) on how your offer will benefit them by being able to fulfill their need,  or  solve  their problem.  Then you need to answer their Why, which we address that below.   Once you’re able to do that, then the next step becomes about, well what else?  – Closing the sale!  So, once you take care of parts 1 and 2, then you need to focus on part 3 which is getting them to take-action and respond in order to close the deal.

Copywriting for on-hold messaging is similar to writing ad copy for a radio commercials  in the sense that your “elevator pitch” needs to be quick, clear and concise.  Nothing can kill a successful on hold advertisement quicker than information overload, so keep messages short to prevent your copy from being too long.

The other big killer? Boring copy! Within mere seconds your message should be attention grabbing, otherwise the listener might not stick around. We recommend strong, open-ended questions that are pertinent to your company and/or industry, which the caller can relate to.

Here are a few examples:

• Are you paying too much for car insurance?
• Is your home as safe as it could be?
• When is the last time you enjoyed a really good burger?

By posing a question like this, right out of the box, the listener could be compelled to want to hear the answer, and the rest of your advertisement.

Even once you’ve hooked them, before they decide to buy from you, they want to know one thing: Why? … Why is the product important?.. Why is it a good deal?.. Why should they be interested? …Why should they buy it from you?.. Why should they buy it now, rather than later? ..Why should they trust you? Consciously or subconsciously, all of those questions are going through a customer’s head. If you want them to act, you need to answer them, and that means making your copy informative.

And, finally let’s look at “Closing the deal”, or in other words – Present a clear call to action. Obvious? Apparently not, since most on-hold message providers have their copywriters use the same plain vanilla, boiler-plate copy for their client whether they’re a car dealer, dentist, heating & air-conditioning contractor or local restaurant.  Boiler-plate isn’t going to sell more.  In order to generate more sales,  your message must be  able to tell your prospect, “What you want  them to do!”  The answer to which should always be – take action of your offering!

Instead of boiler-plate messages that while are better than silence, why not use those words to help you make money? Below is a message on hold script example that sells more, and includes our 3 key elements mentioned above.

Message On  hold Script Example:

Would you like whiter teeth, fresh breath and better oral health in just 90 seconds or less? The “XYZ” electric toothbrush features 300 bristles which are  ergonomically shaped,  so that within just 90 seconds you can clear away all plaque fast, even from the rear of your mouth. Now, you can be photographed knowing that you are going to have the whitest set of teeth in the photo, be confident that you don’t have bad breath when talking to a co-worker, and you can relax when someone leans over to you for an intimate chat as this toothbrush delves deep into the spaces between your teeth for a better clean, all for a cost less than a traditional toothbrush.  We also offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you think your current toothbrush is better.  This month only, when you order one toothbrush, you get a second free. Tell  your representative you want to take advantage of our BOGO offer, or order online at xyztoothbrush.com/specialoffer

Let’s break down the copy.

The hook:

whiter- brighter teeth, fresh breath and better oral health in less than 90 seconds.

The Why?:

Why is it important?  it’s a necessity item that everyone needs (well, hopefully). Why should they be interested? It provides better results than traditional products, it’s fast and it costs less. Why should they buy it from you? 100% money-back guarantee. Why should they buy it now, rather than later? order now, get a second one free.

The Close/Call-to-Action:

This month only, when you order one toothbrush, you get a second free. Tell  your representative you want to take advantage of our offer, or order online at xyztoothbrush.com/specialoffer

In the example above, the copy tells the caller, to inform the representative they wish to avail the offer, and just for good measure, we also tell them to take action online at the xyz toothbrush website.

There you have it.  Once you know how to pull out the benefits and connect them to the emotional desires of the consumer, and provide an effective call to action, then you’ll have powerful message on hold copywriting that sells more.