If you haven’t noticed, many businesses are paying much closer attention to the caller experience these days! Why? Well it’s simple — with the increase in mobile ads and click-to-call options, businesses are experiencing a tremendous uptick in inbound calls. And, if those calls aren’t handled properly you could be losing callers, losing customers, losing sales and worst of all – losing money (wasted advertising spend!).

Choosing between music on hold and custom on hold messages while your customers are waiting on the line can be a difficult decision, especially for the business owners.

In order to decide which one is a better option for your audience of customers and your type of business, let’s take a quick look about what music on hold and on hold messaging actually mean.

Music on Hold vs. Messages On Hold

Music On Hold   is an option used by most of the companies who decide to use hold time to entertain their customers while they wait.  Phone on hold music is always an excellent choice, rather than having callers wait in dead-silence. However sometimes can be difficult to choose the right type of music, the right tone, and etc. According to our experience, music on hold is not the best idea when the music involves local radio stations or something else that does not really relate to your company’s brand for a number of reasons.

On Hold Messaging is another option for companies which allows waiting callers to hear more about the company’s features, policies, etc. It is also known as marketing on hold as you can promote and advertise your company’s products and services, special offers, promotions, etc while the customer is on the line and waiting for assistance.

Which Provides Greater Benefits Music or Messages?

In our professional opinion, any time you have a captive customer, this presents a great opportunity for companies to promote their products and services, communicate with customers, and build their brands! With said, we’ll reveal the truth about which is better for your brand and bottom line. Music or Messages?

Music On Hold 

As stated above, certainly music for waiting callers is far better than dead-silence, and at least lets them know their call hasn’t been disconnected. When businesses don’t put much thought into their on hold music, you may end up  doing more harm than good. Here’s why!

First you want the music to match your brand image, and this is something that should be a no brainer. Secondly let’s say you’re playing a local radio. If so, odds are very likely that you’re exposing your callers to competitors radio ads.  Also, in our 30 years of being in the on hold industry, not one customer has ever sold one extra penny by having callers listen to just music.

And last, but certainly not least is the fact that many businesses don’t even realize that  playing music on hold requires the proper licensing rights to do so, otherwise you may end paying hefty fines in a copyright infringement law suit.

On Hold Messaging

Let’s face it. It’s inevitable. At some point you’re going to have to place callers on hold, and on-hold messaging has proven to provide for a better customer experience, and can create additional profits for your business.

Numbers don’t lie! So, let’s take a look at the many benefits on hold messages has to offer:

• 88% of callers prefer on hold messaging to canned music, radio or silent hold.  (Maxi-Marketing)
• 35% of callers made a purchase based on what they heard on hold (Teleconnect Magazine)
• 40% increase in requested for additional products/services mentioned on hold. (Call Center Association)
• callers who listen to on hold messages will wait up to three times longer than with just music or silence (AT&T)
  

Keep in mind that repeating the same messages over and over can only irritate the customers, so allow us to provide you with a creative and yet informational script which you can use in your marketing on hold.

Final Thoughts…

In an ideal world, nobody would ever have to be on hold. All of a company’s calls would be handled by one super-human with the magical ability to answer any and all questions, up-sell products and services, provide unparalleled customer service! But this is the real world, and even if you have a small company you’re still going to have occasions when you have to place callers on hold. You simply can’t avoid it.

What we’re trying to say is simple. Instead of playing canned music which may not be to your callers liking, or a radio which can advertise a competitor, instead why not use that time to promote an add-on to your caller’s service, or a special price on a product you’re trying to clear out of your stockroom, or even direct the caller to your website for more information about your company?

Still not convinced? Then contact Original On Hold and speak with one of our on hold consultants, or even better try before you buy with our risk-free custom on hold demo trial.