Why Your Brand Must Invest In the Caller On Hold Experience!

Customer experience is one of the most overlooked priorities for growing businesses, and one area in particular is the caller on hold experience. Even if Don Draper himself fleshed out your latest ad campaign for your marketing, nothing can replace the incredible value of providing customers with the best possible customer experience. Think about it, if you went to the fanciest restaurant in town and everyone treated you poorly, would you go back?

With online reviews carrying even more weight to deliver thanks to the power of Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and the barrage of other social media channel interaction, it’s never been more important to invest in customer service and improve on the experience for your customers at every touchpoint. Because, hey, bad news travels fast.

What is customer experience?

The customer experience is, ultimately, how customers view and interact with your company’s brand. There are lots of variables to it: the corporate messaging, sales process, the products and services themselves, and especially customer service. A great overall customer experience will come from a company that’s strong in all of these areas… but if your company has a weak spot, remember that great customer service can help salvage a great customer experience.

What is the caller on hold experience?

Simply put, the caller on hold experience is a part of the overall customer experience. Same as how a customer is treated when they come to your place of business, when a valued prospect or customer calls to place an order, ask a questions or solve an issue it’s often unavoidable that you have to place the caller on hold. However, it’s what you do with that on hold time which can make or break the overall customer experience. Do you make them feel ignored by forcing them to wait in dead-silence? Are you playing music in which callers find unappealing? Do callers listen to obnoxious radio dj’s?  Or, are you engaging callers and providing valuable information they can use with on hold messages?

Bad On Hold Experiences are Bad News!

Customer experience is not as fluffy as it may seem. There’s real evidence that “customer experience” has a direct impact on customer retention, satisfaction and sales. Before we discuss how a better caller on hold experience provides a better ROI, first let’s take a look at what happens when you provide a subpar on hold experience.

• According to AT&T 70% of all callers are placed on hold.
• 60% of callers will hang-up in less than 40 seconds when waiting in silence or canned music.
• 34% of callers who hang-up won’t call back and will call a competitor.
• Caller abandonment (callers who hangup before speaking with an agent) costs U.S Businesses billions of dollars annually in lost potential revenues.
• Caller hangups result in wasted marketing dollars!
• 78% of consumers abandon making a purchase due to poor service
• 52% of consumers will switch providers due to poor customer experiences

Why you need a better caller on hold experience strategy?

When someone calls your business, they are one of the most highly engaged prospects you can have. You don’t want them to hang up and disconnect from your business, but as we discovered above, that is often what happens when you don’t have professional on hold messages. Now, let’s take a look at the benefits of providing a better caller on hold experience each time a caller is placed on hold.

• 88% of callers preferred On Hold Messages to other hold options – Call Center Magazine
• Over 28% of callers made purchases based on an offer heard while on hold. – Maxi-Marketing
• Callers stay on the line up to 35% longer when provided with On Hold Messaging versus “dead air” or “background music,” and up to 27% longer than radio. – Infomax, Inc.
• Research Firm Jefferson Denneandrus found when callers were presented with On Hold Messaging versus silence or a radio commercial they would stay on hold longer, they were more likely to exhibit interest in the product advertised, they were more likely to retain information, and they were less agitated.

So, the facts prove that having an on hold messaging service will decrease caller abandonment rates (hang-ups), shorten perceived wait times, increase sales, reinforces brand image and improves customer satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

It’s the age of the customer and brands are duking it out every day for a greater share of our hearts, minds, and wallets. Competing on the traditional marketing levers of price, product, place and promotion is extraordinarily difficult in this environment. Customers hold more decision power than ever in an era where information about any company’s products and services is just a mobile search and click-to-call away. 

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in – improving the experience for your customers is the key to increasing retention, satisfaction and sales.When it comes to the caller on hold experience, in what direction is your company moving? Without investing in professional on hold messages, it’s easy to see that you’re missing out by ignoring the value of the customer calling experience. If you’re ready to improve the caller experience contact Original On Hold today!