When you remember that the average hold time is 43 seconds, the length of a radio commercial, you want to grab that opportunity to remind your customers why your business is the best one to meet their needs. Even if your caller is on his or her cell phone, they are a captive audience, so use that time to “sell” your business.
If your on hold message is doing its job, you should consider offering it a promotion – to company spokesperson! Any forward thinking business owner knows that hold time can be a goldmine when it comes to connecting with your current and prospective customers. A well thought out on hold message – one that’s crafted with your customer in mind – can not only keep your customer engaged but it can promote your brand, answer frequently asked questions, promote a new deal or offer an up-sell. Your on hold message should be a partner in your business as it is the first line of defense when your phone rings.
When you remember that the average hold time is 43 seconds – the length of a radio commercial – you want to grab that opportunity to remind your customers why your business is the best one to meet their needs. Even if your caller is on his or her cell phone, they are a captive audience, so use that time to “sell” your business.
A well-written, expertly produced and
voiced on-hold message can feature a voice of your choice and can offer a balanced blend of news about your business and other things such as sports trivia or entertainment snippets. When written and produced by seasoned on-hold producers, it will feature a well-written, interesting, and balanced blend of messages about your company or organization and courtesy phrases that encourage the caller to continue holding.
No matter what type of message you deliver to your caller, your motive is the same: keep the caller on the line and keep them informed.
Here are some things you can do with your messages on hold:
Build your brand: You have a new slogan or are rolling out a new product and you’ve been spending a lot of money to advertise it, right? Well, when a caller dials your number you have the opportunity to reinforce your
brand at a fraction of the cost to an audience who you know already likes you and your brand. When you consider that the average business receives about 100 calls a day, your cost per-impression for this type of advertising is negligible.
Sell ‘em what they didn’t even know they wanted: If a customer calls a pizza shop to order the usual pizza meal but hear about a new dessert pizza you’re rolling out, they might just take a chance. They weren’t thinking dessert when they called, but your on hold message talked them into it through the power of your on hold message.
Just the facts: A caller obviously has your phone number but do they know where you’re located? Do they remember your website address? If your business is a walk-in type, does the caller know your hours? Use your on hold message to convey that information – if that was all they were looking for anyway, you’ve answered the question and freed up your office staff to the next caller.
Calm them down: If a customer picks up the phone to call you because they’re angry and your message assures them that “you’ll go out of your way to get back to them as soon as possible,” or “we offer a money back guarantee and your satisfaction matters,” you could diffuse an angry caller and make it easier for the customer service representative to help them out.
Is anyone there? You don’t want a caller to be put on hold and hear nothing but silence. They’ll wonder if you’ve hung up on them or if their cell phone dropped the call. And if you have an angry caller on the phone and they are hearing nothing but silence, their frustration could rise if they have nothing but dead air to pass the time.
In today’s business environment when your potential customers have so many options, you certainly don’t want them to hang up on you and go to the competition simply because you didn’t have a good on hold presence.
(888).641.2200
(888).641.2200