Five tips for memorable on-hold messaging

We’ve all had that feeling while on hold – “Uh, I wish this would just end!” – but that doesn’t have to be the experience for your customers’ callers. In fact, the right Music on hold will help improve their customer satisfaction scores and increase revenue!

How, you ask?

It’s simple. Make the experience memorable and positive. So, here are five top tips to help your customers create the on-hold messaging that keeps customers happy and helps to drive sales.

Teach them something

Over 70% of customers get ‘extremely frustrated’ waiting on hold

If your customers are stuck for ideas to keep their callers engaged, why not teach them something new in the process? Obviously, it’s no use educating them around something separate to their businesses, but if you have any customers in the chiropody industry for example, they could provide some foot-related facts:

“Did you know? The foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. Book an appointment for us to properly measure your feet and make sure your shoes never damage any of those bones!”

Promote an offer

90% of Music on Hold marketing users say it increases Product Awareness

For your customers’ sales lines, you could suggest an educational upsell message based on a premium product of offer. After all, your customers have a captured audience that they know have a purchase-related reason for calling, so it makes sense to use their time on hold to explore other product options.

Make them laugh

80% of customers say the experience a business provides is just as important as their product or service

Instead of the typical ‘your call is important to us’ message, why not suggest your customers tell a joke to keep their callers smiling? This is especially successful if they can think of some that are linked to their industry or products.

And, given that a joke told a second time is nowhere near as funny, it gives you an opportunity to get multiple recordings from your customers, by adding some variety to the on-hold comedian. A dentist for example, could use:

“Thanks for staying on hold. A member of our team will be with you shortly. If you’re after an appointment, just bear in mind that 2:30 is a very busy time for us”

Offer other methods of communication

Over half of customer care executives consider call reduction their top priority

While your customers will want their sales lines calling off the hook, support lines should be as quiet as possible, so that agents have the time to deep-dive into issues and turn those customers’ perceptions 180 degrees, before the next call comes in.

Why not ask them what their most common telephone support enquiries are and suggest the record a message stating those answers, or directing them to an FAQ page on their website? This way callers still get the answers they need, they’re letting them know about other avenues of support and every caller now gets a better level if support!

Make it feel exclusive

60% of customers prefer to call businesses on the phone

Considering over half of your customers’ callers still prefer using the phone for quick questions, you can help secure their future patronage by making them feel like they’re part of an exclusive ‘club’. This is especially successful if you’re trying to drive more sales or increase customer engagement.

They could be asked to quote an offer code that’s only available to callers for a cheap perk, voucher or direct them to fill in a survey to help your customers assess their service and find new ways to develop their processes.

Ultimately, your customers’ on-hold experience should be unique and that’s where bespoke Music on Hold can make a genuine difference. There are enough operations that consider their callers calls as important, so get your customer to stand out from the crowd and make an impression that will be remembered for years to come!

Interested? Get in touch with our team and we can get you offering Music on Hold in a week!