Music On Hold Provider Offers Internet-Load “Smart Player” For Savvy Marketers Who Want Better Results
June 6, 2012—The music on hold industry and Easy On Hold is making leaps and bounds with the latest in on hold technology– “smart players” that automatically provide content downloads right into the phone system, with the ability to provide automatic stop and start dates, even day parting for targeting content on specific days and/or times. ‘It’s a new day for music on hold,” says Julie Cook, president of Easy On Hold, a U.S.-based music on hold provider.
“This technology changes everything about our industry’s ability to compete as a relevant marketing tool,” says Cook. “Until now, it’s been difficult to market to callers on hold with any date specificity. Advertisers try to keep up with promotions or holiday or seasonal pushes, and it’s a lot of work to remember to pull it after the fact, so you end up with old content. It’s embarrassing and hurts your brand image. Advertisers have given up, choosing generic content instead,” she continues. “We knew we could do better.”
“With a smart player, you can start a promotion on July 1 and know it will end correctly on July 15, for example, because of the automatic start and stop programming. Or, callers can hear about a promotion on Monday that you don’t want them to hear on Wednesday, or a morning announcement that won’t be heard in the afternoon. It’s that specific. It opens up new opportunities for advertisers that they didn’t have before,” Cook says.
The players are loaded onto the client’s network and also into the phone system, but pose no IT risk because they’re not streaming the audio. “They pull in the audio once or twice a day, and then the door closes again,” Cook explains. “There is no way this system can ‘bring down’ your network. The players are smart, but they’re not that smart.”
One new development is in the area of VOIP technology, or phones that use the internet to deliver service. Currently, there’s no way to introduce an external player into most VOIP phones. “The better VOIP developers understand that music and messaging on hold is a vital element to their client’s marketing program, and they’re working with us to develop the ability to introduce an external player, like a smart player, into the mix. Otherwise, clients have to upload files into their phone systems. They don’t get the scheduling capabilities offered by the smart players, and even worse, the files play from the beginning each time,” Cook says.
Cook explains that in addition to internet-load technology, Easy On Hold provides traditional USB-based players as well as supporting clients with legacy CD and cassette players.
For more information, contact Julie Cook at Easy On Hold, 888-798-4653 x 22 or [email protected].
