No one likes being on hold, and to make matters worse, most on-hold experiences are unpleasant. Easy On Hold® has developed new best practices that are easy to implement and generate greater customer satisfaction.
Think about the caller experience you now provide. Ask these questions:
How well do you know your caller? Use everything you know about who is calling to improve caller satisfaction.
We set up your message on hold system so that callers hear fresh content, your tech team works less, you save time and your customer satisfaction greatly improves. Find out if you can use hosted streaming content. This would allow you to control all of your content using an online control panel, where you can set up schedules and automate announcements.
How much can people remember in 20 or 30 seconds? Aim for 50 words per message (topic). Good script writers write for "the ear" not the eye. The key is to use no more than one idea per topic or paragraph.
Today's callers crave variety. Gone are the days of one long, boring piece of music interrupted by voiced announcements. The new best practice is to build a library of short, self-contained single-topic recordings, each with its own unique music background.
When callers can detect a pattern, they simply start counting the number of minutes that have gone by. Vary the length of each topic to create the unpredictability that makes hold time seem shorter than it actually is.
Use the Easy On Hold® streaming messages on hold system to play topics in a random order. This adds to the uniqueness of the message on hold experience (unpredictability prevents premature hang-ups).
Greet visitors with, "good morning" and "good afternoon". Use simple greetings that reference the day of the week. It's a pleasant, unexpected experience that always makes callers extra-happy.
Studies confirm: "thank you for calling" greetings increase hang-ups. Project your brand as vibrant and up-to-date. Avoid generic or "general use" messages. Always use relevant, time-sensitive messages.
All topics are not of equal importance. Topics that are the most valuable, topics that are "right-now" important should play for often so every caller is sure to take notice.
How to stay organized? Scripts and recordings should be easily available online. Text and/or email reminders should alter you when time-sensitive topics are nearing end-dates.
On our FREE consultation (WebEx or Phone), a music on hold expert™ will discuss the following:
The most preferred method of reaching a business is still the phone.
The average person will spend 43 days of his/her life waiting on hold.
Placing a caller on hold is a risk and an invaluable marketing opportunity.
Stewart Galdolf, "Healthcare Success"
88% of callers prefer to hear information while waiting.
Rapp & Collins
What people don’t want to hear when they call customer service is, “Your call is important to us".
W.P. Carey School of Business
Commonly-used phrases such as, “please hold” and other reminders that the caller is in "hold-mode" can actually increase caller abandonment rates.
We offer a traditional messages on hold sound, which blends custom scripted announcements over background music. Contact the music on hold experts™ about custom scripts and the right music.
Ask The ExpertsOur TRANSITIONS hold messages feature announcements with no music background. Short musical transitions are played between announcements. This greatly improves the sound quality for callers on mobile phones.
TransitionsWe offer LOGO RADIO™, which positions your brand between popular songs for a "custom radio station" sound. Station IDs, daypart greetings and tag lines are featured. A great solution for longer hold times. You may also choose HIT MUSIC with any custom announcements between songs.
Hit MusicA phone system at your place of business may be able to use an audio connection from a device that plays a live stream of audio or locally-stored .mp3 files. Our 2-Channel Business Audio System device is also capable of providing a digital connection to CISCO CUCM and Genesys Pure Engage platforms.
On Premise DeviceMost VoIP (off-premise or hosted) phone services (platforms) and some on-premise platforms allow the use of .mp3 audio files. Use Easy On Hold® scripting, voice, music and recording services to create the right audio file required by your platform. Follow the link below to learn about the new way to manage audio files for messages on hold.
VoIP Phone MusicEasy On Hold® developed live streaming audio for telephone systems back in 2013. We provide a custom URL stream for many phone platforms, including Avaya, FreePBX, FreeSWITCH, Asterisk, Bicom Systems, Fortinet, iPitomy and others. We offer a free "test stream" as a proof of concept for the telephony solution you're using.
Why StreamingEasy On Hold® works with all systems and platforms.