A Professional on Hold Message Is Good for Business
Pretty much nobody likes to be put on hold. It is frustrating not knowing when you can speak to a live person, especially when you have other things you need to be doing. Unfortunately, if you own a business there will be many times when there is no choice and you will have to put a caller on hold. According to Inbound/Outbound an average of 7 out of 10 business callers are placed on hold so it is more than just occasionally. Since it is going to happen you must determine how you will deal with the situation to keep it from adversely affecting your business. You need to make the callers on hold time useful and engaging as possible so that you don’t lose potential customers who hang up out of frustration. The best voicemail message can accomplish this until the caller can speak to a live person.
What Makes the Best on Hold Messages?
The best on hold messages provide useful information to callers related to your business and the products and services you provide. The average length of hold time according to Electronic Distribution Today is 38 seconds. This is plenty of time to provide callers on hold with an explanation of how using your product can benefit them and some of the advantages you have over your competition. Stan Rapp and Tom Collins of Maximarketing say that 88% of callers preferred on hold messages to other hold options, and 16 to 20% made a purchase based on an on hold offer. So not only does on hold messaging cut down on the number of abandoned calls to your business, it can also result in additional sales.
Factors to consider in on Hold Messages
An effective on hold message that accomplishes what you want isn’t something you can just knock out in a few minutes. Some of the things to consider include:
Good on hold messages should be brief. This requires clear concise writing that gets right to the point. An on hold message should run around 15 seconds or so. Clearly conveying an idea in that amount of time is not always easy.
On hold messages should be about things that are important to your customer. Although you are informing customers about your products you should be addressing how the customer benefits. Avoid a hard sell approach and keep it about the caller.
On hold messages should stand on their own. You don’t know exactly how long a caller will be on hold. Ideally it won’t be long. That being the case each 10 to 15 second recording should convey the entire message you want
Don’t Just Set It and Leave It
“Above all, make sure your on hold content is aligned with your other marketing strategies. Just as you wouldn’t use your holiday advertising in April, you shouldn’t take a “set it and forget it” approach to your Message On Hold. Use hold time as an opportunity to improve customer service and caller satisfaction while bolstering marketing strategies.” Juli Durante on Holdcom
These are just a few of the factors that must be considered when creating your on-hold messages. It may be a good idea to consider using an experienced and affordable voice overs like our company provides to take advantage of their expertise and get the best results for your business.