Don’t Give Your Callers the Silent Boring Treatment: Explore Telephone Hold Message (THM)

26 May , 2017 by Rashida Saeed
Telephone Hold Message

Delivery of certain important information to the customers while the call is on hold or they are being transferred from one department is a service known as Telephone Hold Message. This service is primarily used by organizations or businesses for the purpose of marketing and to create brand awareness among the masses.

History

70% of the callers in the United States would hang up the call within the first 60 seconds of being on hold as per a CNN survey. A North American Telecom study revealed that a caller would stay on the line around 30 seconds longer if they are hearing some music while on hold as compared to a caller who experiences silence while on hold. Also, a caller hearing some commercials stayed up to 3 minutes longer.

on hold message recording

Telephone hold message companies create scripts where some artists record their voices to produce the recordings. The users should have compatible phone systems which can playback the audio while on hold using Internet, audio file or CD.

Things to keep in mind before choosing the THM

  • What are your callers listening to while they are on HOLD?
  • Are you utilizing the full potential of your business phone’s ON HOLD feature?
  • Is your valuable ON HOLD TIME being used wisely?

How does it Help?

When a caller calls for the first time, it’s always suggested to make a “good first impression” and for existing customers, it’s a must to maintain your professional image.

Advertise

Advertise holiday sales or events and seasonal discounts with on hold messages and if for an instance, the customer is listening to a telephone hold messages in Dubai, you can brief the customer about your latest deals, events there or may be ask him/her to visit your website for offers and discount coupons.

Promote

Promote new services or products, your mission statement or motto through telephone hold messages.

Reinforce

Reinforce an existing commercial running on Radio, TV or newspaper to get added benefits.

Cross-sell

Cross-sell existing products or services by making maximum use of the telephone hold messages.

Increase Credibility

Increase credibility by mentioning information about your past experience, awards and achievements.

Inspire or Entertain

Inspire or entertain your callers with humor or anecdotes.

Convey Respect

Convey respect by letting your callers know that you value their time and that you care while they are on hold, hence, making it a positive experience for them and hence, increasing the call center productivity.

audio production

THM’s Most Important Do’s and Don’ts

  1. Avoid creating ill-will or impatience

The caller may not like the repetitive commercials, silence, annoying hard-selling commercials or general courtesy messages (Thank You for holding, your call is important to us) and the caller will likely hang up in a much shorter time. In order to avoid this, you can include some customized audio messages or some soothing music so that the caller doesn’t feel disconnected.

  1. Educate the caller in an uncommon manner

You can update the caller about the latest offers, news or trends related to your business or industry.

Here are some interesting facts that explain importance of THMs

50% of all people on hold with silence hang up after 20 seconds.

– USA Business Telephone Today

90% of all people on hold with silence hang up within 40 seconds.

– North American Telecommunications Association

88% of people prefer messages with music on-hold to anything else.

– Maxi Marketing

16-20% of callers made a purchase based on an offer they heard on an on-hold ad.

– Maxi Marketing

Why waste any more of your valuable on-hold time? You have already invested a large sum of money in your business. Then why waste one of its most valuable and beneficial features? Make use of the on-hold feature with custom written call waiting messages and alternatively the music on-hold. After all, it’s a real smart business decision.

If you are looking for production of telephone hold messages in Dubai, you can partner with Studio52. Having served numerous clients from diverse industries with professional and made to order telephone hold messages, Studio 52 is the answer to all your business needs.

Reference

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_hold_messaging

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Don’t Give Your Callers the Silent Boring Treatment: Explore Telephone Hold Message (THM)

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