Featured Article
April 07, 2011
On Hold Messages Deliver Measureable Benefits for the Customer-Facing Business
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Customers calling into your business are seeking a certain value in that interaction – do you want that interaction to include dead silence? This is exactly what you deliver if you have to keep the customer on hold and provide nothing for them to listen to other than the dead silence on the line. Why not take advantage of their time on the phone and deliver something of value?
As captured in this Market On Hold blog, businesses today can benefit greatly from the implementation of on hold messages. This is especially true for those businesses that work with customers directly as it allows an opportunity to communicate with clients in a way that they want to receive information.
It is important that all customer messages are professional and persuasive and when you provide this information through on hold messages, you provide information to your customers on how you can better serve them with your products and services. When you do this on a consistent basis, you are able to produce higher customer satisfaction scores and increased sales revenues.
Proper communication really is essential to any successful product or service marketing campaign. When the customer or client is on hold, this is the perfect opportunity to deliver on hold messages that are not only catered to what you have to offer, but also to what your customers need. This makes great use of their valuable time and you spend very little to deliver a message to someone already willing to listen.
Did you also know that you can leverage on hold messages even if the person who needs to come to the phone is actually available? This is not to suggest that you leave all customers on hold for several minutes to deliver a custom message. Instead, allow them the opportunity to hear your specials, your latest offerings, how you can add value to their lives, etc., and then connect them with the proper person. Customers do expect the connections to take a few seconds and when you provide on hold messages during the process, they are less likely to notice how much time has passed.
Aside from the fact that you have a captive audience when you implement on hold messages, there are a few other benefits that you can realize in your business. You will notice that you will have fewer hang-ups; the opportunity to introduce your staff; a chance to highlight your community participation; a platform to showcase your products and services; a captive audience to learn about the background of the company; the opportunity to calm anxious customers; and even a platform to promote your website.
If you don’t take advantage of on hold messages, you are missing out on the perfect opportunity to effectively communicate with your customers at a very low cost, resulting in increases in revenue and customer satisfaction.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Juliana Kenny
Internet Telephony Magazine
Click here to read latest issue
CUSTOMER 
Cloud Computing Magazine
Click here to read latest issue
IoT EVOLUTION MAGAZINE
