Every customer or consumer who has ever called a business number to resolve an issue, find information or get an answer has run into this situation: being on hold. The company must find the person or information for which you seek and rather than let you listen in on the mumble jumble around their desk or cubicle, you will be offered either static silence or elevator music to pass the time. 

Don’t forget the lovely, “Your call is important to us…” mantra many of us hear while on hold. The company is trying to communicate to the caller that they do really value their business. When the caller is on hold for an extremely long period of time, however, they start to believe their business isn’t all that important and maybe it’s time to call the competitor. 

This is definitely not something the company wants to have happen and if this is happening in yours, it is time to make a change. One solution may be Advertel’s (News - Alert) Holdtime Analysis. The only solution of its kind, Holdtime Analysis provides a proven and accurate profile of your telephone listening audience. It also provides specific recommendations for an appropriately sized on hold message program, which is designed according to your company’s own call traffic data. 

For callers who frequent your lines, you can’t have an incorrect length in your production, musical interlude and regular schedule of updates. If the time is too short, repeat callers will be annoyed at what they hear and believe that they have been on hold for too long. As a result, you could easily drive premature caller abandonment – which translates to lost sales. 

Most likely, your intent is to provide a soothing, informative and engaging experience for your callers. To accomplish this, you need to take a proactive approach to understanding your company’s call traffic. Advertel does this for free with its Holdtime Analysis to determine exactly what is happening when your customers are left on hold.Advertel does warn its clients that they could easily become overwhelmed by the results produced by the Holdtime Analysis. 

After all, since no one has asked these questions before, no one knows the magnitude of your telephone listening audience. And, if you can effectively capture the audience attention and make the on hold experience a positive one, you may also have the most cost-effective advertising medium already in place.

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