On Hold Marketing!
Most of us are obviously familiar with music on hold playing through phone systems. Playing generic “Music” only or embedded music provides something for callers to avoid irritating silence. However, often times our customers prefer to have an on hold program created specifically for their own company. This is usually referred to as “On Hold Marketing”. Having customers hear on hold “marketing” has numerous benefits and might not be as difficult or expensive as you would think. Recently an independent survey was conducted for the “On Hold Messaging Association”. This survey questioned customers that currently have custom on hold marketing messages playing for their callers put on hold. Over 1,500 individual companies responded.
HERE ARE SOME SAMPLES OF THE RESULTS:
From a pure marketing perspective, which of these statements best describes how you feel about the role of your On Hold Messaging Program in your overall marketing mix?
It’s a useful marketing tool that adds value 85%
Why did your company purchase On Hold Messaging?
To build image and professionalism 74%
To promote the sale of products/services 72%
To avoid silence on hold 58%
To provide callers with entertainment or useful information while waiting 56%
To prevent callers from hanging up 31%
Clearly, users of on hold marketing feel this is an important part of their business and can see the benefits associated with a custom on hold marketing program over a standard music only option or worse, silence on hold.