Message & Music On Hold
Making the Most of Your Advertising Investment
It’s a good idea for every company to have a message and music on hold program on their phone system because, quite frankly, advertising in general is expensive enough.
Whether you use television, radio, newspapers, direct mail or the Internet to get people to contact your company, when they do call, don’t stop there. Certainly, most of the work is done and that initial advertising investment paid off. Yes, they called you. However, they haven’t purchased anything yet.
The impression and experience callers get from dealing with your company will determine if they actually buy from you, so if you have to put them on hold, why not allow them to listen to information about your company to reinforce your brand and remind them why they called you in the first place.
Remember that poor ‘hold music’, or even worse none at all, has the potential to cause over half of callers to abandon calls (source: Avaya). Faced with such a situation, 15 percent of all callers will not call back.
When people choose to call your company, keep them engaged with a custom on hold message and music recording that promotes your products and services, increases caller awareness and decreases caller hang-ups.
Because you put your company image on the line every time you put a call on hold.
Protect Your Business – Make Sure It’s Legal
The following email was recently received by an audio production company that produces on hold message and music recordings…
‘need a quote on producing 2 on hold message on 2 separate CDs, one for each song attached, (regular message with Rod Stewart and another for the holiday time with Mariah Carey).’
It is so easy to transfer music through the Internet, this person sent two songs from established artists without having any prior contact. The audio production company responded appropriately that they we’re not able to use the music sent because they did not own the rights to the recordings or have permission from the record labels or artists to use them for this purpose.
No doubt, the recording industry has taken a huge hit in CD sales since illegal downloading began with the advent of Napster in the late 90’s. In an attempt to stem the losses, this past decade has seen the RIAA bring a heavy hand with lawsuits against average citizens. Certainly, their focus is on illegal file-sharing, but the radar is also up for other license violations, including music on hold.
For business owners wishing to play the radio or pre-recorded CD’s on hold, it is important to know that most musical works are the property of the songwriters, composers, and music publishers and may not be reproduced or rebroadcast without the proper licensing.
Remember, whether or not a music user believes copyright infringement is a big deal, violators face fines of anywhere from $750 to $150,000 per song. Click Here to learn more.
Choosing The Right On Hold Music For Your Business
While quick and painless for most, others lose sleep when considering all the musical selections available for their on hold message recording.
Here are some things to consider that will hopefully simplify the process for you:
Are more of your callers male or female? Men and women respond differently to music. A major study found that time spent on hold was perceived to be shortest for men when classical music was played, but for women, the wait seemed longer when listening to classical. Female callers perceived a shorter hold time when light jazz was playing. Rock was the least preferred across both gender groups and produced the longest waiting time estimates. Read More
What is your average hold time? The longer the wait, the more important your selection. You may like the choice you made, but how does it sound after three minutes or more?
What do your callers expect? If your business sells cool auto accessories to a younger clientele to ‘trick out their ride,’ soft jazz music on hold may not be effective in keeping them excited about your business, especially after hearing an energetic radio commercial that motivated them to call in the first place. At the same time, a caller to a dentist office might be surprised to hear a message about implants or root canal surgery, set to energetic alternative rock.
Overall, ask yourself, is this selection a good fit? Sometimes a gut reaction leads to the best decision. Afterall, you know your successful business better than anyone.
