01732 759725
MARKETING
28
Time spent on hold in an automated
queue can be a huge source of
irritation. Even so, it is often
unavoidable. As much as businesses
want to answer a customer’s query
immediately, there will be occasions
when callers have to be transferred
or put on hold while information is
collected.
Customers have a notoriously low
tolerance for poor call handling – our survey
found that 67% of callers have hung up
before reaching their intended destination
due to the way their call was managed. It
is therefore essential to do everything you
can to create a more positive telephone
experience for customers.
Creating the right first impression
Inbound calls are a key source of sales
leads. However, many companies overlook
the importance of a welcoming telephone
manner, not realising the extent to which it
can influence a customer’s first impressions
of their firm.
If the phone is answered in a casual,
offhand manner, a lasting negative opinion
of the company can result, affecting
future business prospects and threatening
profitability.
Employing a best practice approach,
such as using an appropriate tone of voice
and developing a template for call handling,
can make a big difference when it comes to
enhancing the customer experience.
That said, a caller’s patience is still going
to wear thin if they are left hanging on the
telephone for a significant period without
engagement, which is exactly what often
happens. Our survey shows that 34% of
firms still subject customers to silence, 26%
play music and 26% make callers listen to
beeps.
Driving profitability
On-hold marketing is a better alternative. It
involves the creation of bespoke messages
that are played to callers whenever they
are put on hold, transferred or call outside
normal office hours.
Although visual branding is the focus
of many marketing agendas, how well a
company sounds is also important. If you’re
putting people on hold for more than 30
seconds per call, there will be a window of
opportunity for direct communication with
customers that can also help create a more
positive caller experience.
Put simply, it provides a golden
opportunity to advertise your products and
services to an attentive audience. When
research shows that 20% of callers make a
buying decision based on information heard
on hold, the financial case for making use
of what would otherwise be wasted time
is clear.
For dealers, on-hold marketing offers a
chance to up-sell and promote services such
as MPS, alongside hardware. It can help
improve customer awareness of your offer
and boost sales. Messages can be used to
notify callers of current promotions, direct
Office equipment suppliers keep customers on hold for an
average of 33.31 seconds per call, longer than a typical
television advert, according to a survey of 3,630 UK businesses
by PH Media Group. This may not seem a long time on paper,
but the frustration of waiting in silence will cause 90% of
callers to hang up within 20 seconds. Here, PH Media Group
Sales and Marketing Director Mark Williamson explains how
resellers can turn time on hold to their advantage.
Get rid of your hang-ups
traffic to the company website and even
enhance brand image by making customers
aware of the firm’s history and experience.
Finding your voice (and music)
Unlike most advertising, which falls on
deaf ears, on-hold messaging is a subtle
yet powerful marketing tool that plants the
seed for a sale before the customer has
spoken to anyone.
In order to construct the most effective
solution for your business, it is essential
to employ a reputable audio branding
consultant. They will be able to create a
successful audio profile for your business
taking into account how style and tone of
voice, including attributes such as gender
and age, can be interpreted and used to
reflect different brand images and values.
For businesses operating in areas with
a particularly strong sense of identity,
incorporating an accent into marketing
communications can be an effective way to
strengthen links with customers and gain
an advantage over competitors.
Most people have a song that reminds
them of a certain time or event in their
life. As songs can have both positive and
negative connotations, choosing a popular
music track for an on-hold solution can be
risky and create unwanted preconceptions.
An on-hold expert can help a company
avoid this by creating a unique, tailor-made
tune, picking the tempo, volume and pitch
best suited to the business and its callers.
Research shows that on-hold marketing
reduces hang-ups by 79%, as well as
decreasing the amount of time callers think
they have been on hold. Perhaps it’s time
you considered how your business sounds
to callers.
Mark Williamson,
sales and
marketing director,
PH Media Group
...67% of
callers
have hung
up before
reaching their
intended
destination...
