January, 11 2011
As outlined in Bruce Temkin’s “The State of the Customer Experience, 2010″ 90% of North American companies view customer experience as critical or very important to their company’s strategy. Since 2008 Many Organizations that sacrificed the customer experience quality in order to save costs, no longer need to worry about the customer experience because they have no more customers, and they are no longer in business!
When reviewing how you can provide the optimal customer experience, where is the first place to start? Your telephone on hold system! According to the US Telesevices, more than 60 % of consumers initiated a purchase over the phone last year. So, what are you doing about caller “hold” time? ……..Oh, you don’t have a lot of on hold you say?... What’s that just a short amount of time, hardly any at all? Please grab a chair, and sit down. Last year, caller abandonment ( a/k/a caller hang-ups) resulted in more than 60% of potential lost revenues for businesses! Yes, I said 60%. You may go ahead and pick your chin up off the floor now.
So, if you think that forcing callers to endure periods of radio static, cheesy 70’s porn sounding music or silence while they wait in the proverbial black hole of on hold, then the fat lady may already be singing when it comes to what the “customer experience” is at your business. How do on hold messages help to ensure a positive customer experience for your business? According to Jefferson Denneandrus Research Firm, “Callers presented with On Hold Messaging versus silence or radio are more likely exhibit interest in the product advertised, more likely to retain information and be less agitated” … Additionally, Callers hearing custom music on on hold and messages stay on the line for up to three minutes – giving you the opportunity to serve them!
More and more organizations are increasingly realizing the benefits of improving the customer experience. It use to be that businesses were concerned that an unsatisfied customer would tell 7 people they knew, and today with the advent of social media it can be 7 million! Callers expect a little wait time, but when on hold statistics show 80% of callers prefer on hold messages, and that 20% of callers make a purchasing decision based on information they heard while on hold -- companies need to embrace that on hold time is just one of several key components for delivering a great customer experiences. Creating a positive customer experience also increases revenues AND decreases support costs at the same time.