Ok, so we’re pushing the envelope a bit and are a little crass with the headline. Now that we got that out of the way, What do you think…? Do people who call your company care about–or even notice–the music on hold?
We recently decided to randomly call a few companies to see what they were subjecting callers to with their hold music. We recorded dozens of actual music on hold situations at various companies. Below are a few examples of what we found. Please note, we purposely kept the names of the companies who use these recordings out of the post to protect their anonymity.
1.This call was "first in line" …Although being a little tongue and cheek here, but Am I the only person here who is reminded of some other kind of music with this one?
2. Here’s our second call. and we waited on hold for ohhhh, maybe about 15 minutes. That annoying synth string orchestra did me in by minute 2! A dentist drill is more pleasing to the ear.
3. There’s nothing worse with hold music than bad loops. This is one of the worst we ever recorded
4. We’ll keep this one short; otherwise you might go looking for a large mallet to knock yourself out with.
We think you’ll clearly agree that some companies are not only blowing a great marketing opportunity tell about their business, but either they don’t care or are oblivious to what they’re hold music is. or rather, isn’t doing for their “customer experience and brand image”. And oh ya, what was up with that first sample?
From Blogger Ian Trigillis his accounts;
“Because I’m in the process of moving, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time on the telephone, listening to the isn’t-it-a-wonderful-thing-to-be-on-hold music at various furniture stores, credit card companies, and public utilities. Today I had to listen to Jingle Bell Rock for more than seven agonizing minutes”….
The answer is: "Yes, people are listening to what you’ve got on hold!" ... Clearly whether you agree or not, customers are going to be subjected to periods of waiting on hold. Studies show that what people hear while on hold makes a difference when it comes to perceptions about the customer experience and your brand”. Creative, entertaining and informative on hold messages work best. So there you have it, if you think that what your callers hear for your music on hold doesn’t really matter - they may be blogging, tweeting or facebook-ing about it right now....