May it be a sweet smooth sax solo, a long-forgotten Cross melody or a catchy version of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, customers do have something to say about every company’s on hold music. Some music might lead to customers experiencing LSS (Last Song Syndrome), resulting from playing the music in one’s head for over a week or even humming the rhythm while doing the dishes. However, some customers roll their eyes everytime they hear on-hold music. But despite the opposing team, studies have shown that 8 out of 10 callers prefer to hear on-hold music rather than listening to silence.
A number of researches have proved that music can be beneficial to companies when placing customers on hold. On-hold music can definitely distract the caller from boredom and can give a false perception of time, making it look like the customer is on hold for a short time. What customers do not know is that looking for suitable on-hold music can be very difficult. But with the help of the social media industry, companies can now keep track of what callers think about their on-hold music. Twitter is one of the most famous social network nowadays and most callers voice out their comments, thoughts and frustrations about the on-hold music played by companies.
Your brand and your choice of music
You may be using an on-hold music for the sake of your customers’ enjoyment and you may not be fully aware about how your music and your products or brand relates to one another. Well, your customers do notice that. They greatly appreciate on-hold music that also represent the company they are calling. Here is a tweet from a Disney caller which proves the relation of on-hold music and brand.
@kaylaruth – on hold with disney, at least they play disney-themed music
On-hold music represents the type of company you have and your brand. By adjusting the music played to customers on hold with the music related to your company, such as the music played on your commercial campaign, your brand image can be strengthened. The example tweet above is proof of how customers notice whether your music is appropriate or not.
Some may like it, while others may find it disturbing
Fact: music is absolutely a subjective thing and it’s quite impossible to please everyone when talking about music preference. This is a big problem when it comes to playing on-hold music. A caller once mentioned in a forum on how much she liked the jazzy music played on a radio station’s waiting line. However, an avid customer of the radio station complained about how boring and dull the on-hold music is. See the difference of taste and preference? Perhaps this is the reason why companies play songs that used to top the charts in the past. If a song stayed quite a long time on a hit chart, then perhaps the people liked it, right? Both companies and customers choose to play and listen to recent chart songs as it is the safest choice available.
They hate it yet they dislike dead air
Some callers may find the constant beeping and repetitive songs as irritating, especially when they are frustrated with a complaint. Quite a number also hate the idea of being on hold with nothing to listen but silence. Thus, give them the option to choose the on-hold music to lessen the probability of more complaints.
Photo from Atos Healthcare
