As businesses increasingly become more competitive and busy, there comes the need to think of more innovative ways to promote one’s products and services. A simple message on hold recording can become a very powerful marketing and advertising tool when wielded with much thought. Nowadays, businesses use the message on hold to tell their customers what else they have to offer, from information about the company’s special promotions and events, to interesting trivial knowledge. But not just any message can make a difference. Here are the elements you need to combine to come up with a fantastic message on hold.
Short and snappy messages. To keep the full attention of your customers, it’s best to record brief, clear messages that are to the point. If your message is long and rambling, customers might not have the patience to wait it out and instead become irritated and frustrated by the time they get to talk to someone. Continue to infuse professionalism even in your short messages.
Informative and helpful messages. One purpose of the message on hold is to inform customers of the latest products, services, events, and special offers. This is also the right avenue to inform customers of your website, customer service e-mail address, and other useful contact information.
Clear and distinct voice. It pays to hire a professional voice-over talent to make a powerful message on hold. Look for a clear, distinct, and well-modulated voice. Your customers should be able to understand without straining to hear every word said. It also helps if your voice talent has a commanding, confident voice—not bossy and snobbish sounding, but a voice that can immediately capture the interest of customers. Record the message on hold in a professional voice-over studio to make it sound clean, clear, and audible.
Makes customers feel important. Another thing to look out for in a voice talent is a naturally warm and pleasing voice. It should be able to convey a welcoming feeling to your customers, also making them feel that they matter to your company. Customers tend to trust someone with a pleasing voice. Reinforce that feeling of reassurance by reminding customers that their call will be answered shortly, but in the meantime here is another way we can help you…
Appropriate and tasteful music. Choose music that appeals to a wide audience. Loud, distracting heavy metal music is a no-no, especially if your target customers are aged 50 and above. This is often the risk you have if you leave your callers on hold to a public commercial radio station.
Classical and instrumental music is a popular choice because of its soothing, relaxing effect on people. One powerful tactic is to intersperse your short on hold messages with brief sections of music. An average 8 to 12 second message to music ratio is enough to keep your customer’s interest.
They key here is to create a compelling message with quality. If done right, it can be a powerful tool to promote and highlight your business. One that reduces hang-ups, increases sales enquiries and builds a better business.
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