Tips on How to Use On-hold Marketing Effectively

Tips on How to Use On-hold Marketing Effectively

All too often companies underestimate the power of their telephone system.

On average, 20% of a caller’s time will be spent on-hold or in queue so it’s clear that the last thing you want to do is waste that valuable customer interaction with silence, or dreaded clichés.

We believe that in-queue and on-hold audio is about much more than just making a good impression. When used well, it can be an incredibly effective marketing tool which can add significant benefits such as improving business efficiency, and enabling greater visibility of your products and services to encourage upsells.

Ensuring Maximum Impact

So how do you use on-hold time more effectively? What’s going to add the greatest benefit to your business, and your customers?

First of all, review what you’ve currently got in place. Does your voice artist accurately represent your brand? Does the tone and language match other customer contact points? If your website uses a lot of modern terminology and conversational language, does your on-hold audio match? All these things should be consistent, so when a customer decides to pick up the phone, they immediately recognise who you are as a business.

Next you need to decide what you want to achieve. In-queue and on-hold audio provides the perfect opportunity to boost sales, provide additional info, and build your brand! You have a captive audience, and while they might switch off, or do something else while they’re waiting, they’ll certainly be listening for their call to be picked up. And if you create an engaging experience they’ll be sure to listen more closely.

So put your biggest offers at the start, when your callers are most keen. But be careful; the way you word your messages plays a huge part in their success. Too pushy and you’ll lose your caller – not enough benefit, and their interest is lost. The right script can build your brand, which is why UCS Voice already has 10,000+ professionally scripted messages that can be filtered by industry and message type, and then implemented instantly or tailored to your exact requirements.

Next you’ll need to think about how your callers will hear your messages. Some phone systems start your caller at the beginning of your audio compilation, which allows you to guide them through each step of the journey you want them to take. Each message can act as a steppingstone to build on the previous one and slowly build your caller’s awareness of your products, services or whatever you choose to focus your messages around.

And, put yourself in your callers’ shoes – listen to your on-hold experience and make sure it’s relevant, and helps improve a caller’s experience.

UCS Voiceis an intuitive new service which allows you to order prompts for IVR menus, as well as music and marketing messages to play callers while in-queue or on-hold.  It’s configured by you using a simple-to-use web portal.