NO, Don’t Hang UP!!

There is a study by AT&T that found 60% of phone callers who are put on hold will hang up and 30% of these callers will not call back.

One of the most overlooked profit centers in the business is MOH (Messaging On Hold). It is estimated that customers who are exposed to on hold messaging, where a call-to-action is communicated, are 80% more likely to try a new product or service or take advantage of a special offer. We use MOH to communicate to our online system users information about our online order system (GPnet). All of the messages on our system relate to common support questions. Our objective is to keep our customers from hanging up and so far we have experienced a dramatic difference. If they do hang up, it is usually because the MOH actually answered a frequently asked question or at least told them where to go online to get the answer.

But forget about GP (a B2B scenario) for now and consider your own business. Are you a retail company (any B2C) who receives more than 20 calls per day? You spend tons of money on getting people to call you but when they do, what happens next? Are they ever put on hold? I say... plug that leaky revenue hole right now! MOH is very easy to implement and requires almost zero maintenance. Why miss the opportunity?

Recently I was reminded by an actual event and how poorly some companies are at handling their inbound phone calls: I called a local sandwich shop to order lunch for myself and 3 colleagues and was put on hold. No message, no music and they forgot about me! It felt like I was oh hold for 5 minutes. So, I hung up and called for pizza. I paid more for the pizza than I would have for the sandwiches. That's money calling in and the sandwich shop just ignored it! When will businesses give the same attention to phone calls that they do people standing in front of them?

Silence is like locking the front door to your business and only letting some of the customers in. Streaming music? Studies show that music on hold is not effective and if you are using a local radio station as a feed, you are most likely in violation of copywrite laws.

To find the right service, go ahead and 'Google' "messaging on hold" or I am happy to share the company we use (WebTone). They are based in California and have a fantastic style. They have ROI calculators, great voice actors and are very reasonably priced. Click here to hear a sample, or you can email our rep directly here.

Whatever you do... don't hang up!!