thank you for holding

Is Your Caller Important To You?

The worst recorded words you can hear over the phone are; “Thank you for holding, your call is important to us. One of our operators will be with you shortly”. The first time you hear it you believe it. “Why would this lovely voice lie to me?” As time goes on you realise that in your heart of hearts they will not be with you shortly. The tell tale signs appear; you might put the phone on speaker, you go on the computer, maybe turn on the TV because you to know ‘shortly’ is a relative term.your-call-is-important

In our Copywriting Department we shudder at the phrase – knowing full well that it does the complete opposite of what it is supposed to do. It does not put the caller at ease, especially when they hear it multiple times. In fact, it reminds the caller that they’re caught in ‘on hold purgatory’ and makes their wait time seem longer.

When a client requests a generic courtesy message in their on hold production, we remind them that doing so has the opposite effect. We remind them that it’s much wiser to inform callers of the new services available at the company, encourage the caller to like a Facebook page or check out the website. After all, the longer a caller stays on hold, the less the courtesy message sounds reassuring and the more it begins to sound like a taunt!

In an ideal world your callers would only be on hold long enough to hear a few messages, but for any number of reasons this isn’t always the case. It’s important in these situations to entertain and educate the caller with fun, interesting and informative messages. You might even like to let them know alternative ways of contacting your company. The objective is to take your caller’s mind off the wait and tell them how you can in fact assist them.

Thank you for reading this blog, your time is important to us.

(See! Even when it is genuine it rarely comes across that way!)

– Emily

Kill the Cliches!

Ticking clocks. Arrows hitting targets. Chances are you’ve come across these visual symbols splashed across hundreds of websites, banners, print ads and tv commercials. In fact I’d say it’s a certainty. Even if you can’t recall a specific example, it just goes to prove you should avoid clichĂ©s in your marketing, or risk being forgotten.

handshake

Boring!

Using a ticking clock to show the passage of time may have once been considered a stroke of creative ingenuity, but those days are gone forever. The moment an execution becomes clichĂ©d, so does the organisation behind it. No lasting impression is made, and the audience forgets about the company the instant they switch channels or turn the page. And that’s the last thing your business wants.

ClichĂ©s exist On Hold too. We’ve all heard them before.
‱ Your call is important to us
‱ Thank you for holding
‱ We are your one-stop shop
‱ 
for all your needs and requirements.

To make your business stand out, it’s important to have a production that’s uniquely yours.

It starts with copywriting that combats convention. At Messages On Hold we find out from you the most significant aspects of your products and services. Then it’s the job of our experienced copywriters to find one-off, creative ways to educate your callers in a way that reflects your branding and distinguishes you from the rest. That means no clichĂ©s.

At the recording and mixing stage, forget about the generic tinny elevator music and tired voices that have become the norm. Choose brilliant tracks written by talented musicians, a diverse cast of professional voice actors and an enormous library of high-quality sound effects.

Why not see how we put it all together with a customised demo?

-Magnus

Am I Crazy?

The other day I was out getting a bite to eat in the area I live and I saw something interesting while I was waiting for my order. A team member of this place was sweeping up with a dust pan and broom. That’s not the interesting part, what happened next is.

A large piece of dust caught itself in the bristle of the broom and refused to relinquish its grip and settle in the pan. So the team member bent down, plucked it off, placed it back onto the ground and made a second attempt to sweep it into the pan. This happened about four-five times before the team member grew frustrated and just placed it straight into the pan. I wish I were exaggerating.

kymThis brought to mind Albert Einstein’s famous quote “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. And this adage can be carried over to how you think about your On Hold messages. If you currently play radio or standard “thank you for holding” messages and still have angry or upset callers, try something different! Or if you have a professionally written On Hold production that’s not getting the results you want, try something different!

The great thing about On Hold messages is that (depending on your package) you can chop and change them as you like, fine tuning them until you achieve the desired result. This might be increased conversions, larger customer share or customer retention. The choice is yours.

– Lachy