How to create an on-hold message that keeps your customers happy

Among the various marketing and branding tools that companies use, one that best fits the expression “double-edged sword” is the on-hold message. The dilemma is how to have a solution that can be pleasant, informative, and reduces the unpleasantness of waiting, and does not pain the caller. Creating a well-crafted on-hold message is not as simple as placing a random text that promotes a company with a musical background. Several details need to be considered for the outcome to be positive and contribute to your brand and not become a message that takes away the peace of those who need to wait.

Who invented on-hold music?

On-hold music was invented by Alfred Levy in 1962, when a telephone wire from one of his factory phone lines induced music from a next-door radio station. Today that solution goes beyond playing relaxing music and promoting company messages. The goal is to keep the person from hanging up. Silence is believed to be a death knell for phone calls. In a phone call, silence is critical – people think the line is dead and hang up. Some callers call back in sequence, overloading the company phone lines; others never return.

The solution gained value and began to spread, starting with music only. Soon another possibility was evident: promoting messages from a company while on hold. Why not use the time when the company has the attention from its consumers and try to sell them something else?

Does the telephone on-hold produce results?

Some companies say the efficiency of their services is so good that their customers are never kept on hold. However, a survey in England carried out by PHMG on more than 2,000 consumers revealed that 70% of callers are left on hold on the phone in more than 50% of calls. The interesting thing is that when left on hold, 73% of customers prefer to hear something instead of beeps or silence, according to the survey.

Another poll, conducted by CNN, found out that 70% of people who wait in silence hang up within 60 seconds. Another survey, conducted by North American Telecom, found that those on hold listening to a message or music stay on the line 30 seconds longer than those who hold with silence.

How do I create an efficient on-hold message?

On-hold message formatting

There are no rules to compose an on-hold message. Below is the way that best suits most of our customers. You can define other parameters that give a better result to your context.

In almost all phone calls, background music plays all the time. The script is separated into blocks. Each block has three to four sentences about a single subject. You can have any number of blocks, but each one should address a different topic. Between each block, there is space of 10 to 15 seconds of music only. When a block starts, the background music volume should be reduced to a low level, almost disappearing.

So, the voice will remain understandable even with the limited quality of the phone lines.

When a company needs to have a message that demands the total attention of their customer, they can simply remove the background music. Then the customer’s attention will be directed to what is said. Naturally, the space between blocks should be removed, so as not to create the sensation that the call is dead. Use this feature only in some cases.

Be careful with telephone digital systems.

When parameters for digital telephony equipment were defined a few decades ago, engineers aimed to preserve a minimum quality enough for voice to be easily understood. Electronic circuits filter much of the sound frequency spectrum, keeping what is essential for voice. The idea is to increase efficiency by carrying the largest number of lines with the minimum number of resources. It works well, but not for music.

Many musical instruments reach frequencies far beyond the range of our voice. Passing through these filters might generate noise and distortion.

The extensive use of VoIP telephony makes this issue even more relevant. Software and hardware using algorithms (CODEC) developed to increase the efficiency in carrying and processing digital packets, often re-encoding with more filtering in a call with already deteriorated quality.

For all those reasons, the music choice must be made carefully. It is always worth it to do some experiments, testing the equipment to be installed, before choosing the definitive background music.

What level the music should be relative to the voice

Another topic that deserves attention is the proportion of voice to music. When there is voice, the music level should be extremely low, due to restrictions of telephony device frequencies. The volume ratio of voice and music is different from the final mix of other media, such as a radio commercial or audio used in video footage.

Avoid songs that contain vocals.

Avoid using any background music that includes vocals. The voiceover and singing together, most of the time, are hard to understand. Whenever possible, choose an instrumental song.

Breaks

Do not fall into the trap of having a message with a long section of speech and short intervals of music, expecting that those who hear will get a large amount of information. An on-hold message containing many text lines and few intervals or truly short intervals will probably become overwhelming. It will not allow the necessary time for those who hear to assimilate the subject addressed.

Music copyright

Be careful with copyright issues. Always make sure that the music to be used on the on-hold message complies with usage rights. The same rules for music enforced on the Internet, radio, YouTube, and other media apply to on-hold messages. Always check the source of the music that your company will use on your on-hold system.

Text, voice, and editing

If your company has chosen to create the on-hold message itself, the next tips can be useful. When possible, I suggest hiring the text creation service by the company that will record your message. Usually, these companies have a lot of experience. They should know to raise all questions and details necessary to do a great job.

Don’t leave anyone out.

Don’t be in a hurry to send the text to the recording studio. First, carefully select all topics covered and see if anything has been overlooked. Review the text as many times as necessary before sending the final version for recording. Don’t forget to involve all people necessary in the text creation step. Most studios charge additional fees in case the voiceover needs to be remade, for inclusion or revision of the original text.

A text made to be spoken is different from a text to be read.

The terms, expressions, and structure of a text that was created to be spoken are quite different from one that was made to be read. Copying and pasting text taken from a company’s website, a presentation, or brochure, and using it without any language adaptation may not result in a good job.

Conversational voiceovers

Companies, more than ever, have tried to create on-hold messages with friendly lines and a tone of casualness. To achieve that goal, the script needs to be crafted according to these features, choosing more informal terms or giving freedom to the voice professional. A good exercise is to speak the text and imagine it being spoken by the voice talent. Make sure it fits your initial idea.

Describe your project details before closing a deal.

Several companies want the quality of their on-hold message to be consistent with the brand standard, getting a voice that represents the company. Some companies demand exhaustive research for a piece of ideal background music, perfect placement, and a specific intonation on a phrase. Often, all this at the same time and with a budget for a standard recording! That is not feasible.

Be sure to describe all details of your project before closing a deal. The number of available songs is limited and expensive. The research for voices and negotiation of fees, studio settings, and sample production is all costly and time-consuming.

Optimize your text to a better understanding.

When creating your text, bear in mind that in most calls, callers are not always in the right place to take notes or understand everything with complete clarity. A noisy environment, or a cell phone call, exemplifies that. For example, several website domains can be spoken without the HTTPS: // or even without the www. Telephone numbers are hard to memorize. Whoever calls and stays on hold does not always have a pen and paper to get this information. When possible, spell the letters of an Internet address or email, or even use the international phonetic code. That makes it easier. Repeating the phone number may be the best solution when a number needs to be noted.

The female voice is overriding.

In my experience, I can say that the female voice is the predominant preference when people order an on-hold recording. Entering the discussion for the reasons for which this happens can be controversial. I would say that more than 80% of phone messages, in general, are recorded with a female voice. In the investment and banking industry, the male voice appears a little more frequently. I prefer the female voice because it sounds a little more clear and louder when used on the frequency spectrum of the telephone equipment.

Recording in other languages

If your message needs to be recorded in another language, I strongly recommend choosing a native speaker for this task, even when in the end, there are different voices in the recording. If you want credibility and to create a connection between your company and your customer, this is the best way. What would be your impression when listening to a Brazilian or German with a heavy accent speaking in English about your products? Pretty weird, isn’t it?

What cannot be left out of the on-hold message?

Most of the time, the caller is already a customer. Besides company information that you consider to be essential, promote what your customer does not know yet. For example, talk about a new service or product, a benefit or loyalty program, a new app or website. Also, consider spreading content that results in reducing the load on your team, like assistance by chat, email, or app, if these channels exist in your business.

If your company receives calls with the same questions all the time, this is a point that cannot be forgotten to include in your on-hold message. Business hours, address, or any information that your associates keep repeating when answering calls should be included in the on-hold message.

Observe the profile of the customers who call your company and direct content to meet their demand. Be careful of the traps. I remember a case of a car dealership. They used to play a short jingle promoting a new car, over and over, on the telephone. But most customers who call car dealerships seek information about their vehicles that are being repaired at the shop. Usually, they were not at all happy with the situation.

On-hold devices

On-hold message equipment has undergone a long process of development since the beginning of its use in the 1980s to the current times with VoIP or cloud-hosted telephone systems.

Initially, they used cassettes to store the messages, then external EEPROM cartridges, CD, EPROM. Now they use streaming audio. Until recently, most of the equipment was external and attached to the PBX by a cable with a 3mm connector or similar.

A CD or MP3 player does not always work.

On-hold equipment is robust and very reliable. Once working, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Usually, it has an external power supply instead of batteries. In case of a power outage, it starts to work again automatically when power is restored. The CD or MP3 player does not have this feature, and they are not so reliable. However, the major limitation of CD or MP3 players comes from a term called impedance that is a little complex to be explained here. Usually, the audio input of PBX has an impedance of 8 ohms, while the headphone output of CD or MP3 players is around 600 ohms. Headphones are generally 600 ohms and perfectly suitable for these outputs. The impedance mismatch often results in low volume or distortion when a CD or MP3 is attached to the PBX. Some on-hold equipment has a switch to select between impedances of 8 and 600 ohms.

The limitation of on-hold devices generally has to do with the memory capacity and struggling in updating the message. That problem has been decreasing as several pieces of that equipment have started to accept flash drives or SD cards.

PBX with more memory capacity

Lately, some PBX devices have offered an available internal memory to store the on-hold message, in addition to the external audio jack. Modern systems or computer-based PBX VoIP offer enough memory to store an audio file or several different messages.

Audio streaming

The trend of the new solutions, computer-based or cloud-based, are on-hold messages based on streaming audio. That way, a local or remote server hosts the audio messages. That solution allows audio to be updated anytime, from anywhere, or to be pre-scheduled. Some companies offer services where voiceover plays alternately with music, such as a custom radio station. Many PBXs also allow you to play different on-hold files, depending on the department to which the customer is directed. That lets you explore topics that are most relevant to the caller who calls a particular department.

Other hints

• Avoid phrases like: “Your call is very important to us.” Explore topics that are not so obvious and have the potential for good results. Remember – almost all callers are already customers.
• Avoid inserting a spot or jingle that your company created for the radio, repeating on the phone. Imagine a caller on hold for 10 minutes, during a rush time, listening to that 15-second super jingle 40 times. Who deserves this?
• Never keep the caller in silence. Do not choose a song that is too sad or too fast.
• Do not overwhelm your customer with information. Small texts interspersed with spaces of 10 to 15 seconds of music are preferred.
• Adjust the on-hold volume to a level that is relaxing to the caller. Raising the volume level is not a great tactic to get attention or increase sales.
• Keep your waiting customers up-to-date. Holidays and the Christmas season are good opportunities to inform your customers about sales and possible changes in business hours.
• Long on-hold messages are the most recommended. The phone message plays in a loop. When a caller is put on hold, the text starts from a random point. When the audio is long, the chance to hear the same part again is lower. That is also true for those who are always calling your company. Don’t let the customer memorize your phone message.
• Be careful when picking the musical backgrounds and set volume levels of voice/music. With the extensive use of digitization and VoIP (voiceover IP), telephone calls rarely follow analog routes (such as the Internet itself). The connection is encoded and decoded (using CODEC) in various formats to produce savings and efficiency. That process, optimized for voice, can bring unexpected outcomes in the quality of the background music. Some equalization filters applied within the editing software can reduce this problem well. In this case, experimentation is the best way to avoid surprises.

Trends in 2021

• Conversational voices and intonation (as opposed to standard voiceover).
• Friendly and cozy scripts with a sense of informality, escape of robotic lines.
• Electronic music background using chilled, inspiring, happy, light, ambient, and atmospheric style.
• Full-featured telephony devices, better memory capacity, and easy audio message updates.
• Fully digital telephony, which requires more caution to choose background music and the mix settings.

Conclusion

On-hold messages are still an important marketing tool. Following some of the tips in this article, your company can have a great on-hold message system that is not only pleasant but informative. Create an opportunity to reduce the overload of your telephone system. Decrease lost calls, reduce stress and workload of your team, take the opportunity to increase sales and promote services, reduce the stress of callers, and solidify your company’s brand.

Leave your comment.

Did you like this article? Would you like to have more information about on-hold messages? If your company has implemented an on-hold message and has had good results, comment below. We will be glad for your interaction with us!

About the author

Daniel Loretti is co-founder of Voicetel Comunicações and IVR Prompts.net (Canada), voiceover talent, audio producer, and telecommunications specialist. He has been working with on-hold messages since 1999.