1. www.Long-complicated-web-address.com/4-your-callers
If your company has a website where your customers can find support information or help to aid their buying decisions, then providing your web address in your IVR or On Hold messages is essential.
Has your company got a very long or complicated name as part of the web address?
If so you might want to consider getting an additional shorter domain and redirecting it to your main website. Web domains are relatively inexpensive and most providers can offer a 301 redirect that basically redirects the domain to any web address you like.
For example, if your web address is massachusetts-same-day-logistics.com this is rather a long sentence for a voice over to say. It might be a good idea to also register msdl.com and redirect it as described above. This is easier to listen to and easier to type for your potential client.
Furthermore, if your website has a lot of information on it and your callers are only really going to need a specific part of the website, perhaps your help section, you could get a specific domain that redirects to a section on your website to help clients. For example, msdl-help.com.
2. To double-yew double-yew double-yew dot or not?
This is one of those things that has stuck. So many people still say the www. aspect of their domain when they speak it. However, most people rarely type it and browsers do not need it to be typed. It is taken for granted that every website address starts with this. If you actually read your on hold script out loud you will find that saying www. several times is a bit of a tongue twister and takes a good few seconds each time too. It is kind of like reciting your country code in front of your telephone number every time you give it out, kind of pointless and not needed by the recipient. (unless you are abroad).
It is your choice, but www is not really required these days.
3. Logon / Login
Most people are permanently connected to the internet these days. Therefore, saying logon to our website is not strictly correct. Login or on is more associated with a membership or account area nowadays rather than the act of getting online. Unless you need them to actually login to an area on your website, Visit or Go to our website sounds better.
4. Why not…
Saying “Why not visit our website …” is not great instruction. If there is a not a practical reason why bother!? Especially if you are already on-hold, why would you suddenly want to visit their website?!
Give people a purpose to either visit your website instead of calling or give them a reason to visit later.
For example:
Did you know, you can find full details and order all of our products 24 hours a day on our website, go to msdl.com
OR
Did you know, the answer to most support questions can be found in our online help section, go to msdl-help.com or continue to hold and we will be happy to help when you are connected.
5. Dial, press or touch phone?
Do you still have a dial on your phone? Most people under the age of 30 have probably never even used a phone with a rotary dial.
It is more accepted to say please press as most people are familiar with pressing numbers on their phones or touching them on their touch screen smartphones. Having said that, we are yet to record a script that says please touch 1 etc.
We hope you have found this useful. For more help with writing your script please see our Guide to Writing Your Telephone Script
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