IVR is short for Interactive Voice Response, an automated system that uses a touch-tone telephone to direct your call. You will have one of these if you have multiple departments with lots of incoming calls.
Around 60% of callers placed on hold with silence hang up within 40 seconds, while callers who hear messages and music tend to stay on the line about three minutes longer.
About 55% of communication is lost over the phone because body language isn’t visible, leaving just 38% through tone of voice and 7% through words.
As these stats show, using the wrong tone in your messages could hurt your sales and reputation.
Many companies spend time and money on their visual branding (logo and leaflets), but neglect their telephone audio. Your sonic branding is as important as your visual branding.
This article covers common mistakes made with IVR and on-hold marketing. It also outlines some good techniques to use.
You rang!
It’s best to have just a few options on your telephone on-hold system. People lose interest quickly, so listing every department isn’t always a good idea. Think about it from your customers’ point of view: what will they be calling your company for? To buy products? To get information? To make a complaint?
It’s recommended to keep the options to 3 or 4 key choices, if possible. If you feel you need 7 or 8 options, be ruthless, cut it down to the 3 or 4 most relevant. You can always make the 4th option a catch-all for other enquiries.
Remember, the purpose of telephone IVR options is to get the potential client through to the most relevant department as quickly as possible. Failing that, you need to get them to remain on hold until you can deal with their call.
Thank you for calling ABC, for sales please press 1 – for product information press 2 – for all other enquiries press 3…
Make it simple and friendly, and always use a professional voiceover. People relate to it better and psychologically, it is more accepted and expected by the caller. Your company will sound established and efficient, and inspire confidence. You can always tell when a member of the office records the IVR options, you know, the person with the best telephone voice.
Think about the type of voice-over you want to use. What image do you want your company to project to callers? Who is your target market?
Using a voice-over style that connects with your caller is important. You don’t want a mature corporate voice if your company is aimed at 18-25 year olds, and likewise, you don’t want a young radio-style voice if you are a firm of lawyers.
Please Hold!
Being on hold can be frustrating, but you can use that time wisely to inform and educate your caller about your company, services, and products. A silent hold line feels very cold and makes the wait seem much longer than it is, often resulting in callers hanging up. Give them something to hold their attention.
Music On Hold
While music can alleviate boredom, you must ensure it’s properly licensed for use on your on-hold telephone system. Otherwise, you could face a copyright infringement charge.
Choose your on-hold music carefully. Not everyone shares your taste in music. For example, a loud hip-hop track may alienate some of your callers. It’s usually better to select music that is easy to listen to, or chilled and relaxing. Royalty-free music is a great choice for use on-hold. Most callers don’t have any expectations about it, so they just accept it as background music.
As with the voice, it is also advisable to pick music that is relevant to the company image you want to portray. It is acceptable for a nightclub to use a pumping dance track, but this would be wrong for an accountant’s office.
It is good practice to thank the caller for holding, but not every 5 seconds! Many on-hold systems work on a continuous loop. I suggest having your ‘thank you for holding…’ message at the beginning and in the middle of the loop. Intervals of 20-30 seconds don’t disrupt the music too much, but remind your caller that you care.
Entertain, Educate and Sell!
Don’t waste the opportunity you have when a caller is on hold. You have a captive audience; a great opportunity to keep them engaged and educate them about your products and services.
It is not best to blatantly advertise or cram as many ads in as possible. A more subtle approach is far less intrusive and more appreciated by the caller. On-hold marketing is more effective when voice and music are combined. Both are important elements, so let your ads breathe, make sure there’s music before and after to break things up
Make your marketing messages short and to the point. I am not an advertising expert, but making them engaging and entertaining can make a difference.
Simple messages can work best, for example:
Thank you for holding, did you know ABC limited sells more widgets in the UK than any other company, and can price match any quote.
This Autumn we have great savings on widgets, ask your operator for details.
You get the idea. Keep sentences short; no hard sell. Let people hear the music before and after the voice. This is when they will take in and process the information.
This article is based on our experience of creating on-hold audio for many clients. We have limited knowledge about on-hold equipment, but we suggest that you always test any newly installed audio.
Call your company as if you were a customer to ensure everything works properly. Is the volume right? Is it clear? Are there anomalies in the system that cause delays or the first split second to be cut off?
There’s nothing more frustrating than hearing your professionally produced on-hold audio ruined by incorrectly set-up hardware. Your callers will notice it, but won’t say anything about it. Not to you anyway!
