On Hold Messaging

On-hold messaging is a service used by businesses and organizations of all sizes to deliver information to their callers waiting on hold or while they are being transferred. Also called audio marketing, on-hold messaging is a specialist area of marketing and branding. It seeks to represent the personality of a business in the medium of audio.

An AT&T study found that more than 70% of business phone calls in the United States are placed on hold for an average of 45 to 60 seconds each. Meanwhile, a USA Today study found executives spend 15 minutes a day or 68 hours a year on hold. A CNN survey found that 70% of callers in the United States who are holding the line in silence hang up within 60 seconds. A study by North American Telecom found that callers hearing music on hold will stay on the line 30 seconds longer than callers experiencing silence, and callers hearing commercials on hold will stay on the line for up to 3 minutes longer.

In November 2011 an omnibus survey of more than 2,000 UK consumers highlighted several key figures related to modern business communications and specifically to on hold messaging. Conducted by ICM on behalf of audio branding specialist PH Media Group, the survey found:
70% of consumers are put on hold for more than 50% of their calls; 68% of consumers are put on hold for longer than one minute; 73% of consumers want to hear something other than beeps or silence while on hold; 72% of personal calls to businesses are made at home on a landline; 60% of consumers are in front of a computer while on hold.

On-hold messaging production companies generally write scripts working with voice over artists and studio engineers to produce the recordings.

Compatible phone systems have a physical or virtual port which allows audio playback to users on hold. The installing of on-hold messaging often requires a telephone engineer to configure the telephone system. On-hold messaging can be delivered via telephone lines, the Internet, cassette tape, CD or audio file.

The audio messages used in on-hold messaging combine a mixture of voice and music designed to reflect a company's brand values and communicate desired marketing messages to all callers who are placed on hold. Messages can also be developed as part of a company's interactive voice response system, the automated technology typically used by businesses to handle high call volumes.

Particularly in the United Kingdom, there has been an increasing move among businesses towards the use of regional accents and dialect in their on-hold marketing. Research conducted by audio branding specialist PH Media Group among UK businesses discovered a 27% rise in the use of accents between January 2012 and January 2013.

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