Music on Holding Pattern?
03/09/2009 06:00
Music on hold, or advertising on hold, seems to me to be an often overlooked vehicle for key message conveyance. Of course no company really wants to leave someone on hold – but sometimes, it is a very necessary course of action – so why not take advantage of a captive audience? In my previous life, I worked in advertising, and I was responsible for the scripting and execution of our company’s on-hold messaging. I spent a lot of time crafting the perfect message for this venue, because of the attention I knew the listener would be forced to pay. Think about it – you can’t fast-forward through a commercial on hold and you can’t “turn the page” to ignore the message. I suppose you could tune it out – but chances are you are waiting with bated breath for someone to pick up the phone. And the message isn’t all that counts – the delivery mechanism or system matters a lot too. As many of you know, I was unable to make it to Vegas for the Channel Partners Conference & Expo last week due to several flight delays and cancellations, which, of course, had me on hold with the airline customer service line for several hours ... literally. I now can tell you a lot about the Delta/Northwest merger and what new tools are available on their Web sites. However, I was very nervous as I sat there on hold for nearly an hour each time I called. The static on the line was unbearable – I almost could not hear their messaging and the music would fade in and out. It was horrible to listen to, but there was no way I was putting down the phone. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Am I sitting on this static-ridden line for an hour only to not be able to hear through the same static once the rep picks up the line?” Well, lucky for me, the quality wasn’t as bad when the CSR finally picked up the phone. But I did wonder how a company so huge, with such a gigantic, important, high-traffic customer service line could have such a lackluster on-hold experience to offer their customers. So, what I want to know from you, readers, is how much importance do your customers place on this advertising vehicle? Do you sell a lot of music/messaging on hold products? Do you use them yourself? Is this a product segment that is growing, disappearing or staying static? ... no pun intended. Let me know what you think!
User Comments !
Cara— Check this out! I too experienced a miserable MOH session while waiting on hold (for about 45 minutes-yikes!) for a Southwest Airlines customer service rep last week.
I was attempting to change my flight departure time when departing from the Channel Partners Expo in Vegas. Just as you described your experience with Delta/Northwest, the static and volume was unbearable; the volume faded in and out. I had to strain to hear whether the rep had come on the line each time the volume decreased.
After investing the first fifteen minutes of an “approximate wait time of ten minutes due to higher than normal call volume” (yeah, right), I remained on hold for another 30 minutes until the rep finally came on to tell me “no”.
As I hung up I thought…’it wouldn’t be so bad to have waited for 45 minutes to have a 60 second conversation if the wait and MOH wasn’t such a deplorable experience’.
I also had the same afterthought along the lines of what you mention. How hard can it possibly be for a MAJOR airline to update the MOH recording or improve the sound quality for their customers? AT LEAST, one ponders, you’d think they could provide some useful info for the caller in queue, since decent music seems to be out of the realm of possibility.
On the upside—the Channel Show was GREAT, as usual! J
Yours on hold,
--Drew
Posted by: Drew Allgeier | March 12 2009 04:33:13
Very interesting, I enjoyed it. Thanks Alot
Im on twitter!
Posted by: Jason Colon | March 21 2009 14:44:58
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