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What is on-hold messaging?
Home » Information Technology » On-hold Messaging » What is on-hold messaging?On-hold messaging systems are a critical part of your business communication arsenal. These programs consist of prerecorded messages (typically four minutes in length) that provide callers who are waiting on the line with information about your company, products, and services—rather than the dreaded Musak or even worse: dead air. The idea is to create pleasant and engaging scripts that make the most of this time with your captive audience.
One of the primary goals of on-hold messaging systems is to prevent caller abandonment, that is, when callers hang up before reaching the person they’d hoped to speak to. Most messages include courtesy phrases that encourage callers to continue holding. In addition to disseminating information about your company or promoting a product, these systems can handle such customer service tasks as addressing frequently asked questions and providing special instructions, phone numbers, or Web sites. Some businesses use the on-hold time to tout their community involvement and charitable deeds. Or your on-hold program can simply provide entertainment through music or interesting anecdotes, but most experts agree that humor should be avoided in scripts.
Note that any music played on hold is subject to copyright laws and licensing fees must be paid. Organizations such as Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) ensure that music writers get the appropriate royalties. Messaging vendors usually manage such fees for you, but be sure to ask if music is licensed and from whom.
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