Most businesses that have long waiting times play music, messages, or a mixture of both of them to keep the caller interested and let them know the line is still connected.

But not many businesses regard the time with their customers as valuable and miss a huge opportunity each time someone calls.

There are a ton of reasons to implement messages on hold to your business's phone system, so let's take a look at a few of them.

Keep Customers On the Line

Complete silence while on hold might give them the impression that the call got cut off or leave them waiting anxiously. With on-hold music, it lets them know the call is connected and soothes them for a bit.

A survey shows that 60% of callers that were placed on hold without music or messages, left the call entirely within the first 40 seconds and over 30% of them don't even call back. This, versus when callers are provided on-hold messaging, keeps them staying for up to 25% longer.

Captivate Your Audience

Callers that hear information on hold usually stay on the line for 3.5 minutes longer than callers that only hear music. You can leverage this opportunity by providing useful information to the callers to keep them interested or answer some of the more frequently asked questions that your callers have, improving customer satisfaction.

Providing messages on hold keeps the callers busy and entertains them so they don't think they're wasting time.

Market Your Business

Additionally, instead of providing useful information while you have callers on hold, some businesses use the opportunity wisely to inform them about exciting events or sales and advertise their products.

Not only can this serve as marketing for your business, but if done successfully it can also intrigue your customers and make them ask questions about what your business has to offer.

Establish Brand Loyalty

The audience doesn't just watch one advertisement from a brand and immediately become loyal customers. In the huge world of digital marketing, thousands of brands and businesses try to one-up each other and show uniqueness to increase customer retention and familiarity.

On-hold optimization greatly benefits your company in this regard, whether it's because of the great customer service or simply because the customer's time was valued instead of thrown away.

Drive Traffic to Website

To increase the time that customers stay on hold and engage with your business, it's crucial to first understand why they are there. Wait times are implemented so each caller can have personalized and comprehensive service from an agent, rather than a self-repeating message that doesn't help them at all.

One way to present value to your waiting customers is to give them the option of visiting your website. It exposes your customers to a wider range of information and benefits your business by increasing website traffic.

Set a Professional Tone Before the Call

Professional-sounding messages can significantly improve a customer's opinion of your business before they even interact with an agent or employee. On-hold messages and music help establish a business-like tone and create a first good impression.

The more valuable information callers gain from the time spent on the call with you, the more they respect your company and have only good things to say.