Telephone on hold messages are a must for most businesses these days. Not only do these services allow you to capture current and potential customers that you would otherwise have missed through hang-ups, but they also give you an extra opportunity to nudge them further down your sales funnel.
To make sure that you’re getting the best on hold message service for your organisation, you need to know what questions to ensure this service is always creating maximum benefit to your business. Knowing these key service points will help to ensure that you know exactly what you’re getting, how much it will cost, and how easy it will be to make changes later if necessary.
How will you write a unique on hold script that increases engagements and boosts sales?
This is one of the most important questions to ask your on hold message supplier. You should be aware that you will probably need to answer some questions of your own in order for your supplier to get the most out of this approach. Since your main goal is to get callers to do more business with you one way or another, you need to be able to communicate with your supplier about your business and your sales funnel so that they can use their marketing wizardry to help make this happen through the most powerful on hold script.
How can I measure the ROI for this service?
The reason it is important to ask your on hold systems supplier this question is so that you can better manage your marketing budget. This can help you to both save and make more money. If you don’t know what your ROI is for your on hold marketing service, then you don’t know whether or not it is actually doing your business any good. This could lead to you wasting money on an ineffective service, or you could be holding back on investing more into something that will perform even better for your business.
Will you handle all technicalities involving equipment supply, remote update loading, monitoring, and dealing with my phone company in the background?
When it comes to hiring a service provider for telephone on hold messages it only makes sense to know the extent of the service you’re paying for. This is because a good service delivers more than just a well-written script. There are so many elements that can literally make or make the value in this type of service. Will they just be shooting you a mediocre recording for you to load and manage? Will you then be left in the dark manage technical issues or schedule your own updates? The truth is that there are many factors that contribute to retaining customers, getting new customers, and boosting sales. While service like telephone on hold marketing do come at an additional cost, they will typically lead to a higher ROI in the long run.
Will you monitor the service in the event there is a failure in recordings or equipment?
No system is perfect, and that applies to services that offer telephone messages on hold as well. The good news is that you can plan for problems such as a failure in recordings or equipment so that they can be corrected as soon as possible. A pro-active messages on hold company can help mitigate these technical issues and resolve the problem more quickly. Knowing how your on hold systems provider handles situations such as these will give you greater peace of mind, keep downtime to a minimum and provide a sharper understanding of what you’re paying for.
Do you provide script update reminders, and if so, how often?
Updating your on hold messages scripts regularly can be a fantastic strategy for a number of reasons. For one thing, the more scripts you test, the faster you’ll find variants that convert the highest. Updating your scripts also allow you to provide time-sensitive information such as info on sales, events, special offers, and current pricing. With this in mind, it is a solid idea to ask your on hold messages provider whether or not they will send you a reminder when it’s time for you to update your script. The reason they do this instead of updating the script automatically is so that you can provide them with current information that needs to be in the updated script. The last think you want is to have repeat callers hear the same outdated information time and time again.
How quickly can you arrange urgent updates?
Sometimes telephone on hold messages need to be updated as soon as possible instead of waiting for the next scheduled update. This being the case, it is important to know how fast your on hold provider can update the script and/or on hold music for your organisation and whether or not they will charge extra for this service. The last thing you want is to have an urgent need to change your messages on hold only to find out that it can’t be done as quickly as you’d like, or that it will cost more than you’d be comfortable spending on it.
Will you also include my IVR and after-hours recordings for the same price?
Once again, it is important to know exactly what you’re getting when you hire a service provider for on hold messages . You don’t want to spend a portion of your marketing budget only to discover that extra critical elements such has IVR (interactive voice recordings) and after-hours recordings,costs extra. To avoid this problem, make sure you have a list of everything you want to form part of this service when talking to your on hold message supplier.
What happens if I don’t like the recording you produce?
Doing your research beforehand can help prevent situations such as this, but there can be cases in which you’re not satisfied with the recordings your on hold systems provider creates for you. If this is the case, you need to know what your options are ahead of time. Will they give you a refund? Will they redo the recording until you are happy? And if so, how much will it cost? You don’t want to get caught off guard if you find yourself in this position, so make sure you discuss with your service provider exactly how things will be handled if you’re not satisfied with their recordings. No one likes forced acceptance and demand for payment when they are not 100% satisfied!
Can you fully manage updates and special programming remotely?
Being able to have your on hold messages managed remotely is important because it is a major time saver for your organisation. It’s also a good idea to ask about having certain messages play during specific time periods to allow even greater targeted marketing in line with changing caller demographics. This may require some advance planning or it may be able to be implemented as needed depending on the scope of the services provided by your supplier. Remember, the more that can be controlled and overseen by your on hold supplier, the less effort and stress on your part.
Understanding Your Marketing Needs
The key to getting the best on hold messaging service for your business is to fully understand your marketing needs and how this type of service can best fit into your sales funnel. With some of our useful pointers you’ll have no problems asking the right questions that help you to get the best telephone on hold service for your organisation.