Slashdot Mirror
Appropriate Music for Callers 'On Hold'?
RiBread asks: "I work at a startup, and as such wear many hats. Right now I'm trying to make sure our phone system is useful. One of everyone's biggest complaints is the cheesy music that plays when someone calls in and is put on hold. The stunning MIDI rendition of 'Home on the Range' they hear vies only with the ice cream truck and 'It's a Small World' for its ability to infuriate. I found out we can hook up a CD player to the phone system to alleviate this, but the real question is now: what do we want to play? What's the best 'on hold' music you've heard?
(comments with links to samples of music will be most appreciated)"
...while I do real work. I didn't call to listen to music, it just serves as a reminder that you haven't hung up on me.
The purpose of call-hold music is to indicate that you have not hung up. So why not send soft beeps, once in a while, so that
(a) the exchange does not terminate the call thinking that there is no activity
(b) the listener doesnt get pissed off listening to some (great?) music played over a crap 3KHz bandwidth phone line
US is now divided as the "Red" and "blue" states. Red States = communist countries. Coincidence? I think not
You asked about what on-hold music to use. I'm going to pretend you said, "Give me input on phone-related stuff for my company."
1) NEVER blame "unusual call volume" for hold times. God, that makes me sick. It's a sneaky way of saying "It's not our fault you're on hold." Yeah, it is.
2) When the caller has finished their business, NEVER ask "Is there anything else I can help you with blah blah blah?". "No." "Okay then, thank you for calling Ultrablather Systems Software Systems Incorporated." STFU and say goodbye like any normal polite person and let me get off the goddamn phone.
3) NEVER have a phone system that constantly reminds me every 30 seconds that your sorry I'm holding and blah blah blah. If you're not gonna have enough people to eliminate the wait, at least let me wait in peace.
4) If your phone system requires me to punch numbers in, you better be sure your system rewards my effort. Being asked for the info I just punched in makes me want punch in your face.
5) Make sure the hold music is QUIET.
6) Play Dixieland music, simply because nobody does. Added bonus: It uses banjos.
1) it is proven that helps to relax
2) no RIAA bugging you
but please make it longer than the usual 30seconds.. and it would be nice to "beep" loud when someone answers the phone, in case the on-hold time will take longer than 2 minutes.
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
CLID should mean they don't even need to leave a number... maybe 'Press 1 to have someone call you back on the number you are calling from, Press 2 to have someone call you back on another number, Press 3 to send someone around to tie you to a bed and tickle your privates with a feather'.
If you do have to put people on hold, one thing i'd really like to see on is some indication of call progression, eg 'You are currently position 7 in our queue. Given our current call rate your call will be answered in 10 minutes'. That way I can make a decision on if I want to hang around or maybe call back later. Market research must indicate that this doesn't encourage people to stay on hold though as I have never encountered it.
To actually go on topic, if you have to put customers on hold, give them something useful to listen to, something to make their time on hold not a complete waste of time. Some ideas I can think of are:
. Word definitions. Improve the vocabulary of your customers.
. Fun Facts.
. Movie reviews.
. Book reviews.
. TV guide (only useful if most callers are local)
Finally, depending on your phone system, it would be cool if customers could 'change the channel', or at least turn off the on hold noise if they do as I do and call such numbers on a speaker phone while I'm doing other things. In that case I would prefer silence.
It doesn't have to be music -- but beeps? That could easily confuse a caller into thinking there was some error in the system.
The hold music used by the Macaroni Grill (Italian restaurant chain) -- and what they play in the bathrooms in the restaurants -- is an interesting alternative; it's a "learn Italian" CD, teaching you common phrases in Italian.
You might think it'd be annoying... but the voices are soothing (and Italian in general is a very musical language), there's some subtle music in the background, and it really worked for me.
I'm not sure what an equivalent would be for tech support, though... listening to some adenoidal geek stuttering through technical term definitions somehow wouldn't be the same.
There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
1) NEVER blame "unusual call volume" for hold times. God, that makes me sick. It's a sneaky way of saying "It's not our fault you're on hold." Yeah, it is.
Ever tried making sure hundreds of support agents are in the right place at the right time to answer the right amount of calls? It's not easy. Especially if there are multiple centers and/or there is something happening (virus, network outtage, 9/11, etc) that's causing increased volumes. Tech support is a loss leader for companies, they don't want to pay any more for it than they have to because it costs a *TON* of money. Quite frankly it may even cost more than losing a few customers for a lot of companies.
2) When the caller has finished their business, NEVER ask "Is there anything else I can help you with blah blah blah?". "No." "Okay then, thank you for calling Ultrablather Systems Software Systems Incorporated." STFU and say goodbye like any normal polite person and let me get off the goddamn phone.
People usually remember the first and last things about a call and not the middle. Most people *like* it when the agent seems to genuinely want to help. You're not going to get rid of this one anytime soon, management wants the companies name said at the end of the call so people will remember it.
As for the rest of your suggestions, I only have an issue with #6, I hate dixieland music...