It always seems that it is the little things in life that drive us the craziest. At least that is my experience. I absolutely hate being put on hold. To make it even worse, most of the time it is either horrible music or complete silence. I am not sure which one is worse.

I just recently found some interesting statistics about being put on hold. CNN conducted a study and found that 60 hours of an average person’s year consists of being placed on hold. Can you believe that? That is only in one year!

I’ve always wondered why some businesses have music, complete silence, or advertisements for their customers on hold. What helps them decide which course to take? I found this question interesting so I decided to do a little more digging. A survey conducted by the North American Telecommunications Association discovered that when on hold, a caller is more likely to stay for three minutes longer if the message is a mix of music and relevant information. So, why don’t all companies do this? You would think they would want those three extra minutes, right?

While researching all of this, I came across this new idea of having a creative hold message. Finally someone has come up with a better alternative to sitting in complete silence. I think this is a great idea for companies because they can tailor the message for their needs. I figure, if I have to spend 60 hours a year on hold, it might as well be relevant and entertaining.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.