Bad hold music causing complaints, say business owners

Substandard music includes music which is inappropriate, repetitive, irritating, or of poor sound quality; 43% of respondents also said silence (i.e. the absence of hold music entirely) had contributed towards complaints.

In fact, callers seem to care as much about their experience on hold as when talking to someone: as many business owners said there were as many complaints about silence as there were about substandard call handling. Furthermore, 51% reported long hold times as causing complaints, perhaps not realising that high-quality music and informative messaging can reduce the perceived time spent on hold.

These statistics come despite 83% of business owners stating that the telephone is their most important method of communication, indicating that there is a disconnect between callers’ expectations and the level of service being provided; businesses are failing to make full use of their audio brand, which is having an adverse effect on their customer relationships.

Survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of PHMG. The poll surveyed 1,000 consumers and 1,000 business decision-makers in each of the US, UK and Australia.