Simply put, music on hold is the music and information callers hear when placed on hold during a phone call. It has been proven to be a very effective and surprisingly inexpensive form of targeted marketing and it improves caller retention significantly, they are less likely to hang up while waiting. Furthermore, when the music includes messages in the form of non obtrusive advertisements, callers are likely to ask about the products or services advertised while on hold.

Here are some brief facts:

• 80% of business callers are place on hold.*
• 85% of callers prefer on hold messages.*
• Callers with Information on hold will stay on the line for up to 3 minutes longer.*
• 60% of on hold callers hang up if they experience silence and 30% never call back.*
• Callers with only music on hold will stay on the line for up to 30 seconds longer.*
• 16 - 20% of callers on hold will make purchase decisions based on what they hear on hold*
• Advertising on hold cost far less than any other advertising media and targets your market.*

What would you rather hear? Dead silence? Radio music that could very possibly be advertising your competitors products? Or music to keep your callers entertained and advertisements targeted toward them, your market.

*Statistics taken from Telemarketing Magazine, CNN Survey, Cellular Marketing Magazine and Media Rate analysis.