As the year winds down, it’s a great time to look at project lists and consider what hasn’t been crossed off. Sometimes it’s even worth revisiting a goal list to see what has been accomplished this year to gauge productivity and help shape the next year. For many companies—especially small businesses—some projects seem too time intensive or too expensive. Marketing may fall into that category, and it may have been something you’ve neglected to create or integrate in 2012. But it’s not too late to integrate your marketing with on-hold messages before the year ends.

One of the great things to remember about the team at America On Hold is that we can help you cross that item off your to-do list and start 2013 with a new tool in your sales and marketing kit. By taking advantage of customizing your customers’ on-hold experience, you increase your brand awareness, retain more customers, and capitalize on another advertising opportunity. All of these factors combine to increase your sales.

Without help, this process can be overwhelming or even seem impossible. What messages do you share? How do you manage the technology? By handing this task over to America On Hold, all of the steps needed to create your on-hold messages are thoroughly handled by our team, from competitive market research to learning more about your company. Our team then uses all of that information to craft an appropriate messaging experience for your clients, with your expert help determining the correct components. The entire America On Hold process from start to finish only takes five business days, and that’s without any disruption to your current phone system for set up.

There’s no question that customer feedback is a great way to improve and better shape the consumer experience. What better time than the approach of a new year to measure how your customers are responding to their on-hold messaging experience and make changes to your strategy?

What are your customers saying?
This is a great way to gauge the effectiveness of your current message components, including content, offers, and music. There are many ways to go about measuring this that are as basic as having your customer service team ask about your customers’ on-hold experience during their call. If your company conducts any kind of survey program—whether it’s specific to your on-hold messaging or just a quick question at the end of an overall customer service survey—that’s a great way to gather feedback. It can also be as upfront as taking to your social media channels and asking your fans if there was anything that struck them about their on-hold experience.

What are your customers doing?
Evaluate and track how your customers are responding to content in your current on-hold messages. Are they excited about anything in particular that they then ask about on the call? Are they redeeming any specific on-hold offers?

Don’t take it personally
If you’re noticing a trend in the responses, see it as an opportunity to improve and get more out of your on-hold messages. Many components, including your customers’ demographics and their preferences could play a big part in their feedback. It may also boil down to simplifying your content or any industry jargon used.

All of these components may leave you wondering which direction to turn to craft an appropriate on-hold messaging experience. The team at America On Hold can help you assess your current messages and assist in developing marketing efforts that better addresses your customers’ needs.