Improve Quality of Google Listing Calls

Google My Business Listings generate millions of calls for local businesses on a daily basis, but how many of those calls are placed on-hold?

70% on average.

That’s 700,000 callers being placed on-hold every day, and a large percentage of those customers will choose to abandon the call.

Factors that Affect Call Quality:

There are many variables that can interfere with the quality of calls that are received from a Google Listing. Some are technical and harder to control, and some require easy changes.

Businesses have the most control over what their customers hear when a customer is searching online, comes across their business, and chooses to call.

Common On-Hold Messages

There are 3 common options that customers hear when they are greeted with an on-hold message from a business.

Option 1: The caller is greeted with silence.

Option 2: Their time is spent listening to music.

Option 3: The phone is momentarily set down, leaving the customer with background noise.

And of course, there’s always the fourth option, which is that no one is available to answer the phone, leaving the customer with the decision to seek alternatives.

What’s So Bad About On-Hold Music?

It’s often repetitive, and people tend to have varying music preferences. Music quality is also heavily impacted by varying audio frequencies that can create low quality outputs.

Second, it doesn’t improve the customer experience. Businesses who actively seek to improve their customer experience tend to outperform their competitors.

But most importantly, on-hold music doesn’t provide value.

This is the real key! If you invested back into customer experience, then wait times would diminish. These days, clients will pay more for better experiences.

The Companies with the Worst Hold Times?

According to a on-hold study by Fonolo, the worst hold times are:

1. Apple
2. Verizon
3. Bank of America
4. Comcast
5. Sprint
6. Southwest Airlines
7. United Airlines
8. Delta Airlines
9. Internal Revenue Service
10. AT&T

That’s 4 telecommunication companies within the top 10. What do they all have in common? They are all billion dollar companies that are unable to answer every call that comes through to customer support.

How to Improve the Quality of Calls

Whether calls are coming from a Google Listing or other source, improving the customer experience by adding quality or value to on-hold messages can positively impact the following metrics: sales, customer satisfaction, and abandoned calls.

Use hold times to provide informational messages about current promotions and offerings.

For example, a restaurant owner may choose the following message to influence visits and buying decisions:

“Get our game day specials, and Save 20% in-store or online with code  “GAMEDAY20” when you order a large two-topping pizza and 24 traditional or boneless wings. When it’s half-time, and the crowd is hungry…Go for the win with a large pizza and your favorite gameday wings from Pizzeria.”

This message provides much more value to a customer who is waiting on the line, and provides opportunity to save money whether they choose to purchase in-store or online.

What are your customers hearing on-hold?