At the end of the day, customers are people, and they want to buy from other human beings. This fact sometimes gets lost on marketers and can often result in an ineffective strategy.

This is more common with businesses that sell to other companies (B2B sellers), but those selling to consumers (B2C) are equally as guilty. The mistake is that organizations treat customers like a tool – a source of information and income – without any human qualities. This, of course, isn’t intentional. Companies aren’t trying to dehumanize their customers, but often their marketing messages are data-based and skewed toward numbers and not people.

When individuals call an organization they are considering buying from, they want to feel like human beings. They don’t want to be viewed as a dollar sign. If they hear an on hold message that doesn’t address the fact there’s a real person on the other line, there’s a good chance they’ll become soured and hang up. There goes the potential sale.

This is particularly important on the phone when callers have to wait on hold. Suppose there is a 10 minute wait to speak with a live representative. Callers can feel detached from the human element of a business if they aren’t speaking with someone, so they need to be reminded that they are indeed a person and, more important, the company they are calling knows it too.

When conjuring a hold message strategy, it’s important to take this into consideration. Fortunately, it isn’t a complicated process. Including language to address callers directly rather than simply relay information can turn one-sided communication into more of a conversation and can go a long way toward keeping callers engaged and compelled to stay on the line.

An on hold marketing provider can help organizations construct proper messaging to make callers feel comfortable and alleviate any frustrations that could arise while waiting for a live person.