Press release

Coronavirus Calls Overwhelm Contact Centers: Easy On Hold Offers Tips and New Technology for Helping Worried Inbound Callers Get Answers Fast

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Easy On Hold, provider of telephone greetings and on hold marketing messages, says the telephone remains one of the fastest, most effective tools when it comes to communicating with customers during a crisis like the coronavirus outbreak, urging crisis managers to not overlook the phone in their integrated communications strategy and to use the latest streaming phone on hold technology for faster information updates for callers.

“The coronavirus scare is causing certain segments of our customer base to be overwhelmed with inbound calls from worried customers–health care and travel in particular,” says CEO Julie Brown. “Callers are reaching out to get immediate answers and to talk with a real human, but if the contact center isn’t properly staffed, calls are put on hold without the right information or experience, or sent to voicemail. That’s unsettling in a crisis situation.”

Brown says forward-thinking crisis communication managers should include the phone system in their strategy. “Think through all the possible caller expectations and messaging that you may possibly need in a crisis, including contact center staffing, phone tree design, even the recordings you’ll require, and how you’ll achieve them. Many companies want their customers and stakeholders to know that they do have a robust communications plan in place,” she says, adding that her firm consults with clients on these kinds of scenarios.

Brown says that her company is coaching her clients to focus on four aspects when it comes to managing callers: Get Front of It, Be Current, Be Brief, Be Repetitive.

Streaming phone on hold and contact center queue technology developed by Easy On Hold “allows communications managers to create crisis messaging scenarios in advance, pre-loaded to play on a certain schedule or on the fly,” Brown says. “Streaming technology also allows them to program emergency messages to play more often than other content. In a crisis situation, that’s important control for the corporate communications team.”

“Manage the caller experience well and you will earn trust and loyalty, and maintain control of their brand’s messaging,” she says. “Your caller picked up the phone to talk to you because they’re anxious,” she says. “Reassure them with current information and confidence that you’ve thought of everything — including their calls.”

About Easy On Hold: Easy On Hold is a leading expert of on hold and overhead business music and messaging, including scriptwriting, voice overs, editing, same-day turnarounds and telecom expertise. Created in 1997, the company is the architect of the telecom industry’s first on hold streaming solution in 2013, with dynamic scheduling features that simplify the work of both technicians and marketers. The company just earned Solution Partner status by Cisco in February 2020 for its creation of a streaming queue music solution for users of Cisco’s VVB contact center product. EOH’s streaming on hold technology is compatible with most contact center platforms.