The best hold music has few instruments and preferably only one. Simple music handles the change in quality better than a full orchestra arrangement. The latter gets distorted, particularly if it’s too loud for the phone to handle and clipping happens. No one wants to hear a dirge-like cacophony masquerading as “Pachelbel’s Canon in D.”
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In 1962, inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Levy found a loose wire touching a metal girder at his factory. It amplified the broadcast signal from the radio station next door and transmitted the audio through the loose wire to calls on hold. Four years later he patented his work, and music on hold was born.
Ultimately, your choice of hold music isn’t going to make customers happy if they’re being kept waiting for more than a few minutes, or endlessly passed from one team to another. There are plenty of technologies available to make the inbound call experience faster and more enjoyable although these will vary between different call centre solutions. If you’re not sure what tools you have available to optimise your inbound experience, your call centre software or systems provider will be happy to help.