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Pre-recorded phone messages do more harm than good

Written by: Ross Fattori

Article Overview: Think carefully about pre-recorded phone messages.

Pre-recorded phone messages do more harm than good

Since the national DO NOT CALL registry became law in Canada last September, the number of telemarketing calls to my home has been eliminated almost entirely.

I say “almost” because I still get occasional calls from credit card companies. The thing that irks me about these calls is that they’re pre-recorded, and they usually end with an instruction to press “one” for more information. Click.

Why do companies insist on using pre-recorded message, when they produce such a negative response? A pre-recorded message produces a negative customer experience and does little to enhance your business or your brand.

A client recently told me about a phone blast he did to several thousand clients on his database. He was promoting a sales event.

The phone blast produced an overwhelming response – but it was mostly negative. Many irate customers called to express their displeasure with the phone message and asked to have their names removed from the database.

If I were advising customers, I’d recommend that they think carefully before using this form of communication. There are reputable companies providing that service, and I’m not suggesting that this approach isn’t suitable in some instances.

Learn to communicate with your customers in a friendly and agreeable way, and they will be more inclined to do business with you again.

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Article Tags: canada, credit card companies, customer experience, displeasure, instances, irate customers, last september, national do not call registry, negative response, overwhelming response, phone message, recorded message, reputable companies, several thousand, telemarketing



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