Study: Switch To Pop Music From Monotonous On-Hold Instrumental Tones To Make Customers Happy and Anger-Free

Hearing the monotonous on-hold music while waiting for the executive on the other side of the phone is often irritating and makes one angry. However, a researcher in the UK has claimed that changing the on-hold tone may reduce the chances of anger bursting through the patients waiting on the call.

Karen Niven, a lecturer at the England's Manchester Business School has discovered that playing pop music instead of instrumental music—which is generally played when a person calls a service centre, credit card company or a cable operator—has a tendency to alter the mood of the caller. This tends to make the caller less angry when someone at the other end of the phone finally responds to the customer's request.

During the study period, which lasted over three weeks, Niven took hold of the music selection facility at a call centre, wherein she played pop music for a few customers while they were waiting for an executive to answer their call. For some customer, she continued to play the instrumental tone as a control.

At the end of each phone call with a specific music type, the call operators evaluated the level of anger of the customer. Niven concluded that the customers who heard the traditional on-hold music were angrier and the ones who heard pop songs were less likely to be angry.

“You learn to associate that kind of background music with waiting or complaining — those things that normally happen when you call a call centre,” said Niven, reported TIME.

“If you’re played a song about helping other people and healing the world, maybe that makes you kind of angry,” she continued.

The study has been published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

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