Insurance businesses in North America risk losing business bymaking customers wait on hold for almost 28 seconds, new researchhas revealed.

Every call made to companies in the insurance sector as part ofthe large-scale study, conducted by audio brandingspecialist PHMG, was put on hold, compared to a North Americanaverage of 70 percent. Those callers are being forced to wait for27.53 seconds on average, slightly less than the North Americanaverage of 28.39 seconds.

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Risk of caller hang-ups

To make matters worse, callers are left listening to inappropriateaudio, which could increase the risk of caller hang-ups. Theresearch discovered 27 percent of insurance firms' subject callersto beeps, while 24 percent leave customers waiting in silence, 24percent use generic music and 22 percent make callers listen toringing.

“The research results do not reflect particularly well on theinsurance sector, as few firms appear to be employing a bestpractice approach to call handling, according to Mark Williamson,CEO at PHMG. "It’s worrying that customers are being left on holdfor almost 28 seconds as this can be a major irritation forcustomers, but what makes matters worse is that they are left insilence or listening to poor-quality music, which increases therisk of hang-ups."

First call satisfaction important

A previous study of 2,234 U.S. consumers found 59 percent will not do business with a company again iftheir first call isn’t handled to satisfaction. Therefore, it isimportant companies do everything they can to improve theexperience.

This latest study also found insurance firms answer the phonewithin an average of three rings, yet none of the businesses werefound to use an auto-attendant service to greet callers outside ofnormal business hours.

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