It's the time of year where you may be considering an update to your telephone on-hold music to fit the festive season. Changing your on-hold music to something seasonal and festive is subtle way of letting your customers know you're aware of the season and embracing the holiday spirit.  There is however, a delicate touch when it comes to adding Christmas Music to your telephone on-hold system.

Stay away from Jingle Bells and Sleigh Bells

Jingle Bells is one of those Christmas songs or tunes that gets very old, very fast! Making someone listen to Jingle Bells on a loop could drive them crazy. Whether a song with lyrics or just the instrumental version, we don't recommend it! Many Christmas songs feature prominent sleigh bells as part of the tune. In fact, you can take just about any song and add a subtle sleigh bells loop and it's instantly a Christmas tune. However, when music is encoded for telephone on-hold systems, the standard format loses a lot of fidelity. It's just the restriction of telephone lines. (More on that process here). A sound like sleigh bells doesn't convert very well at all to the low fidelity telephone on-hold music format and will result in the music sounding very muddy and hard to hear.

Avoid Christmas Carols

The best hold music is always instrumental. Just because it's Christmas, that doesn't mean you should start throwing in songs with vocals! A lovely rendition of 'Joy to the World' may sound like a beautiful, warm and cosy Christmas carol to play to your customers, but those lyrics are going to grind on someone's ears fast! Instead, opt for the instrumental version. It's much more relaxing, comforting and you can add your own on-hold messages if you wish.

Don't go over the top

It's easy to get carried away with Christmas music. We all have our favourite tunes or soundtracks from movies featuring enchanted, whimsical and fantastical Christmas music. The harsh fact is, you're playing it down the phone to someone who's waiting to speak to your staff on the phone. It's not going to have the same effect. Instead, opt for something that carries the warm, festive feel with a bright, cheerful and positive theme. Something that reminds customers its Christmas, and you're embracing the season.

That's our simple steps to using Christmas music in your telephone on-hold system. We even have our 10 recommended royalty free christmas music tracks for you to sample below: