Hold Up - More than 80 Percent of People are Put on Hold Every Time They Contact a Business

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Waiting on hold drives us nuts! A new independent consumer study, commissioned by TalkTo (http://talkto.com), reveals how annoyed consumers are with the customer service phone experience and that more than half spend between 10-20 minutes per week on hold – amounting to 13 hours per year and almost 43 days on hold in a lifetime. An infographic illustrating the findings can be viewed at http://bit.ly/ThUngK.

The study polled 500 consumers and determined that 58 percent feel frustrated about being put on hold whenever they call businesses. Forty-eight percent believe calling a business is unproductive because the people on the other end are not helpful and it takes forever to get an answer.

"People are busy, so why are businesses making them wait on hold?" said Stuart Levinson, co-founder and CEO of TalkTo, the app that lets you text any business rather than call. "This research shows how poorly the phone performs as a customer-service channel. Everyone's calling less and texting more. It's time for businesses to catch up with how customers want to interact with them." 

Texting, according to the study, is coming of age as people's preferred form of communication and it's no longer for just teenagers anymore. More than 61 percent of people in their 20s send more than 50 text messages per week, as do 35 percent of people in their 30s. Additionally, almost 25 percent of people in their 40s send between 26-50 texts per week.

TalkTo commissioned ResearchNow to survey 500 consumers during December 2012. For the TalkTo's full analysis and an infographic, visit: http://bit.ly/ThUngK.

About TalkTo
Now you can text businesses, just like you text your friends. TalkTo makes it simple to text a message to any business from the Web or your mobile device to get information, find a product, or make appointments and reservations. Use TalkTo to ask a question and then get on with your day: the people at TalkTo follow through to make sure you get a timely response. TalkTo is headquartered in Cambridge, MA and venture-backed by Matrix Partners. More at http://talkto.com.

SOURCE TalkTo