On-Hold Message Examples in Arabic and English: Scripts, Loop Order and Hold Music

01What to play while callers are on hold

Hold time is the heaviest part of any call. Callers hear a looping tone or silence and start wondering whether they’ve been cut off or forgotten. Good on-hold messages answer that before it’s asked: you’re still in the queue, here’s a faster route if one exists, and here’s something worth knowing while you wait. They should also use the same voice as your greeting, so callers feel they’re still talking to the same business.

The format that works on most systems is simple: calm music throughout, with short messages in rotation. You need four kinds:

02Reassurance messages in your callers’ dialect

The reassurance line is the one callers hear most, so it has to be short, warm and bearable on repeat. Skip “your call is important to us”; callers hear it as a warning that they’ll be waiting a while. Tell them what is actually happening: the team is busy and their place is saved. Three Gulf versions:

Each version uses its own country’s words: الحين (now) and خلك على الخط (stay on the line) in Saudi, وياك (with you) and لا تسكّر (don’t hang up) in Emirati, ويانا (with us) and شوي (a little) in Kuwaiti. Those small details make the message sound like someone in the same city, not an imported system.

03Self-service tips and offers

The second message gives callers a faster route, if you really have one: order tracking in the app, online booking, a WhatsApp number. Name the exact step, the button or page, rather than a vague “visit our website”.

Then the offer: one clear sentence about what matters to the caller and how to use it. A Saudi example for a restaurant or store:

04Seasonal messages and an English branch

During Ramadan, both Eids and national days your opening hours change, and hold is exactly where callers need to hear that. Keep a separate seasonal file, swap it in on day one and switch back when the season ends. An MSA example for Ramadan hours, suited to a mixed audience:

If your menu has an English branch, don’t translate the Arabic word for word. Write it the way a native English speaker would, in the same voice if it’s bilingual or in an English voice close to your brand persona:

Ordering the Arabic and English branches in one system is covered in our bilingual IVR guide, and holiday and after-hours prompts have their own article.

05Loop length and message order

Most phone systems play hold as a loop: continuous music with a message every so often. Some take a single file with music and messages already mixed; others let you set a music file and a periodic announcement separately. Check your system’s documentation first. If you build a single mixed file, here’s a practical two-minute loop:

• Don’t open with a message: callers just heard the greeting, so give them about 20 seconds of music first.
• Never play the same message back to back: with only two messages, leave enough music between them.
• Make the loop longer than your typical wait: if callers usually hold for three minutes, a one-minute loop means hearing every message three times.
• Level the audio: messages and music at similar loudness, with speech always clearer than the music.

06Hold music and phone-ready file formats

Hold music should be calm, with no sudden peaks, because phone lines compress audio and heavy hits turn harsh. Vocla’s Music tool generates original instrumentals from a prompt such as “calm electronic music at a medium tempo, no heavy drums, for telephone hold music”, and commercial use is included on paid plans. If your brand already has an approved music bed for ads, use the same style here so your sonic identity stays consistent.

Vocla exports messages and music as separate files and doesn’t mix them automatically outside Vocla Video. If you need one mixed file, combine them in any audio editor, or upload them separately if your system supports that. Then convert: Vocla exports MP3 or WAV at 24 kHz (WAV on paid plans), while most phone systems want 8 kHz mono 16-bit PCM WAV, and some want G.711 µ-law or A-law.

Vocla has no built-in phone-system integration: you upload the converted file as music on hold or an announcement, just as you would a studio recording. The IVR page has more on conversion and notes for common platforms.

07Set it up in Vocla step by step

1. 1Write the messages: reassurance, self-service and an offer, plus a seasonal file ready to go. Need a starting point? The IVR script builder drafts a hold message alongside the greeting and menu.
2. 2Use your greeting voice: same voice, same dialect, same speed as your phone greeting.
3. 3Lock pronunciation: add the brand, app and branch names to the pronunciation dictionary.
4. 4One file per message: so you can change the offer without redoing the rest.
5. 5Generate music, then mix or upload separately: whichever your system supports.
6. 6Convert and test: 8 kHz mono WAV, then call in and hold through a full loop.

Cost is small. Four messages of about 150 characters each come to roughly 600 characters, or 720 credits on the Vox Prime model. Starter, at $4.99 a month for 5,000 credits with commercial rights and WAV export, covers your hold messages along with the greeting, menu and seasonal updates.

Hold messages are part of a bigger picture: one voice customers hear in your greeting, your queue and your ads. If your greeting isn’t done yet, start there, then read our sonic branding guide.

Business names, offers and hours in these scripts are fictional examples; adapt them to your business. The Free plan has no commercial rights, so live phone messages need a paid plan.