We mean every word when we say great customer experience is crucial for long-term business success!
On that note, we’ll tell you why we’ve developed this “CX Glossary.”
While CX is a combination of product quality, brand reputation, and other factors, customer service plays a significant role in defining the CX of a business. And excellent customer service is always a result of fantastic support agents & state-of-the-art CX tech stack.
This CX Glossary is written to empower your support agents by decluttering the necessary CX jargon they encounter daily. And hey, even if you’re someone who just wants to know the CX terms, this will be a delight.
P.S. If you’re looking for a specific term, click on the menu and scroll. Or, the traditional search method, CTRL+F / CMD+F, should work! Also, if you want a specific term to be added to this list, comment below!😉
#A
1. Agent Experience
Agent Experience, in simple terms, is how satisfied/happy an agent is with their work and company. Agent experience is crucial for an organization because it directly influences the support quality and customer experience.
Some factors that influence agent experience are the quality of training, support tools and software used, overall work culture within the organization, and more.
“Satisfied agents serve with joy, resulting in happier customers.”
2. Agent Reply Template
An agent reply template is a pre-defined response support agents use to respond to customer queries. Different types of tickets demand different kinds of responses.
Having a set of agent reply templates that are crafted with personalization and empathy will not only ensure consistency in communication but will also improve overall customer service quality and metrics.
3. Average Handle Time (AHT)
Average Handle Time (AHT) is an important customer service metric used to measure the efficiency of call centers and support agents.
AHT represents the average time it takes for an agent to handle a support interaction from the beginning to the end. This also includes the extra time spent on tasks needed to resolve the ticket, like follow-ups, documentation, etc.
Here’s the formula for calculating Average Handle Time.
#B
4. Business Process Outsourcing
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is delegating specific business processes (customer support, payroll, recruitment, etc) to external service providers.
Some reasons organizations look to outsource tasks are cost reduction, access to skilled expertise without hiring resources in-house, scalability and, most importantly, allowing them to focus on core business activities.
It is always essential for businesses to carefully evaluate their outsourcing needs and choose reliable BPO partners to ensure quality service and success.
#C
5. Call Deflection
Call deflection is rerouting incoming customer service calls to other channels, primarily self-service options (chatbots, FAQs, etc).
Efficient call deflection strategies enable businesses to promote self-service and improve customer experience while freeing up support agents and reducing costs associated with the high volume of calls.
While deploying call deflection strategies, businesses must ensure that the available self-service options are ideal for customers to find the information they need.
6. Call Center
Call Centers are dedicated departments well-equipped to handle the inbound and outbound calls for organizations. Usually, the calls dealt with by the call centers are high in volume and are mostly related to customer service, technical support, and sales & marketing.
7. Canned Response
Canned responses are pre-written templates used by customer support agents & teams to quickly respond to customer queries.
Canned responses are standardized, ready-to-use, scenario-based responses that agents can use when providing support over live chat and emails.
Some benefits of using canned responses are,
- It helps improve the First Response Time (FRT), an important customer service metric.
- It helps maintain consistency across different business touchpoints.
When drafting canned responses, businesses should ensure that there’s always a touch of personalization and empathy.
8. Chatbot
Chatbots are AI-powered software that enables businesses to automate customer support across multiple touch points like websites, mobile applications, social media, and more. Beyond support, chatbots are also used for marketing and lead generation.
Built by machine learning and natural language processing technologies, chatbots provide human-like interactions and personalized support, and they even get smarter over a period of time, making them the perfect self-service option.
Chatbots can offer businesses endless benefits like 24/7 support, cost savings, improved response times, increased agent productivity, and more.
9. Client Onboarding
Client Onboarding is the process of welcoming a new client into their business ecosystem and integrating them with their products and services.
Typically, a client onboarding process will consist of an introduction and welcome, documentation and agreements, training and education, and finally, configuration and setup. Once done, ongoing support will be provided as and when needed.
Businesses must provide a seamless onboarding experience to foster client satisfaction and loyalty and ensure long-term success.
10. Conversational AI
Known as Conversational Artificial Intelligence, Conversational AI is the process of leveraging Artificial Intelligence to provide natural & personalized interactions between computers and humans in real time.
Technologies behind Conversational AI are Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Natural Language Generation (NLG), Dialog Management, and Machine Learning & Training.
Conversational AI is extensively used in virtual assistants, chatbots, voice assistants, and more.
11. Conversational Commerce
Conversational commerce is the collaboration of eCommerce and messaging platforms where eCommerce businesses enable customers to interact and self-serve via chatbots and voice assistants.
By leveraging AI and messaging platforms, eCommerce businesses can provide customers with seamless shopping experiences like personalized recommendations, quicker support, and more, leading to increased sales & revenue.
12. Cross-Selling
Cross-selling is an effective sales technique businesses use to increase the total transaction value during purchases.
This is usually done by understanding customer needs and recommending additional or complementary products that could add value to their primary purchase.
Modern technologies like AI chatbots can effectively recommend products to customers based on their preferences.
13. Customer Advocacy
Customer advocacy is where existing customers actively support and promote your products or services.
Typically, customer advocacy is influenced by the positive experiences and emotional connection your customers have with your brand.
Building a customer base with solid advocacy requires a customer-centric approach and will increase word-of-mouth marketing, driving more sales & revenue.
14. Customer-Centricity
In simple terms, customer-centricity is prioritizing your customers’ needs above all and delivering exceptional value while fulfilling them.
This way, businesses can craft long-term customer relationships, foster loyalty and advocacy, and ensure long-term success.
15. Customer Churn Rate
Customer churn rate, in other words, customer attrition rate, is a metric businesses use to know the percentage of customers who have stopped using their products or services over a specific period.
Here’s the formula for calculating the customer churn rate.
Businesses need to understand why customers leave them and develop churn prediction and prevention strategies, as high churn rates can impact revenue.
16. Customer Communication Strategy
A customer communication strategy defines a business’s channels to communicate/engage with its customers.
Coming up with a customer communication strategy involves different phases like audience segmentation, choosing the communication channels, frequency of channel usage, and more.
The more communication channels there are, the better for a business in today’s modern CX landscape. However, the company must also ensure that all the touchpoints are integrated and that a consistent experience is delivered.
17. Customer Delight
Customer delight is more than just customer satisfaction. It is going beyond and delivering unique experiences that will leave your customers with everlasting impressions.
Critical elements of customer delight include anticipating customer needs, personalizing & customizing products/services according to the needs and providing exceptional customer service and support.
Constant customer delight events will lead to brand advocacy and loyalty.
18. Customer Effort Score (CES)
Customer Effort Score is a metric that’s commonly used by businesses to understand the effort their customers need to make to complete a specific task. It could be as simple as resolving an issue or purchasing.
Customer Effort Score is usually gauged by asking customers questions like.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult was it for you to (complete the task)?”
CES will help you get real-time feedback, determine customers’ pain points, and take actionable insights to make your business stand out.
19. Customer Experience (CX)
Customer Experience (CX) refers to everything a business does that accounts for the customers’ overall perception & sentiment of the brand.
In the modern landscape, customer experience has become a game-changer for businesses.
Some key elements to provide excellent CX are great customer service and support, personalization and customization, cross-channel consistency, and more.
20. Customer Experience Benchmarking
Customer experience benchmarking is comparing one’s organization in terms of customer experience against competitors and industry standards.
This enables businesses to understand their strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to identify improvement areas and continue delivering great CX for their customers.
21. Customer Feedback
As the term says, customer feedback is all the opinions, suggestions, and insights customers provide when they have a particular experience with a business. The feedback could be about their recent experience with the product or service or the business.
Customers leave feedback across multiple touch points like surveys, online reviews, and social media.
Businesses need to monitor customer feedback and take prompt action on them. This will help improve customer satisfaction and keep the churn rate at bay.
22. Customer Intelligence
Customer intelligence is the process of arriving at informed business decisions by gathering, analyzing, and interpreting customer data and insights.
Generally, customer intelligence gathering includes collecting data like customer behavior, preferences, needs, and more.
Knowing more about potential customers will enable businesses to strategize their marketing campaigns and make informed decisions.
23. Customer Journey
The customer journey, also known as the customer lifecycle, is the multiple phases/steps a customer goes through when he/she interacts with a particular business.
The journey considers all the touchpoints and interactions a customer has had with the business (both online and offline). Mapping customer journeys will enable businesses to resolve any CX gaps effectively.
24. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer Lifetime Value is an important business metric that tells a business how much revenue or profit a customer might generate during his entire lifetime with that business.
The formula for calculating CLV is,
Where,
- Average Purchase Value is the average money a customer spends on every purchase.
- Purchase Frequency is the average number of purchases the customer makes over a specific timeframe.
- The Churn Rate is the rate at which a customer stops engaging with the business and
Customer Lifespan is the average time a customer is engaged with a business.
25. Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is the emotional connection and attachment a customer has towards a specific brand, a product, or a company. Usually, customer loyalty builds up with consistent support and great CX over some time.
Building a loyal customer base will drive repeat purchases and increase customer lifetime value and word-of-mouth marketing, resulting in more sales and revenue.
26. Customer Offboarding
Customer offboarding is the process that refers to managing the exit of a customer from a business. Customer offboarding is equally essential to customer onboarding because a smooth exit process will forever leave a lasting impression on the customer, opening up possibilities for future collaborations.
27. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a software businesses use to manage all the relationships & interactions they have with their customers and potential prospects.
CRM software will enable businesses to enhance customer satisfaction, improve customer loyalty, and drive business growth.
CRM software applications include customer data management, customer segmentation, customer interaction management, marketing & sales automation, and more.
28. Customer Retention
Customer Retention is the process/ability of a business to retain its customers by switching to a competitor business or simply discontinuing its services.
Effective customer retention strategies will build long-term customer relationships, increase CLTV, and drive business revenue & growth.
Excellent customer retention strategies influence consistent communication across channels, exceptional CX, proactive support, excellent customer success management, and continuous feedback collection & implementation.
29. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
Customer satisfaction is a metric that allows businesses to know how satisfied customers are with their products, services or simply the latest experience they have had.
CSAT is usually measured on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, allowing businesses to know the areas where they can improve and deliver even better CX at every instance.
30. Customer Satisfaction Survey
As the name says, customer satisfaction surveys are surveys sent out by businesses to know how satisfied their customers are with their products & services.
CSAT surveys are usually sent to customers after a purchase, or after a query is resolved, or during any recent experiences.
While sending out CSAT surveys, businesses typically look into the survey design, objective, types of CSAT questions included, timing & distribution, analysis, and action plan.
31. Customer Segmentation
Customer Segmentation is the process of dividing a customer base into groups based on specific criteria – it could be characteristics, preferences, or behavior.
Segmenting customers will allow businesses to tailor marketing messages, offers, and experiences more likely to suit their needs & interests. This will result in better CX, sales & revenue.
32. Customer Self-service
The practice of empowering customers to resolve queries and find answers to their questions themselves is called customer self-service. All this can be done without the help/intervention of a customer support agent.
Standard customer self-service options for modern businesses are knowledge base, AI chatbots, IVR systems, community forums, and self-service kiosks.
33. Customer Service
Customer service, also known as customer support, is the assistance a business provides to its customers when they have a query during their journey with the business.
Typically, businesses provide customer support through phone, email, social media, live video chat, AI chatbots, and more.
34. Customer Success
Customer success is guiding and enabling customers to achieve the desired outcomes of choosing a business while finding more ways to maximize the value of their business lifecycle.
Customer success teams stick with customers throughout their journey and include understanding customer goals, education, training, proactive engagement, relationship building, and more.
#D
35. Digital Customer Experience
Digital Customer Experience (DCX) is the quality of interactions & experiences that customers experience with a business across multiple digital touch points like websites, social platforms, email, mobile apps, and more.
Simply said, Digital Customer Experience encloses all facets of a customer journey in the digital realm – from the awareness phase, engagement, purchase, and the post-purchase phase.
#E
36. Empathy
Empathy in customer service is the ability of a customer support agent to understand and share the feelings and thoughts of the other person – it’s like putting oneself in other’s shoes and seeing it from their perspective.
Support agents should always understand and validate the customer’s emotions, listen deeply, establish a relationship with the customer, and be compassionate when they respond.
Businesses often have predefined empathy statements for customer service, making it easy for support agents.
37. Escalation Management
Escalation management is a customer support technique that kicks in when a customer’s concern/query cannot be resolved through regular support channels.
The process of escalating the concern to higher management or dedicated teams is called escalation management.
Effective escalation management strategies will result in the timely resolution of customer issues, higher customer satisfaction, and amazing experiences.
#F
38. First Contact Resolution
First Contact Resolution (FCR) is a customer service metric that’s used to measure the ability of customer support agents to resolve queries during the first interaction with the customer.
Here’s how you calculate FCR.
High First Contact Resolution is a clear indication of efficient customer support operations.
39. First Response Time
First Response Time is a customer service KPI that businesses use to measure the speed & efficiency of their support agents when responding to customer queries.
It tells the time between a customer initiating a conversation and receiving the first response from the agent.
The lesser the First Response Time, the greater the customer satisfaction. By training support agents with all the information they need and leveraging technology, businesses can decrease their FRTs to a significant extent.
#H
40. Help desk
A help desk is a group of people within an organization using support software to help customers when they are facing a problem.
A good help desk software includes centralized support, ticket management & routing, a knowledge base, performance metrics, and more.
#I
41. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Interactive Voice Responses are automated telephony systems that enable callers to access information/get in touch with agents by following the voice and keypad inputs.
IVRs, in the modern support landscape, are still one of the most popular customer support methods.
#K
42. Knowledge Base
As the name says, a Knowledge Base (KB) is an information database filled with resources & documentation that will enable customers and support staff to know more about a specific topic, product, or service.
While Knowledge Bases are used by support staff to know more about the product & services and provide better support, customers use it to self-serve themselves.
#N
43. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures how likely a customer would recommend a business to their friends, colleagues, or family.
This is how a standard Net Promote Score question will look like:
“On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend [name of the company/product/service] to a friend or a colleague?”
Typically, these are the three classifications the NPS scores can be grouped into:
- Scores 9-10 = Delighted and loyal customers who actively promote your business.
- Scores 7-8 = Moderately satisfied customers less likely to promote your business.
- Scores 0-6 = Unsatisfied customers who never promote your business. But they might end up bad-mouthing your business.
High NPS scores are a clear indicator of satisfied customers and are crucial for businesses.
#O
44. Omnichannel Customer Experience
Omnichannel customer experience is the process of offering customers seamless and integrated experiences across multiple channels when they are in touch with a business.
“Companies with the best omnichannel customer engagement strategies turn 89% of buyers into loyal customers.”
An omnichannel customer experience strategy involves integrating channels, unifying customer data, staying consistent with branding & messaging, cross-channel communication, and more.
#P
45. Pain Points
Pain points in customer support refer to specific challenges or frustrations a customer faces with a business – the ones that stop them from having unique experiences.
Businesses must identify customer pain points proactively and address them otherwise, it will negatively impact customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
#R
46. Risk Management
Risk management is the process of businesses finding, analyzing, prioritizing, and mitigating potential risks that could impact the objectives/operations of a business.
Businesses actively work on risk management strategies to minimize the negative impact of risks while keeping the company’s goals at the forefront.
Effective risk management strategies are essential for businesses to navigate in today’s complex business environment.
#S
47. Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis is a technique used to understand sentiment and opinions & expressed by individuals or groups by analyzing their text.
The technology used behind sentiment analysis is Natural Language Processing (NLP).
Sentiment analysis enables businesses to understand what customers feel about their business.
48. Service level agreements (SLAs)
Agreements between a service provider and a customer that defines the level of service expected is called Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
A typical SLA includes agreements on service scope, performance agreements, service levels, obligations, escalation procedures, service credits & penalties, reporting & review, and renewal & termination.
Businesses can establish long-term relationships by establishing what is expected of the provider up front, ensuring a seamless business process.
#T
49. Ticketing System
A ticketing system is a special software/platform that enables businesses to manage & track customer support requests efficiently.
Advanced ticketing systems come with features like ticket assignment, workflow management, ticket deflection & routing, knowledge base integration, and more.
Choosing the right ticketing system will allow organizations to streamline support operations and improve overall support efficiency.
50. Ticket Deflection
Ticket deflection is the process of reducing the volume of incoming tickets by leveraging automated solutions, self-service options, and more.
Effective ticket detection strategies will empower customers to find answers by themselves, improving customer experience and also reducing the burden of the support team significantly.
51. Ticket Routing
As the terms says, ticket routing is the process of assigning incoming tickets to specific individuals or teams within an organization.
Usually, tickets are routed to the most qualified personnel based on expertise, workload, and the set SLAs.
There are multiple types of ticket routing – skill-based routing, priority-based routing, dynamic routing, round-robin assignment, automated routing rules, and more.
52. Tiered Support
Tiered support is establishing a support model where customer inquiries are dealt with on multiple levels based on factors such as complexity, severity, and expertise.
Most of the time, incoming customer support queries will be allocated and routed to appropriate individuals, ensuring that support operations are optimized and high-quality is delivered at all times.
53. Touchpoints
Touch points are the various points of contact a customer can contact a business throughout their customer journey.
Touchpoints can be both digital and physical, and some of the most common touchpoints are websites, mobile apps, social platforms, live chat, email, phone calls, physical stores, and more.
The more touch points a business has, the better it is for them. But at the same time, businesses should ensure all the touch points are integrated and offer a consistent & seamless experience.
#U
54. Upselling
Upselling is a sales technique used by businesses that ask customers to purchase a higher/premium version of the product or service they offer.
While thinking of upselling to customers, businesses should identify the right opportunities, present the options to customers while highlighting the benefits, customize & personalize the offerings, and make sure that they pitch it to customers at the right time.
#V
55. Voice of the Customer (VOC)
Voice of the Customer (VOC) is the process of a business capturing, analyzing, and interpreting customers’ feedback, preferences, and expectations.
Effective VOC capturing strategies will enable businesses to understand customers’ needs and their overall sentiment about the brand, allowing them to make informed decisions and improve the overall customer experience.
And with that, we’re coming to the end of our CX Glossary!
Having an empowered customer support team, not just in terms of knowledge but also the support stack, is crucial for successful customer service. The last thing you want is a support agent not knowing what he/she is dealing with!
We’ve added the terms we think are the most important ones for your support team and for delivering amazing customer experiences.
But hey, if you think we need to add something else to this list, feel free to drop a comment!
P.S. Watch out for the video versions & in-depth blogs of each CX term we’ll roll out soon!