CX & Customer Support Glossary

Abandonment Rate is the percentage of customers who disconnect or exit a support queue before reaching an agent or completing their interaction.

Agent assist is technology that surfaces real-time suggestions, knowledge, and guidance to a human agent while they are actively handling a customer interaction.

An agent copilot is an AI assistant embedded in an agent's workspace that automates repetitive tasks and provides contextual guidance throughout the full interaction lifecycle.

An AI chatbot is a software application that uses artificial intelligence to simulate conversation and resolve customer queries automatically, without a live agent.

A support communication style where customers and agents exchange messages on their own schedules, without requiring both parties to be present simultaneously.

The average total time an agent spends on a customer interaction, including talk time, hold time, and after-contact wrap-up work.

Average Speed of Answer (ASA) is the mean time a customer waits in queue before their call or chat is connected to a live agent.

The number of support tickets that have been received but not yet resolved within the expected service window.

The process of transferring a customer conversation from an automated chatbot to a live human agent, ideally with full context preserved.

A centralized facility where agents handle inbound and/or outbound customer phone calls on behalf of an organization.

A pre-written reply that agents can insert into a support conversation to answer common questions quickly and consistently.

A real-time support technique where an agent and customer share view of or limited control over the customer's browser or screen.

A centralized operation that handles customer communications across multiple channels, including voice, email, chat, and social media, at scale.

The proportion of customers who contact support within a given period, expressed as a percentage of the total customer base or transaction volume.

Conversational AI is the broader set of technologies that enable machines to understand, process, and respond to human language in a natural, dialogue-driven way.

Cost per Contact is the average total cost a support organization incurs to handle a single customer interaction, across any channel.

The percentage of customers who stop doing business with a company during a given time period.

A CDP is a centralized system that unifies customer data from multiple sources into persistent, addressable profiles for use across teams and tools.

A metric that measures how much effort a customer had to exert to get their issue resolved, typically rated on a 5- or 7-point scale.

Customer Experience (CX) is the sum of all perceptions and feelings a customer forms across every interaction with a company throughout their entire relationship.

A customer feedback loop is the process of collecting customer input, acting on it, and communicating changes back to customers to drive continuous improvement.

A composite metric that aggregates behavioral and relationship signals to predict whether a customer is likely to renew, expand, or churn.

The complete sequence of interactions and experiences a customer has with a company from first awareness through post-purchase and beyond.

A visual document that charts each stage of the customer journey, the actions customers take, and the emotions or pain points they experience at each step.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the total net revenue a business can expect from a single customer account over the entire duration of the relationship.

The structured process of guiding new customers to successfully set up, understand, and get value from a product or service.

A platform that stores and manages a company's relationships and interactions with customers and prospects across their entire lifecycle.

The percentage of existing customers a company successfully retains over a given time period, the inverse of churn rate.

A post-interaction survey metric that asks customers to rate their satisfaction, typically on a 3- or 5-point scale, expressed as a percentage of positive responses.

Customer service is the direct assistance a company provides to customers before, during, and after a purchase to help them get value and resolve issues.

Customer success is a proactive business function focused on helping customers achieve their desired outcomes so they retain, expand, and advocate for the product.

A CSM is a post-sale relationship owner who proactively guides customers toward their goals to drive retention, expansion, and long-term value.

A frontline employee who handles customer inquiries, troubleshoots issues, and resolves problems via chat, email, phone, or other channels.

An organizational philosophy and operating model that places the customer's needs, outcomes, and experience at the center of every business decision.

A customer support channel where customers submit issues via email and agents respond asynchronously, typically within a defined SLA window.

The process of transferring a customer issue to a higher tier, specialist, or senior resource when the current handler cannot resolve it adequately.

A senior support role responsible for overseeing high-priority or unresolved customer issues and coordinating cross-functional resolution efforts.

An escalation path defines the structured route a support issue follows when it cannot be resolved at the current tier, specifying who handles it next and under what conditions.

Escalation Rate is the percentage of support tickets that are transferred to a higher-tier agent or specialist because the initial agent could not resolve them.

The percentage of support interactions in which a customer's issue is fully resolved during the first contact, with no follow-up required.

The elapsed time between a customer submitting a support request and receiving the first human (or automated) reply from the support team.

A class of AI models that produce new text, images, or other content, increasingly used in support to draft replies, summarize cases, and power intelligent assistants.

The customer-facing web portal where users access self-service resources such as knowledge base articles, FAQs, and support request forms.

A software platform or team function that centralizes incoming support requests, routes them to agents, and tracks resolution across channels.

Customer support delivered directly within a software application or mobile app, reducing friction by keeping users in context when they need help.

Intent recognition is the automated process of identifying what a customer wants to accomplish from their message or spoken input.

An automated phone system that collects caller input via voice or keypad and routes or resolves calls without a live agent.

A structured repository of articles, guides, and FAQs used by agents and/or customers to find answers to common questions.

A large language model (LLM) is an AI system trained on vast text data that can generate, summarize, classify, and translate human language at scale.

A real-time text-based support channel embedded in a website or app that connects customers synchronously with a human agent or bot.

A saved action or set of actions in a helpdesk that agents trigger with one click to update ticket fields, send a reply, and more.

Any support channel built on a messaging platform—such as SMS, WhatsApp, or in-app chat—that enables text-based conversations between customers and agents.

A support model that offers customers several independent channels for contact—such as email, phone, and chat—without necessarily sharing data between them.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a field of AI that enables computers to interpret, analyze, and generate human language in text or speech form.

A loyalty metric based on asking customers how likely they are to recommend a company on a 0–10 scale, expressed as the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors.

Occupancy Rate is the percentage of logged-in time that agents spend actively handling contacts or completing associated after-call work.

A support approach where all customer-facing channels share context and history so customers experience one seamless, continuous conversation.

Tailoring support interactions, content, or outreach to the specific context, history, and preferences of an individual customer.

A support strategy in which teams reach out to customers with help or information before the customer identifies a problem and contacts support.

Quality assurance in customer support is the systematic review of agent interactions to ensure they meet defined standards for accuracy, tone, and policy adherence.

A numeric rating that measures how well a support interaction meets a team's defined standards for accuracy, tone, process, and policy compliance.

Queue management is the process of organizing, prioritizing, and routing incoming support requests to ensure timely and efficient resolution.

The traditional support model in which a team responds to customer-initiated contacts after a problem or question has already arisen.

Reopen Rate is the percentage of resolved support tickets that a customer subsequently reopens because their issue was not fully resolved.

The total elapsed time from when a support ticket is opened to when it is marked as fully resolved.

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a technique that grounds an LLM's responses in retrieved, authoritative source documents to improve accuracy and reduce hallucinations.

A structured process for identifying the underlying reason a problem occurred so it can be prevented from recurring.

A ticket assignment method that distributes incoming conversations to agents in a fixed, rotating sequence to balance workload evenly.

Schedule Adherence is the percentage of time agents are available and working according to their assigned schedules, including start times, breaks, and assigned activities.

A web-based hub where customers can independently find answers, manage their account, and resolve issues without contacting a support agent.

Self-Service Rate is the percentage of customer issues resolved through self-service channels — such as a knowledge base, FAQ, or chatbot — without involving a live agent.

Automated classification of text or speech as positive, negative, or neutral to gauge how customers feel at scale.

A service blueprint is a diagram that maps every step of a service process, showing customer actions, frontstage employee actions, and the backstage systems that support them.

A formal commitment between a support team and its customers (or internal stakeholders) defining the expected response and resolution timeframes for different request types.

An SLO is an internal performance target that defines the acceptable threshold for a specific support metric over a defined time period.

The actions a company takes to address a service failure and restore customer satisfaction after a negative experience.

A shift-left strategy moves issue resolution closer to the customer by enabling self-service and frontline agents to solve problems that previously required escalation.

An assignment method that matches incoming tickets to agents based on the specific skills or expertise required to resolve them.

An SLA breach occurs when a support team fails to meet a response or resolution time commitment defined in a service level agreement.

The practice of handling customer support requests and complaints through public or private social media channels such as X, Facebook, or Instagram.

Technology that automatically transcribes and analyzes recorded voice interactions to surface trends, compliance risks, and coaching opportunities.

An SME is a support professional with deep expertise in a specific product area, process, or technical domain who advises agents and handles complex escalations.

Support Operations is the function that manages the tools, processes, data, and workflows that enable a support team to run efficiently and scale effectively.

A support team lead supervises a group of agents, handles escalations, monitors queue health, and coaches team members toward performance targets.

A specialized support function that helps customers resolve product or system issues requiring technical knowledge or troubleshooting skills.

A recorded support request that tracks a customer issue from initial contact through to resolution within a help desk or CRM system.

The percentage of potential support tickets avoided because customers resolved their issue through self-service or automated help.

The process of directing an incoming support ticket to the right agent, team, or queue based on defined rules or automation.

The practice of applying descriptive labels to support tickets to categorize them by issue type, product area, cause, or other attributes.

Ticket Volume is the total number of support requests received within a defined time period, used to measure demand on a support team.

Software that converts customer support requests into trackable tickets, centralizing communication and status throughout resolution.

Tiered support is a structured model that routes customer issues through escalating levels of expertise, from self-service and frontline agents up to specialists.

Any specific interaction or moment of contact between a customer and a company across any channel or stage of the journey.

The process of reviewing, categorizing, and prioritizing incoming support tickets to ensure the most urgent or impactful issues are addressed first.

A single interface that consolidates all tools, channels, and customer data an agent needs to handle support interactions without switching applications.

An AI-powered conversational interface that handles customer inquiries automatically, without requiring a live human agent.

Voice of the Customer (VoC) is a research discipline that captures customers' expectations, preferences, and pain points to inform product and service decisions.

A customer support channel in which customers and agents communicate in real time over a phone or VoIP call.

The use of rules or AI logic to automatically route, tag, escalate, or update support tickets without requiring manual agent action.

Workforce Management (WFM) is the practice of forecasting contact volume, scheduling agents, and tracking adherence to ensure the right staffing at the right times.