Remote customer service has its own special lingo.
You could be a master of the industry or a greenhorn agent still learning the ropes and still have no clue what some abbreviations mean.
If you’re in customer service, you should be able to speak remote customer service terminology like a native.
And that’s what this glossary of terms is for: making sure you’re never at a loss for the right words.
Cocoroco’s Pocket Customer Service Dictionary
Ever wanted to know your KPIs from your AHTs and QAs? Well, you’re in the right place. 😊
Agent
Customer service representative who interacts directly with the customer
AHT
Average Handle Time: a measure of how quickly a customer issue is resolved
AWC
After Call Work: a report on what occurred during a customer interaction
Backlog
Unresolved customer requests waiting in a queue due to a volume surge
Bug
An issue unsolvable by the support team, requiring technical resolution
CRM
Customer Relationship Management: the system for customer interactions
CS
Customer Service: the assistance provided by a business to its customers
CSAT
Customer Satisfaction: a metric of how high customers rate your service
CSS
Customer Self-service: tools that help customers resolve issues on their own
CTA
Call to Action: any image or text promoting a response from customers
CX
Customer Experience: all interactions between a business and its customers
Downtime
When a system is in maintenance mode or experiencing a lull
FCR
First Call Resolution: solving a customer issue in the first contact itself
IVR
Interactive Voice Response: automated phone menu interacting with callers
KB
Knowledge Base: a self-service resource with answers to common questions
KPI
Key Performance Indicator: a metric tracking various performance objectives
Macro
A ready-scripted response to a common question or routine query
NPS
Net Promoter Score: how likely customers are to promote your business
Onboarding
The introduction and familiarisation process of a system, service, or tool
QA
Quality Assurance: a process to monitor and maintain a support standard
SBR
Skills-based Routing: assigns customers to agents with relevant skills
SLA
Service Level Agreement: outlines performance targets for support teams
Support ticket
A document containing all the information on a customer issue. Support tickets can be:
- Open: When the service team has to reply to a customer
- Pending reply: When your service team requires a response from the customer
- Pending solve: An answered ticket that auto-closes in some time
- On Hold: An unsolved issue escalated for further investigation
- Solved: When the customer has a resolution and the ticket is closed
- Closed: An inactive ticket that can’t be replied to on the system
Ticket Routing
The daily process by which support agents are assigned tickets to handle
Tiered support
Organising service agents into teams that will handle specific ticket types
VOIP
Voice over internet protocol allows customers to call over the internet
WOM
Word of mouth is any free promotion through customer recommendation
The language of HEART
Hear, Empathise, Apologise, Respond, and, Thank.
Arguably the most important acronym in remote customer service. You may not find it in any dictionary, but you’ll encounter it in practice.
Keep ❤️ in mind when you handle any customer inquiry, and you’ll be able to provide the best service anyone could need.
And if this glossary helps you collaborate better and keep communication crystal-clear within your team, our work here is done.
