Glossary of Terms

Deepen your understanding to drive your expertise, and share with colleagues to enlighten ideas and inspire innovation. This glossary of terms will help to elevate clarity, and guide conversations that bridge gaps across teams of shared interest in customer centricity.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

C

Call Recording

Call recording is the process of capturing the audio and sometimes images (agent screens) of a customer service call. It can also refer to the actual file that contains the record.

CCaaS

CCaaS is an acronym for contact center as a service, also referred to as cloud contact center.

Chat

Chat is text-based digital messaging technology that allows users to communicate in real time.

Closed-loop Action

A closed-loop action is a Voice of the Customer (VOC) term that refers to the act of following up with customers who have provided either extremely positive or negative feedback.

Closed-loop Feedback

Closed-loop feedback is the process of acting on direct or indirect customer input collected from sources such as customer surveys, contact center interactions, and social media comments.

Closed-loop Survey

A closed-loop survey is a device within a closed-loop feedback process that collects customer input.

CLV

CLV, or customer lifetime value, is a measure of the average amount of revenue generated by customers during the course of their relationship with a brand.

CSR

A CSR, or customer service representative, is an agent that provides support to an organization’s customers in voice and digital channels.

Customer Care

Customer care refers to the way a business treats its customers throughout the duration of the relationship.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

Customer effort score is a measure of how much work a customer had to put into a purchase, return, refund, or other type of interaction with a business.

Customer Experience (CX)

Customer experience is the perception a customer has of a brand based on a collection of interactions including marketing campaigns, product use, social media presence, customer service contacts, and more.

Customer Experience Management (CEM)

Customer Experience Management (CEM), sometimes referred to as Voice of the Customer (VOC), is the practice of designing, managing, and improving the customer experience at every key point along the customer journey.

Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is input from customers regarding a brand, products, services, retail experiences, customer service interactions, and much more.

Customer Insights

The term customer insights refers to data-driven information about consumers that informs businesses about their motivations, emotions, and preferences.

Customer Journey Based Design

Customer journey-based design refers to Voice of the Customer (VOC) solutions that are aligned to the customer journey and can provide insights about the many different paths customers can take as they interact with a business.

Customer Journey

The customer journey is the complete, end-to-end process a customer takes while interacting or transacting with a business.

Customer Journey Map

A customer journey map is a visual representation of the route a customer takes across multiple touchpoints while interacting with a business.

Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is a feeling of allegiance a consumer has for a business and is usually characterized by a long-term relationship and the customer’s willingness to make ongoing purchases.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

A customer satisfaction score measures how people feel about an organization and their products and services.

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D

Detractor

A detractor is a customer that is highly dissatisfied with a business and may engage in behavior that harms the business financially.

Direct Feedback

Direct feedback is customer input gathered by asking consumers what they think about a brand, product, customer service interaction, or other touchpoint along the customer journey.

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E

Employee NPS (eNPS)

Employee NPS, or Employee Net Promoter Score, is a measure of an employee’s willingness to recommend their employer as a place to work to friends and family.

Experience Analytics

Experience analytics, also called customer experience analytics, is the systematic collection and analysis of customer perceptions as they interact with various touch points along the customer journey.

Experience Transformation

Experience transformation is a structured approach to optimizing customer experiences to make them satisfying, consistent, and free of friction.

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I

Indirect Feedback

Indirect feedback is customer input that a business didn’t solicit but can access for analysis.

Interaction

An interaction refers to a touch point within a journey, or the way customer service interactions are structured and the resulting reaction by customers.

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N

Net Promoter Score® (NPS®) Net Promoter Score (NPS) is the industry standard measure of customer experience (CX) and customer loyalty and it’s a top predictor of future business growth. Back to top

O

Omnichannel CX

Omnichannel CX (customer experience) describes what consumers encounter as they seamlessly move across channels while interacting with a business.

Omnichannel

Omnichannel is a customer care term that refers to the ability for customers to seamlessly move across channels within the same interaction.

Operational / Inferred / Unsolicited Feedback

Operational / inferred / unstructured / unsolicited feedback are types of customer input that businesses can leverage to develop a more holistic Voice of the Customer (VOC).

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P

Promoter

In the CX world, a promoter is a loyal customer willing to recommend a brand to friends and family.

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Q

Quality Management

Quality management is a process used by contact centers to ensure customer interactions are being handled by agents according to organizational standards.

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R

Response Rate

A response rate is a term used to describe what proportion of survey invitations resulted in a completed survey.

ROI

Return on investment (ROI) is a financial ratio that measures the profitability of an actual or proposed investment.

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S

Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis is the AI-enabled process of determining customer emotions and opinions based on keywords and speech characteristics.

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T

Text and Speech Analytics

Text and speech analytics are technical tools that leverage artificial intelligence, such as natural language processing, to understand human speech and use that ability to identify patterns, like high occurrences of keywords and phrases.

Transactional NPS (tNPS)

Transactional NPS, or transactional Net Promoter Score, measures customer perceptions about a transaction with a business, such as an online purchase or a customer service interaction.

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V

Voice of the Customer (VOC)

Voice of the Customer (VOC) is the process of collecting and analyzing customer input to determine their needs, preferences, and expectations about a brand’s products, services, and experiences.

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