Customer support
glossary
63 terms defined in plain English, from the metrics on your dashboard to the AI vocabulary in your vendor contracts. No jargon for its own sake.
AI and automation
Agent assist AI agent assist is software that helps a human agent mid-conversation with suggested replies, summaries and answers. How AI copilots work, examples, pricing. Agentic AI Agentic AI plans multi-step work and takes actions rather than only answering. Here is what that means in support, where it helps, and the guardrails it requires. AI agent An AI support agent interprets a customer question, retrieves the right information, and acts to resolve it. Here is how it differs from a chatbot and what it can safely do. Chatbot A chatbot answers customers through a conversational interface, usually from scripted flows. Here is how chatbots differ from AI agents and where they still work well. Conversational AI Conversational AI is technology that lets software understand and reply to people in natural language, by text or voice. The definition, main types, examples. Grounding Grounding restricts an AI system to answering from verified sources you control. Here is why it matters, how it is enforced, and how to tell whether a vendor really does it. Hallucination A hallucination is a fluent, confident, incorrect AI answer. Here is why it happens, what it costs a support team, and the controls that reduce it. Intent recognition Intent recognition is AI that works out what a customer wants from a message, such as track an order. How it works, examples, and how it drives routing. Large language model A large language model predicts text and powers modern AI support. Here is what it is good at, where it fails in support, and what it needs around it to be useful. Retrieval augmented generation RAG retrieves relevant documents and gives them to a language model before it answers. Here is why it matters for support accuracy and how it fails in practice. Sentiment analysis Sentiment analysis scores the emotional tone of customer messages. Here is how support teams use it for prioritisation and where the signal is weaker than it looks. Support automation Support automation is software doing the steps an agent would, from tagging and routing to AI resolution. Examples, the four levels, and what to automate first.
Analytics
Conversation analytics Conversation analytics extracts themes and signals from support conversations at scale. Here is what it can reveal and where it misleads. Voice of the customer Voice of the customer is the structured capture of customer feedback across channels. Here is how support fits in and why most VoC programmes stall.
Automation
Automation rate Automation rate is the share of support work done without a human. The formula, why the unit you count decides the answer, and how it differs from resolution. Containment rate Containment rate is the share of calls or chats fully handled by an IVR, chatbot or AI agent without a human. Meaning, formula, and why it is not resolution. Ticket deflection Ticket deflection is self-service that stops a request becoming a ticket. The deflection rate formula, a worked example, and deflection rate vs resolution rate. Zero-touch resolution Zero-touch resolution means a ticket is resolved end to end with no human involved. What zero-touch ticket resolution means, how to measure it, what qualifies.
Business metrics
Churn rate Churn rate is the share of customers who leave in a period. The formula, what counts as a bad churn rate for your model, and how support quietly drives churn. Customer lifetime value Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total profit a customer brings over the relationship. The CLV formula, how to work out customer lifespan, and future value.
Channels
Multichannel support Multichannel support means offering email, chat, phone and social as separate streams. What it means, multichannel vs omnichannel, and when it is enough. Omnichannel support Omnichannel support gives customers one continuous conversation across every channel. Here is how it differs from multichannel and what it actually requires.
Content
Help centre A help center (help centre in UK English) is the public site for support articles, search and contact. What it means and how it differs from a knowledge base. Knowledge base A knowledge base is the structured store of answers your customers and AI both read. Here is how to structure it, keep it current, and measure whether it works. Knowledge gap analysis Knowledge gap analysis finds the questions your documentation cannot answer. Here is how to run one and how AI deployment produces the data for free. Self-service rate Self-service rate is the share of customers who solve an issue without contacting support. How to measure it, a simple formula, and how small teams raise it.
Core metrics
Average handle time The average handle time formula is (talk time + hold time + after-call work) divided by contacts handled. An AHT calculation step by step, and what AHT hides. Customer effort score Customer effort score (CES) measures how easy it was to get an issue handled. The CES question, how to calculate the score, and what lowers effort in practice. Customer satisfaction score A CSAT score (customer satisfaction score) is the share of customers who rate an interaction 4 or 5 out of 5. The CSAT meaning, formula, scale, and benchmarks. First contact resolution First contact resolution (FCR) is the share of issues solved in one interaction. The formula, FCR vs repeat contact rate, and why to measure FCR by issue type. First response time First response time measures how long a customer waits for the first meaningful human or AI reply. Here is how to calculate it, what distorts it, and how to improve it. Net promoter score NPS measures relationship-level loyalty on a zero-to-ten recommendation scale. Here is the formula, what the score can and cannot tell you, and how support affects it. Reopen rate Reopen rate is the share of resolved tickets that come back. The formula with a worked example, the common causes of ticket reopens, and how to bring it down. Resolution A resolution is a customer issue genuinely solved, with no need to come back. What resolution means in support, how it differs from a closed ticket, and why. Resolution rate Resolution rate is the share of contacts genuinely resolved. The formula with a worked example, how resolve rate differs from deflection, and how it gets gamed. Ticket volume Ticket volume is the number of support requests in a period. How to normalise it, which ticket volume trends to watch, and how to forecast volume from history.
Cost
Cost per contact Cost per contact is the average cost of handling one customer interaction. Here is the formula, what it hides, and why cost per resolution is usually the better metric. Cost per resolution Cost per resolution is total support cost divided by issues genuinely solved. What the metric means, the formula, and why it beats cost per ticket as a measure.
Operations
Canned response A canned response, or canned message, is a pre-written reply an agent saves once and reuses. What it means, examples, when it backfires, and vs macros. Escalation Escalation means passing an issue to someone with more expertise or authority when it cannot be solved where it is. Its meaning in support, business and IT. Escalation matrix An escalation matrix is a table of who takes over an issue at each level, what triggers the next level, and how fast. The meaning, L1 to L4 levels, an example. Handoff AI handoff means an AI agent passes a live conversation to a human. What AI to human handoff means, the triggers that should fire it, and what to pass across. Macro A macro is a saved set of reply text and ticket actions applied in one click. An example macro, how it differs from a canned response, and how libraries rot. Service level agreement An SLA is a committed response or resolution time. What an SLA breach means, what happens when a provider breaches it, and how support SLAs are structured. Skills-based routing Skills-based routing (skill based routing) sends each ticket to an agent with the right skill, such as language or product. How it works, examples, and risks. Support backlog A support backlog is the pile of unresolved tickets that builds when arrivals outpace resolutions. What it means, what it really costs, and how to clear it. Support quality assurance Support QA reviews conversations against a standard to improve quality and coaching. Here is how to run QA that helps rather than polices. Support queue A support queue is the ordered list of customer requests waiting for an agent. What it is, how a triage queue differs, ordering rules, and the metrics to watch. Ticket ageing Aging tickets are support tickets still unresolved after a set time. What ticket aging (ageing) means, when a ticket is aged, the 5 standard buckets, and fixes. Ticket routing Ticket routing sends each support request to the right queue or agent automatically. What it means, the main routing methods compared, and signs of bad routing. Ticket tagging Ticket tagging labels requests so they can be reported and automated on. Here is how tag taxonomies decay and how to build one that survives. Triage Ticket triage is sorting new support requests by urgency, type, and owner before anyone works them. The meaning, a priority table, and how auto triage works. Workflow automation Workflow automation applies rules to tickets so routing, priority, and follow-up happen without a person. Here is how to design rules that stay maintainable.
Pricing models
Per-conversation pricing Per-conversation pricing bills for every conversation, solved or not. How vendors define a conversation, where costs spike, and how outcome pricing compares. Per-resolution pricing Per-resolution pricing means you pay only when a customer issue is genuinely solved. How pay per resolution works, a worked example, and what to check first. Per-seat pricing Per-seat pricing charges a fixed fee per agent licence. Here is how it works, where the hidden costs appear, and how it compares to per-conversation and per-resolution models. Usage-based pricing Usage-based pricing bills for what you actually consume rather than for licences. Here is how it applies to support software, the forecasting problem, and how to bound it.
Tools
Help desk A help desk is the system and team that receives and resolves customer requests. Here is what a help desk includes, how it differs from a service desk, and what to look for. Service desk A service desk is the single point of contact for internal service requests and incidents. Here is how it differs from a help desk and where the practices overlap. Shared inbox A shared inbox lets a team handle one email address collaboratively with assignment and visibility. Here is how it differs from a help desk and when to graduate.
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