Contact Center Glossary

After call work refers to a set of tasks that a contact center agent has to complete after every interaction with a customer.

Agent analytics is the process of tracking agent performance in a contact center using a variety of tools employed across multiple support channels. 

Agent performance is a broad analysis of how agents are performing on a wide variety of monitorable call center metrics and KPIs.

Agent turnover rate is defined as the percentage of contact center employees leaving an organization each year. Contact centers see a higher agent turnover rate than any other industry and bringing this metric down has been a constant challenge.

Call arrival rate refers to the rate of incoming calls in a contact center. The call arrival rate metric shows how many calls are being handled or put on hold during a particular period of time.

Automated Quality Management, or AQM, is an integrated component to automate the entire quality management(QM) process of a contact center.

Average speed of answer, or ASA, is a metric used to denote the average amount of time taken to answer voice calls for a specific duration. 

The process of assigning certain business functions to a party outside the company. While customer service is the most commonly outsourced process, companies also outsource accounting, IT services, and human resource management among others.

CSAT stands for Customer SATisfaction and is a parameter used to denote how satisfied a customer is with a service, product, or experience. It is different from Net Promoter Score (NPS); a CSAT score is strictly a measurement of customer happiness, while NPS is the measurement of customer loyalty to a brand.

Call calibration is the discussion between contact center managers and third-party call tracking and evaluation partners for rating customer service calls.

A call center evaluation form is a pre-made template for evaluating a call, where a QA analyst fills out a form and scores how the agent performed.

For a contact center, call abandonment rate refers to the percentage of inbound phone calls that are abandoned by the customer before speaking to an agent.

A call center audit is a periodical assessment of established processes, workflows, procedures, and guidelines that agents need to follow in a contact center.

Call center coaching is a great way for agents to learn new skills, receive constructive feedback, and improve performance. Coaching programs can also be automated to highlight an agent’s weaknesses and customize the 1:1 sessions accordingly.

Call center compliance is the strict adherence of the rules set by a regulatory body or an organization itself. 

Call center efficiency is the technical implementation of the annual targets to support customers. Eliminating inefficiencies and improving overall performance are the ultimate objectives for any contact center and proper steps can be taken to reach it.

A call center monitoring form is a system designed to evaluate agents on how effectively they can handle any customer interaction based on pre-established criteria. 

A call center staffing model is a framework to determine how to add staff depending on call volumes and how long customers can be on hold.

Call escalation is a process implemented to solve a customer’s complaint or issue outside an agent’s scope of authority and requires a supervisor or a manager's intervention.

Customer sentiment analysis is an AI-powered service that gauges the perceived emotion of the customer to determine their opinion towards a product, topic, or event.

Customer engagement is the connection between a customer and a company via multiple channels. It is the different ways in which a company creates a lasting relationship with its consumers, pushing for brand loyalty by always being readily and easily accessible.

Customer experience is the perception and relationship that a customer has with a contact center, based on the sum total of all their interactions. It is critical deciding factor for whether a customer returns to a company or chooses a competitor.‍

Customer sentiment is the information on a customer’s attitude, emotion, and opinions about a brand, product line, marketing campaign, or any other aspects. A thorough sentiment analysis of a customer can provide invaluable insights on how to improve customer satisfaction.

Customer verification is a process used by contact centers to authenticate the customer’s information and validate their identity. 

Data monitoring is the process of proactively reviewing and evaluating important business data to ensure quality and ascertain adherence to established standards and protocols.

Dead air is defined as the period of silence during a contact center interaction when neither the customer nor the agent is interacting. 

An experience map, also known as a Customer Journey map (CJM), is the path a customer takes while interacting with a business. It highlights all the customer touch points before a customer converts or takes action.

First response time (FRT) is the number of minutes or hours passed from the time a customer first submits their case and a contact center agent responds to it. This metric is best measured in business hours there’s no penalty for time off the clock.