The Customer Experience Glossary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving technology that can help contact centers automate customer service and improve their efficiency. AI can be used to quickly and accurately process customer requests, automate the collection of customer data, monitor the quality of customer conversations, and customize the customer experience. AI has revolutionized contact centers with its ability to seamlessly integrate into existing systems and provide an efficient, personalized customer service experience. At Rush Order, we use AI in our IVR systems and chatbot solutions.

The average length of time a customer is on a call or engaged in a live chat session. AHT is often used to assess the efficiency of an agent and the customer service operation as a whole. Faster handling times are generally better than slower handling times.

Benchmarking is the process of comparing agent or team performance against that of peers or rivals. It may also be used to compare the current and past performance of the same agent or team. Benchmarking is useful in determining a relative position versus the competition, as well as developing strategies to preserve or improve on it.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the use of an outside firm to manage specific operations on your behalf. Example: Outsourcing your customer service functions to Rush Order. In this example, Rush Order is a “business process outsourcer”, also often referred to by the acronym “BPO”.

A call center is a team of customer service and sales representatives who manage communication with current and potential customers.

A chatbot is a conversational AI that allows businesses to deliver a layer of automation or self-service in front of consumers in a friendly and familiar way. Bots have rapidly grown to be an essential component of any messaging strategy, as companies add messaging channels to cater to more clients faster. They may be used across any messaging platform or channel, ensuring that customers receive prompt replies when an agent is assisting other clients.

Chat or Live Chat support is a type of real-time customer communication. A chat “box” or “windo” is usually offered as a small pop-up on a brand’s website or mobile app.

Click to Deliver is a metric used by e-commerce brands that ship physical goods to consumers. Click to deliver measures the speed and efficiency of order fulfillment from the time of purchase until delivery. It provides insight into how well a company handles order fulfillment and tracks the total delivery time from when a customer clicks "buy" until they receive their package. A related metric, also covered in this glossary, is “click to ship”.

The “click to ship” metric is a measure of the speed and efficiency with which an e-commerce brand is able to fulfill customer orders. Click to ship measures the time that elapses between a customer placing an order online, and the time that it takes for the product being shipped out. This metric can be used to gauge how well an e-commerce business meets demand from customers, as well as identify potential areas of improvement in terms of customer service and product delivery times. Properly tracking this metric can provide key insight into a customer's overall satisfaction with their e-commerce experience, which is essential for keeping existing customers happy and bringing in new ones. This metric is often used in concert with the Click to Deliver metric as well. See Click to Deliver in this glossary.

A contact center is a physical or virtual facility that enables customers to contact company representatives for assistance with their questions, concerns, and complaints. Common methods for contact include email, phone, live chat, SMS / text, and various social media platforms.

A contact center can be an inhouse team hired and managed by internal staff, or it can be partly or fully outsourced to a third party.

CCaaS stands for "Contact Center as a Service" and is a cloud-hosted service that enables businesses to outsource customer service and related operations. CCaaS simplifies the process of operating a contact center by providing hosted software, hardware infrastructure, analytics, reporting tools, and other features. It also allows businesses to easily scale their contact center operations up or down on demand. With CCaaS, companies can access customer service capabilities such as automated call routing, speech recognition, customer surveys, and more without having to invest in the costly infrastructure required for an in-house contact center.

Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) is a group of technologies for recognizing and responding to speech and text inputs. The phrase conversation AI refers to the use of AI-based systems, such as chatbots or voice-based assistants, to interact with consumers in customer service.

Customers despise repeating themselves and certainly don't want to wait on hold while an agent looks for information that should be readily available. Conversational customer service enables fast, customized, continuous service across phone, email, chat, in-app, and social platforms.

The Customer Effort Score (CES) is a measurement of how much effort a customer must expend to get a problem solved or product/service delivered.

A company's customer effort score is calculated by asking customers how much effort they exerted to get their problem solved or service delivered. Often, the company may ask this question to assess each step of the purchase or support process.

Typically, customers select from a scale of 1 (very low effort) to 5 (very high effort), or perhaps 1 - 7. The average customer effort score for a company is then calculated.

Companies with better customer effort scores have happier, more loyal customers and are more likely to generate repeat business and referrals.

Customer experience (CX) or customer experience management (CXM) is the discipline of listening to customers, understanding their needs, and deploying strategies that enable customer satisfaction. Most CX initiatives require crossfunctional efforts and a customer-centric culture to improve customer satisfaction. Crossfunctionial areas related to CX include IT / technology, order fulfillment

CXaaS (Customer Experience as a Service) is an emerging technology that provides businesses with the tools and services they need to deliver personalized customer experiences for their products and services. It allows companies to access experienced teams of technology experts who can design and develop an optimized, customized customer journey for their customers, as well as provide live agent staffing where needed.

When individuals repeat a firm's products or services, they are referred to as loyal consumers. Consumers frequently select one brand and fight against its rivals when doing business with them.

Customer relationship management (CRM), is a business strategy that increases revenue and profit by generating customer satisfaction and loyalty. CRM technologies make it possible to manage customer relationships via digital platforms and specific software tools. This type of software provides functionality for sales, marketing, customer service, and digital commerce teams within a company.

In terms of customer service functionality, CRM tools are usually equated to help desk tools such as Zendesk, Intercom, Kustomer, FreshDesk, and many others.

A key metric for any business is customer retention - that is, preventing current customers from defecting to a competitor. A high rate of customer retention means your product or service is satisfying to buyers, and it's essential for companies that rely on repeat business.

Customer retention efforts typically include activities focused on reducing customer “churn”, increasing customer loyalty, increasing the frequency of repeat purchases, and improving customer lifetime value.

Typically measured through the use of automated surveys, Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) indicates the success rate of your brand’s communication with its customers.

Further reading:

https://www.rushorder.cx/blog/csat-surveys

Customer service channels are the multiple ways customers can contact your company for assistance, based on their preferences. These channels can include phone, email, online information, text support, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, chat, and SMS messaging. Omnichannel support enables customers to choose different methods at different times, based on their needs and convenience and ensures customers don’t have to repeat themselves as they move from channel to channel.

Both FedEx and UPS charge a Delivery Area Surcharge (DAS) for deliveries to certain remote or less accessible ZIP codes within the United States. The USPS does not apply a DAS. Learn more in our deep dive on US carrier surcharges.

A digital native is someone who has grown up with technology and is fully comfortable using it. Digital natives are fluent when it comes to devices like smartphones and tablets, as well as new web based technologies. In general, digital natives are often the first to adopt new technologies.

When determining shipping costs, DHL, FedEx, UPS take into account not just the actual weight of a package, but also its size (i.e. dimensions). This method, known as volumetric or dimensional weight pricing, prevents the underpricing of large, lightweight items that occupy significant space in a vehicle.

Learn more about the specific calculation the carriers use for dimensional (volumetric) weight.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) - A comprehensive software solution that integrates and streamlines an organization's core business processes, including finance, procurement, supply chain management, human resources, customer relations, and more. ERP systems enable real-time information sharing and decision-making across departments, enhancing operational efficiency, data accuracy, and overall productivity. By centralizing and automating key functions, an ERP system helps organizations effectively manage resources and respond to changing business needs.

First Contact Resolution (FCR) is a metric that captures the frequency of customers’ inquiries being addressed during the first instance of contact, such that no additional follow-ups are needed.

For example, your FCR metric would be incremented when a customer emails a question and the ticket is resolved with the first agent reply. In this example, the inquiry is resolved on the very first contact, which happens to be an email reply in this case. FCR for phone, chat, social and other support channels are tallied similarly.

First Response Time (FRT) is the time elapsed between a customer initiating a support ticket and an agent first responding to the customer.

FRT is often measured in the context of your support team’s business hours, so this metric is not negatively affected by tickets created during the middle of the night or weekends if your team does not operate during those times.

Help desk software is a computer program, usually browser-based, that enables customer service agents to manage customer support tickets. Help desk systems typically include a ticketing system, knowledge base, and reporting features. Help desk software allows e-commerce businesses to efficiently track and manage customer interactions, resolutions, and complaints.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is commonly thought of as a “phone tree”, but modern IVR systems offer technology to recognize user-generated touch tones and, more importantly, voice inputs. The IVR then provides relevant information or routes the user to the correct customer service agent or team.

A knowledge base is a repository of organized information that helps customers and agents find answers to common questions. A help desk usually accompanies a knowledge base, which can have articles, news, product info, and answers to frequently asked questions. A knowledge base saves a company time and money by preventing employees from having to answer the same questions repeatedly.

A learning management system is a software application used to manage, deliver, and track online learning programs and courses for employees or customers.

In our context, Rush Order leverages an LMS to help continuously improve customer service agent performance through ongoing reviews of real-life customer interactions and resulting coaching efforts.

Lifetime Value (LTV) or Customer Lifetime Value refers to the projected average income a customer is expected to generate over the duration of their relationship with a business. This valuation of a customer's long-term financial contribution is crucial for making various business decisions, such as allocating marketing funds, managing resources, assessing profitability, and planning future business activities.

Natural language processing (NLP) is a way for computers to understand, analyze, and generate human language, such as the words and sentences you are reading right now. It helps computers understand what people are saying or writing and can be used in things like chatbots, language translation, and voice recognition. You can think of NLP like a computer trying to speak and understand a language like a human does.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric used to assess the likelihood of a customer to recommend a company's products or services to others. It is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who are detractors (those who score 6 or lower on a 0-10 scale) from the percentage of customers who are promoters (those who score 9 or 10).

NPS can be a useful metric for companies to track over time as it can provide insight into how likely customers are to recommend the company to others. Additionally, NPS can be used to benchmark a company against its competitors.

Omnichannel customer service, or omnichannel CX, provides customers with a unified experience across all communication channels.

Omnichannel CX commonly means customers can interact with your company through any channel such as phone, email, chat, and social media.

Across all these channels, customers should receive a similar or identical experience with consistent messaging and appropriate response times (i.e. chat responses should likely be faster than email in most instances).

OTP, or On-Time Performance, measures the punctuality and reliability of a shipping or transportation service. It indicates the percentage of shipments or deliveries that arrive within the scheduled or promised time frame.

OTP is a vital metric for both shippers and customers. For businesses, a high OTP indicates efficient operations, good customer service, and can lead to increased customer trust and loyalty. For customers, OTP provides an expectation of when they can anticipate their shipments, which is especially crucial for time-sensitive deliveries.

Calculation of OTP for Ground and Express Shipments:

While the basic premise of calculating OTP remains consistent, the specifics can vary based on the type of shipment (e.g., Ground vs. Express). Here's a general breakdown:

OTP = {Number of On-Time Deliveries \ Total Number of Deliveries} * 100

Order fulfillment is the process of completing and shipping an order to a customer. This includes gathering the ordered items, packaging them safely, and preparing any necessary shipping documentation.

Customer service teams are often required to assist customers through the order fulfillment process, often dealing with exceptions like last-minute item changes, address changes, and returns management.

In today's world, order fulfillment often requires a software integration between the brand's e-commerce website and its warehouse, so orders can be fulfilled automatically. Third party marketplaces and major retailers often require software integrations as well.

Order Management System (OMS): A software platform that centralizes and automates order processing across multiple sales channels. An OMS pulls in orders from eCommerce stores (like Shopify, Amazon, and WooCommerce), syncs inventory across platforms, routes orders to the appropriate fulfillment center or 3PL, and provides real-time tracking updates.

Why It Matters: A good OMS prevents overselling, reduces manual order entry, and ensures that your fulfillment process runs smoothly by seamlessly integrating with your 3PL’s systems.

Quality assurance is the process used to ensure customer support interactions meet a certain standard. This involves setting expectations with agents, measuring performance, and using feedback to help improve service. Quality assurance methods include monitoring emails, chats, and calls; scoring contacts against the set standard; and giving regular feedback to agents.

A quarterly business review is a meeting that is jointly held by a customer and vendor to review the partnership’s performance over the past quarter, AND plan for the quarter ahead.

Attendees usually include frontline personnel and middle or upper management from both firms.

The QBR meeting typically includes a presentation of the partnership’s operational and/or financial results, including key metrics and performance indicators.

Additionally, the meeting provides an opportunity for representatives to share their insights on performance, address any concerns, answer questions, and discuss new projects in progress or soon to be scheduled.

The term "self-service" usually refers to customers accessing information and resolving issues without the assistance of a customer service agent or making a request for help. Self-service may also benefit a business internally, allowing agents to find information quickly and resolve customer complaints swiftly.

A service level agreement (SLA) is a contractual or written agreement between a service provider (such as Rush Order's customer experience solutions) and a customer. The SLA defines the level of service to be provided, the procedures for measuring service speed and/or quality, and the remedies available to the customer in the event of poor service.

For example Rush Order advertises common SLAs like 20-second live chat and phone wait times, 4 hour email reply times, etc.

Social media customer service is a strategy in which brands provide customer service through social channels, primarily on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Brands can achieve high engagement and customer satisfaction (CSAT) with customers through social media because their customers are likely already visiting and using these platforms.

Communicating with customers in channels where they prefer to be can lead to more effective and efficient customer support outcomes.

Support staff with extensive expertise in a specific product, subject, or technology are known as subject-matter experts. These experts are an important source of information and support to agents and others on the team, and they frequently have the duty of constructing and updating knowledge-base material.

Postponement in the context of last mile kitting and assembly within an order fulfillment operation refers to the strategic delay of the final stages of product assembly, packaging, or customization until a customer order is received. This approach allows companies to maintain products in a semi-finished state, thereby increasing flexibility and responsiveness to market demands.

Key Features:

1) Flexibility: Enables quick adaptation to customer-specific requirements, such as customization or personalization.

2) Inventory Management: Reduces the need for holding large inventories of finished goods, thus lowering carrying costs.

3) Speed: Allows for faster turnaround times from order receipt to delivery, enhancing customer satisfaction.

4) Cost-Efficiency: By delaying the final steps until demand is confirmed, companies can reduce the risk of producing items that may not be sold, thereby saving costs.

5) Market Responsiveness: Helps in quickly adapting to market trends and consumer preferences, which can be particularly beneficial in fast-changing industries.

Supply Chain Postponement Example:

In an e-commerce setting, a company may receive various orders for smartphones with different specifications (e.g., color, memory size). Using the postponement strategy, the company would assemble and kit these smartphones only after receiving specific orders, ensuring that the products meet individual customer preferences.

By implementing postponement in last mile kitting and assembly, companies can achieve a more agile, efficient, and customer-centric order fulfillment operation.

A customer support ticket generally begins with a customer request and includes any resulting back & forth communication with that customer. All of the communication and the actions taken are tracked from ticket creation through ticket resolution. Most support tickets are managed via a help desk system.

A ticket can be initiated via a variety of customer support channels, including phone, email, webform submission, chat, SMS / text, and others. It’s also possible, depending on the specific situation, for a ticket to begin on one communication medium and transfer to another. In such an event, all the communication details are still ideally tracked in the same ticket.

A third party logistics provider is an organization that provides outsourced logistics services to companies. 3PLs typically offer a broad range of supply chain management services, including transportation management, warehousing, and order fulfillment.

Thoughtful integration of your 3PL with your customer experience team is critical to sustaining customer satisfaction (CSAT). This is one of the reasons why Rush Order has always maintained both a 3PL and CX business combined under one roof.

Ticket routing is a system to figure out which representative on a support team will deal with a customer's request. Assignments can be based on skill level, how long it's been since an agent had a ticket, prioritizing the most crucial tickets, or sending it to the agent or group that is best able to solve the issue. By following these strategies for ticket-routing,  support teams stay organized and are more likely to provide excellent customer service.

A ticketing system, also known as a help desk software program, is a tool that helps consumers by processing, managing, and tracking client problems from start to finish. In the dashboard of a ticketing system, support requests are automatically organized and prioritized. Tagging, classifying, and assigning tickets as they arrive is possible with these systems. These systems also let you know if any tickets are open so you can keep track of active requests.

The time elapsed from a customer’s first inquiry to the initial response from your customer support team.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a measure of the total expenses associated with purchasing and owning an asset or service over its lifetime. It includes not only the initial cost of acquiring the asset or service, but also any ongoing costs such as maintenance, repairs, upgrades, taxes, labor, and depreciation. TCO should be used to compare different options when making decisions about purchasing assets and determining their lifecycle costs.

A Transportation Management System (TMS) is a type of software system designed to manage and optimize the logistical operations of transporting goods or people. It serves as a central platform to plan, execute, and monitor all activities involved in transportation.

Its key functionalities often include route planning and optimization, load optimization, execution of transportation plan, transport follow-up and measurement, freight audit, payment, and advanced shipping notification. It can manage all modes of transportation, whether they are used in a domestic or international supply chain.

TMS allows businesses to minimize costs, improve shipping efficiency, and maintain high customer service standards by providing visibility into shipping processes and metrics. As supply chain complexities increase, many businesses turn to TMS solutions to streamline their operations.

Hiring a 3PL like Rush Order allows brands to take advantage of this functionality as well.

The Universal Product Code (UPC) is a standardized, numeric barcode system used globally for identifying and tracking consumer products. Consisting of 12 digits, the UPC encodes information such as product manufacturer, item type, and a unique product identifier, enabling efficient management of inventory, pricing, and point-of-sale transactions. The UPC is printed on product packaging and can be read by optical scanners, facilitating commerce and logistics processes for manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. In a 3PL environment, the UPC is critical for product identification in the course of managing inventory and shipping accurately.