CX Glossary

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

A

AI Chatbot

AI chatbots are advanced chatbots that simulate near-human interactions with customers through free-flowing conversations. They are able to do this by interpreting intent, language, and sentiment. These chatbots require programming and robust data to help them understand the context of interactions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that allows a computer to perform tasks that require human intelligence and judgment. Mosaicx' Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) uses AI to create personalized responses to customer inquiries.

Attrition

Also known as turnover, attrition is defined as employees leaving a company. Attrition rate measures the percentage of employees who decide to leave compared to the percentage who decide to stay. Attrition rate is watched closely by call centers, as call center attrition rate is notoriously high.

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

Also known as “automatic call routing,” ACD is a telephony feature that automatically routes calls according to a predetermined set of rules. ACD connects callers to the most qualified agent for assistance, eliminating any need for constant transfers and extended hold times. 

Automatic Call Routing

See Automatic Call Distribution.

B

Bad Actor

A bad actor is a person or group of people that commit malicious cyber actions to take advantage of technological devices, systems, networks, and users. They do this in order to harm others, commit fraud, or acquire some form of financial or personal gain.

Basket Expansion

Basket expansion, also known as upselling, is a term used in online shopping to describe the process of convincing customers to purchase additional or more expensive items.

Brand Experience (BX)

Brand experience (BX) refers to the overarching perception customers hold about your business. Like customer experience, it is based on all touchpoints a customer has with your business, including marketing, buying, product use, and customer service.

Business Messaging

Business messaging refers to all of the channels a brand uses to facilitate customer interactions. These channels can include texting (SMS), email, telephone, social media, and over the top (OTT) channels like WhatsApp.

c

Call Center

A call center is an office setting where agents handle blended (inbound and outbound) phone calls. Said calls are most often geared toward assisting with orders and providing customer service.

See Virtual Call Center.

Chatbot

Chatbots are message-based technologies that allow customers to text inquiries to a virtual agent and receive immediate help through contact center AI. Chatbots automate personalized experiences, connect meaningfully with customers, and deliver engaging content.

Cloud Contact Center

Cloud contact centers are contact centers that use software solutions to power customer support efforts. Hosted in the cloud, cloud contact centers are also known as remote contact centers because they allow agents to support customer service inquiries from different internet-connected locations.

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)

Computer telephony integration (CTI) is technology that allows phones and computers to communicate with each other. This allows computers to collect analytics about phone calls, and it enables features like automatic dialing and automatic call distribution.

Contact Center

Unlike a call center, a contact center allows customer service agents to communicate with customers on multiple channels, not just over the phone. These channels may include text messaging, email, chat, social media and more. Contact center infrastructure is either hosted at a business’ physical location (known as on-premise contact centers) or are hosted by a contact center provider in the cloud (known as cloud contact centers).

Contact Center AI (CCAI)

Contact center AI (CCAI) is a type of artificial intelligence technology designed for use in contact centers. CCAI may be used for contact center automation or to improve the agent experience.

Contact Center Automation

Contact center automation can look different for businesses, but at its core, it involves automating customer support and assistance capabilities to streamline processes for customers and agents. Businesses can use contact center automation tools to automate a range of tasks. These tools use computerized processes and artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML).

Containment

Containment is a contact center metric that measures how many calls end in self-service tools, like IVA, and never reach a human agent. Containment rate is the percentage of calls that are handled in this way, either successfully or unsuccessfully.

Conversational AI

Conversational AI is a form of intelligence that facilitates real-time, human-like communication between a person and a computer. It brings together a combination of technologies including natural language processing (NLP), AI, machine learning (ML), deep learning, and contextual awareness. 

Conversational CX

Conversational CX uses natural language processing to create two-way conversations between customers and businesses. This can be done through a variety of channels, including chatbots, voice agents, and messaging apps.

The goal of conversational CX is to go beyond transactional exchanges and provide customers with a more personalized, convenient, and engaging experience. By using natural language, businesses can create conversations that feel more like a conversation with a human than a traditional customer service interaction. This can help to build trust and loyalty with customers, and ultimately lead to increased sales and revenue.

Conversational Design

Conversational design focuses on examining human conversation to inform and improve interactions with digital systems so they feel more natural. It is used to improve conversational AI.  Mosaicx uses conversational design to tailor natural dialogue to best meet stakeholder and company needs. 

Counselors

Counselors are professionals or volunteers working at a help center or counseling center trained to offer help or guidance to help seekers and familiar voices experiencing problems or challenges.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

A customer experience metric that measures how easy or hard it is for customers to seek resolution or their desired outcome with a company. Like Net Promoter Score, CES can also measure satisfaction with a company’s customer support or service team. It aims to increase the speed of resolution and minimize the effort customers need to exert to answer questions or secure wanted support. 

Customer Experience (CX)

Customer experience (CX) covers the whole customer journey, including the perceptions and feelings caused by customer service interactions. CX consists of all interactions a consumer has with the company. This includes communications through the contact center, in-store, marketing materials, and even while using a product or service. See also personalized customer experience. 

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Customer satisfaction is how a customer feels about an organization. It is based on their complete customer experience. It is measured using a customer satisfaction score (CSAT), which is collected through customer feedback and rates satisfaction as a percentage (100% being best and 0% being worst).

Customer Service

Customer service relates to building and maintaining customer relationships after a product or service is sold. It’s any assistance or support a company provides to customers. Modern customer service is centered on customer experience and making sure a customer is satisfied with all interactions with a company. Many businesses handle customer service through contact center settings. 

CXO (Chief Experience Officer)

CXO is short for chief experience officer (CEO is already commonly used to reference a chief executive officer). The CXO is a C-level executive who is responsible for aligning individuals and teams across departments to create a positive, cohesive customer experience. Colloquially, they are sometimes called the "chief silo breaker." The role may also be known as CX director, chief customer officer, chief customer experience officer or chief customer service officer.

D

Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF)

Dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) is a technology used to allow users to interact with an IVR, in which the user presses a number on their phone keypad to navigate through a preset menu. It uses the sounds made when pressing a number key to determine what the user selected. While this was once a standard feature and is still in use today, natural language processing is widely seen as a better option.

E

Employee Experience (EX)

Employee experience includes both what employees do and how they feel and interpret their interactions with their organization. Understanding EX requires understanding the action employees take, the context of those actions, and the mental, emotional, physical, and financial effects of your company culture.

F

Familiar Voice

Familiar voice is a term for a help seeker who has contacted a help or crisis line counselor in the past and is reaching out again for support.

H

Help Seeker

A help seeker is an individual who calls a contact center for help or guidance from a counselor. Most commonly in the medical and mental wellness sector, help seekers are individuals who have acknowledged they need external support and guidance from a provider, help resource or crisis line. If an individual calls more than once, they are known as a familiar voice.

Human-in-the-Loop

A human-in-the-loop philosophy allows people to directly influence artificial intelligence (AI) operations. It ensures humans have the final say in what an AI system says or does. Typically, a human will be asked to review an AI action if the action does not meet a given confidence threshold. The alternative is allowing the AI to handle all interactions without human intervention, regardless of confidence level.

I

Identification and Verification (ID&V)

Identification and Verification (ID&V), sometimes referred to as identity verification, is the process of confirming the identity of an individual or entity. It is used by banks, hospitals, and other organizations as part of their compliance and fraud prevention practices to keep personal data secure.

Inbound Contact Center

An inbound contact center is one piece of a communication infrastructure that receives all incoming communications from customers. Other contact centers can receive and make calls to customers and other users.  

Intelligent Routing

Intelligent routing is a more sophisticated method of automatic call distribution and automatic call routing. It leverages AI, machine learning and data analysis to route calls based on contextual factors and criteria. These factors can include customer preferences, historical interactions and vertical and industry specifications. Contact centers can use intelligent routing to improve efficiency and personalize support.

Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA)

An Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA), also known as a virtual agent, is an AI-enabled communication tool that generates personalized responses to users. IVAs are intuitive and can understand natural-language requests through natural language understanding (NLU) or natural language processing (NLP).

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a communication tool that automates interactions and increases first-time resolutions through touch-tone key selections and voice commands. Callers interact with IVR through a series of menus that help the technology gather customer information and confirm intent, directing the customer to the most appropriate help for their needs. IVR does not use AI and is less sophisticated than an IVA. 

M

Machine Learning (ML)

Machine learning (ML) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that helps software better predict outcomes without being programmed to do so. Mosaicx uses ML to better serve customer needs by examining and applying historical customer data and trends.

Multichannel

Multichannel refers to using more than one channel to market your brand and communicate with customers and target audiences. These multiple channels are typically not innately integrated, but they can interact and be used in tandem. Channels can include email, phone calls, social media, texting (SMS), and over the top (OTT) platforms like WhatsApp. Multichannel is different from omnichannel. 

N

Natural Language Interpretation (NLI)

Also known as natural language understanding (NLU), natural language interpretation (NLI) is a subtopic of natural language processing. It helps computers and machines learn based on written or spoken language. 

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Natural language processing (NLP) is a branch of AI that helps computers understand, interpret, and manipulate human language. The technology’s use of AI allows it to interpret what a person says or types.

Natural Language Understanding (NLU)

Natural language understanding (NLU), also known as natural language interpretation, is a branch of AI that allows computers to comprehend human language without having to use pre-existing software. NLU allows intelligent virtual agents to better communicate with customers. NLU and NLP are learning algorithms that try to identify and grasp various patterns and make decisions or predictions independently, relying on collected data and sometimes human input. 

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

This is a measure of customer loyalty and satisfaction based on one survey question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product or service to a friend or colleague?” The response to this question then classifies customers into three categories: Promoters, passives and detractors. Promoters are customers who are most satisfied and likely to recommend a business. The final score ranges between -100 to 100 and is the difference between the percentage of detractors and promoters.

Next Best Action

Next best action refers to a customer service approach where an intelligent virtual agent interacts with a customer, considers all potential actions for the interaction, and then chooses the best one.

O

Omnichannel

Omnichannel refers to the integration of all channels across the customer experience. Omnichannel customer experience allows customers to pick up where they left off on one channel and continue their journey on another channel. Omnichannel is different from multichannel. 

P

Personalized Customer Experience

Personalized customer experience is when a brand provides a tailored and individual journey based on a customer's unique needs and preferences.

Phygital

The word "phygital" is a portmanteau of the words "physical" and "digital." It is used to describe the convergence of the physical and digital worlds. Phygital experiences are those that blend the two worlds together, creating a seamless and integrated experience for the user.

S

Spoofed Number

A spoofed number is a phone number that appears on caller ID, but it is not the actual number being used to place the call. Callers use this process, known as spoofing, to disguise their identity or make it appear like the call is coming from a different location or entity. Because people are more likely to answer a call from a number with their local area code, spoofing is often used to make it appear like the call is coming from a local person.

T

Textbot

Textbots are "simple" AI chatbots that emulate human interaction via text inputs. The most common example is a “live” support chat that helps automate the first response for support requests. Textbots record critical information and provide instructions matching the detected case.

Turnover

See Attrition.

V

Virtual Call Center 

A virtual call center is a hosted, cloud-based call center that supports call-based customer service inquiries. Unlike a virtual contact center, a virtual call center only supports calling. A virtual contact center supports multiple mediums.

Virtual Contact Center

A virtual contact center is similar to a virtual call center. However, it often has more sophisticated virtual agents that provide multichannel support.

Voicebot

A voicebot is an AI chatbot tool that uses IVR software to identify key markers in a caller’s speech. Using this information, the voicebot then responds with audio in near-human form.