Taking a Closer Look at Common Call Center Industry Terms
Whether you’re the call center manager for a customer service department or a third-party collector, it’s crucial that your team thoroughly understands and correctly uses industry terminology to both represent your department well and provide exceptional customer service.
Let’s refresh our memories on some commonly used call center industry terms:
Abandoned Call
Communication that ends prior to any conversation with a customer.
Abandonment Rate
Percentage of customers who disconnect before talking to an agent.
After Call Work
Time an agent spends after a conversation concludes on data entry and other tasks associated with the call.
Answer Rate
Percentage of calls being accepted by agents versus the total number of calls coming in to the facility.
Automatic Callback
Telephone feature that automatically redials when line is available after receiving busy signal.
Average Handle Time
This metric computes the average length of one customer call, including time spent talking, on hold, and on associated after call work.
Blended Agent
Call center agent who handles both inbound and outbound calls.
Bodies in Chairs
Number of agents required to handle expected call volume.
Call Center Attrition
Agent loss rate over a specified period of time.
Callback Messaging
Allows customers to leave a message for a callback while retaining their spot in the queue.
Call Monitoring
Listening and recording calls for quality assurance.
Chatterbot
Online program that simulates conversation with a live agent.
Chief Customer Officer
Performs customer research and creates metrics for all aspects of the customer experience.
Collaborative Browsing
When call center agent takes charge of customer’s browser. Usually done for technical support.
Cross-media Queuing
Technology used to route all incoming traffic in the same manner. Used for e-mails, instant messages, web submissions, phone calls, fax, or interactive voice response communication.
Data Mining
Process of determining customer trends to increase future sales.
Envelope Scheduling
Scheduling excess agents above the number of forecasted calls to handle other duties.
Fast Clear Down
When a customer hangs up after notification of a delay.
First Call Resolution
Solving a customer’s problem on the first interaction.
Incremental Value Analysis
Produces metrics that determine the relative value of every call center agent.
Issue Tracking System
Software that follows, analyzes, and reports every call center issue until resolution.
Longest Delay in Queue (LDQ)
Amount of time a customer will wait to talk to someone before hanging up.
Outbound Call
Telephone call going to potential customers from a call center agent. Common applications for outbound calls include sales and market research.
Predictive Dialer
Automatic dialing system that calls a list of pre-selected numbers, eliminating busy signals, answering machines, numbers not in service, and no-answers. Also predicts when a call center agent will be available to handle another call.
Schedule Adherence
Means of tracking call center agents time worked vs. time scheduled. Robust systems track everything from attendance to bathroom and scheduled breaks.
Screen Pop
Computer Telephony Integration feature that shows caller information upon connection. Provides call center agent with basic facts to begin a conversation.
Shrinkage
Measures amount of time lost to non-work activities, such as training, illness, holidays, lunch, breaks, and vacation.
Skill-based Routing
Directs calls to agents with the appropriate skills to best handle the issue. Commonly guides customers to press #1 for sales, #2 for technical support, and so on.
Virtual Agent
This is a chatterbot application that simulates a live customer service agent on a company’s website. Also referred to as an intelligent virtual agent or v (virtual) rep.
Web Self-service
Offers both customers and employees the ability to solve common problems and tasks easily through a company’s website, thus eliminating the need for conversation with a live person.