CRM and customer support glossary
What a CRM system, helpdesk, ticket, SLA and omnichannel support are, and other customer service terms — short and to the point.
CRM system
A CRM system stores the full history of communication with customers and helps a team work with them by shared rules.
All termsHelpdesk
A helpdesk is the system through which customers contact support and agents receive, handle and close their requests.
All termsTicket (customer request)
A ticket is a single customer request with a subject, a status, an assignee and a message history.
All termsSLA (service level agreement)
An SLA is a commitment on how fast a company replies to a customer and solves the issue.
All termsOmnichannel support
Omnichannel means messages from all communication channels arrive in one window and form a single customer history.
All termsWebsite chat widget
A widget is a chat window on a company website through which a visitor writes to support without leaving the page.
All termsKnowledge base
A knowledge base is a set of articles with answers to frequent questions that helps both customers and agents.
All termsReply templates
Reply templates are prepared texts for typical questions that an agent inserts in one click.
All termsRequest routing
Routing is the automatic distribution of new requests between departments and agents.
All termsSupport automation
Automation is rules and bots that take over routine work: greetings, tags, reassignments, reminders.
All termsFRT (first response time)
FRT is the time between a customer's first message and the first reply from an agent.
All termsCSAT (customer satisfaction)
CSAT is a customer's rating of service quality after a request is closed, usually on a scale of 1 to 5.
All termsNPS (net promoter score)
NPS shows how willing customers are to recommend a company to friends.
All termsSupport chatbot
A chatbot is a program that answers typical customer questions on its own and hands complex cases to an agent.
All termsCustomer support in Telegram
Telegram support means receiving and handling customer requests through a company bot or account in the messenger.
All termsCustomer support in WhatsApp
WhatsApp support means handling WhatsApp customer requests in a shared queue instead of agents' personal phones.
All termsEnd-to-end encryption
End-to-end encryption protects conversations so only the participants, not the server, can read the messages.
All termsTwo-factor authentication (2FA)
2FA means signing in with a password plus a second confirmation, such as a code from an app.
All termsRoles and access rights
Roles define what exactly an employee can see and do in the system: from replying to customers to settings and finances.
All termsSupport shift schedule
A shift schedule is the timetable by which agents go on line so customers are served at the right hours.
All termsMulti-tenancy and data isolation
Multi-tenancy means one service serves many companies while each company's data is stored separately and unavailable to the others.
All termsWhite label (your own brand)
White label is the ability to use a service under your own brand: your logo, colours and address instead of someone else's.
All termsFCR (first contact resolution)
FCR is the share of issues solved at the first contact without the customer coming back.
All termsAHT (average handle time)
AHT is the average time an agent spends on one request from start of work to closing.
All termsCustomer self-service
Self-service means customers solve issues on their own with articles, hints and a chatbot without contacting an agent.
All terms