E

ECC: (Every Connecti on Counts) The basic premise that there are more connecti ons to the
customer-employee relati onship than just the customer and the employee. The connecti on
between each of the elements in the eC² Model (employee, service principles, leadership,
processes, communicati on, learning and development and customer) determines the health
of an organizati on's service culture.

Empathy: The ability to understand another person’s feelings—arguably the most

important skill of any customer support agent .

E-business: A term that is most frequently applied to the business process that results
when you rely on digital technology and the Internet as the primary communicati on and
interacti on media.

End of life policy (EOL) Less morbid than it sounds, this is a term used when a product is at
the end of its useful life. When that happens (and a vendor stops selling it), customer
service must decide when to stop supporti ng it.

E-Commerce: Performing business transacti ons on the Internet, which may include the use
of credit cards, "shopping carts," forms and secure servers. E-commerce deals with using
the Internet, digital communicati ons and IT applicati ons to enable the buying or selling
process. Some experts defi ne e-commerce as all steps that occur in any business cycle;
others as consumer and business purchases over the Internet. Yet another defi niti on
includes IT-support transacti ons, such as the sale of computer code by programmers, that
occur online.

Empowerment: A conditi on whereby employees have the authority to make decisions and
take acti on in their work areas without prior approval. For example, a customer service
representati ve can send out a replacement product if a customer calls with a problem.

Enterprise: An organizati on that exists to perform a specifi c mission and achieve associated
goals and objecti ves-an enti re company or organizati on.

Enterprise Applicati on Integrati on:  A generic term for soft ware that integrates legacy and
disparate systems.

Enterprise Resource Planning:  Back-end processes and systems; i.e., inventory management
and billing. Tying your back-end systems with your front-end or customer facing systems is
what allows customers to be able to check the status of their order, and check stock
availability on an item. Without front/back integrati on, customers couldn't do this.
Error Rate: Either the number of defecti ve transacti ons or the number of defecti ve steps in
a transacti on.
E-tailer: A direct-to-consumer business practi cing e-commerce. Typically, an e-tailer is a
business that, if it weren't for the Internet, would have transacti ons with consumers in
bricks-and-mortar retail stores.

Explicit Bargain: The "deal" that an enterprise makes with an individual in order to secure
the individual's ti me, att enti on, or feedback. See also implicit bargain.

Escalati on management : Escalati on management involves identi fying ti ckets that call for
extra att enti on and routi ng them to the appropriate agents to provide the support.
Eff ecti ve escalati on management ensures high-priority and diffi cult ti ckets can be handled
and resolved quickly and capably, leading to more effi cient operati ons and happier
customers.

F
Feedback loop: A feedback loop is a mechanism enabling customers to communicate with a
company about their individual service experiences and how they think the organizati on can
improve. A closed feedback loop allows the company to collect and learn from the customer
input, take necessary acti on, and communicate this follow-up directly to the customer.

First Response Time : First response ti me is the ti me elapsed between submission of a query
by a customer and the fi rst ti me a customer support agent replies to that query. It generally
depends on the support mediums your organizati on has. Generally, large organizati ons put
a detailed guide about their response ti me in their service level terms.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questi ons-fi les on the Internet that store the answers to common
questi ons.

Fax Back: A system that allows callers to request documents using their touchtone
telephones.

Feed: A Web feed or RSS feed is a format that provides users with frequently updated
content. Content distributors syndicate a Web feed, enabling users to subscribe to a site’s
latest content. By using a news reader   to subscribe to a feed, you can read the latest posts
or watch the newest videos on your computer or portable device on your own schedule.

Firewall: A security system, usually for networked computers, that controls access in and
out of the network.

Fulfi llment: The physical handling of an order, informati on request, premium or refund.

Free chat client: The free chat client is a soft ware located in user’s computer. This soft ware
is used for handling instant messaging and it is possible to combine all user’s IM accounts
there. It is completely free for every user. Everyone has a buddy list, which is a list of all
contacts. In a chat client, it is possible to sort contacts into diff erent groups, to change a
status or to send images or links to other users.

Frequently given responses: Frequently Given Responses (FGR), so called Canned messages
in Live Agent, are the responses that you most oft en give to customers with regards to a
query.

The best possible way of dealing with a Frequently Given Response is that you ‘slice’ it into
pieces. In simpler terms, contemplate of all the possible soluti ons that can be thought of
with respect to a certain questi on. Then, one by one, start answering your short questi on.
Combine all the responses from your short questi on, and there it is. You have successfully
composed your Frequently Given Response. This way you won’t have to compose a new
answer every ti me.

First reply ti me: First reply ti me is a calculati on of the number of minutes that pass
between ti cket creati on and the fi rst publicly visible agent comment on that ti cket.
Companies know that customers do not like to wait, leading to a clear correlati on between
a low fi rst reply ti me and high customer sati sfacti on.

Feature: A specific characteristic of your product or service that satisfies a certain

requirement or need for a customer.

Feedback: A customer’s opinion of their experience with your company and how you
could improve.

Feedback Loop: A process that entails gathering customer feedback, take necessary
action, and communicate the results back to the customer(s).

First Contact Resoluti on Rate (FCRR): A customer-service metric  that measures how
often your support team resolves cases in a single response.

Frequently Asked Questi on (FAQ): A publicly available collection of the most

common questions about your product/service/company, and the answers to them.

G
Geotagging:  Geotagging is the process of adding locati on-based metadata to media such as
photos, video or online maps. Geotagging can help users fi nd a wide variety of businesses
and services based on locati on.

Globalizati on:  The trend in which businesses cross internati onal boundaries.

Golden questi on:  A strategic questi on that reveals several important pieces of
informati on about a customer. For example, "Would you buy a birthday present for your
pet?"
Gamifi cati on: It is the program used by companies to moti vate their customer support
team. This makes support team job more competi ti ve and fun. In this process, companies
create a reward system in their support soft ware. Here customer support agents have
rewarded points for a quicker response or receiving a rati ng from the customer for
providing good support. There are also negati ve points for poor performance.

Great customer service: A great customer service is an excellent service given to

customers. It is more than just about solving problems and selling products and services. It
is about exceeding customer’s expectati ons, requirements and about the maximum that
company is able to do. Resolving every problem or query as quickly as possible and giving a
professional and valuable answer is the key.

GUIDELINES: Document outlining the contracted work; used to provide the mystery
shopper with informati on, expectati ons and requirements necessary to complete the
mystery shop.

H
Helpdesk: An online or physical place where a customer can access help for a specifi c
problem. A helpdesk  can be as simple as one person with a phone number, or a more
complex team of people using soft ware to analyze, resolve, and track the issues.

Handling Time:  The ti me an agent spends in talk ti me and aft er-call work, handling a
transacti on. A happiness report is a report generated by the company, which shows how
happy the customers are with their products and services.

The happiness report is infl uenced not only in monetary terms but also the quality of the
products and the aft er-sale service that is provided. Oft en, aft er purchasing a product, you
seem to noti ce a fault in the product and you consult the customer service for help. Your
experience with their support system also infl uences how good the happiness report of a
company is.

The bett er the happiness report of a company, the more the company is believed to take
care of its customers.

Hold ti me: Hold time is the time that a customer must wait for a call to get connected
to an agent. By tracking and reviewing the hold ti me, the company can manage their
support staff . For example, if the holding ti me is too long, they should train their staff in a
way that the hold ti me decreases. Thus, customers will be more sati sfi ed with their service.

Helpchat: Help chat is a functi on that gives customers and visitors the possibility to reach
customer representati ves. They can reach them anyti me, when they visit a company’s
website. Customer representati ves are able to help and resolve various questi ons and
queries through a help chat. Customers get an assistance that can raise their sati sfacti on
and persuade them to purchase. Nowadays, help chat is essenti al for every business.