15 Customer Service Buzzwords & When to Use (or Avoid) Them

流行语，lang语，术语；无论您想称呼它，品牌创建自己的词汇并使用特殊单词或短语来描述其行业独有的事物都是很常见的。

Customer service is no exception, as there plenty of buzzwords that support and success personnel use with each other as well as with customers. These words typically help employees explain concepts faster or more efficiently, usually by giving them nicknames or casual descriptions.

Most of the time, customer service buzzwords help team members communicate more effectively, speeding up response times and reducing confusion and miscommunication. When overused, this vernacular spills into customer conversations, which can quickly confuse people who aren't familiar with the terminology. Or worse, you might be overusing this language so much that customers not only know what these words mean, but they're tired of hearing them over, and over again.

In this post, we'll help you find the right balance when using customer service buzzwords by gathering up a list of the most trendy ones and explaining when you should use or avoid them.

1. Case Escalation

A case escalation occurs when a frontline service rep either can't solve a problem on their own or if a customer asks to speak to a manager. In this situation, the rep will hand the case off to a colleague or to someone of higher authority who can assist the customer.

When to Use It:

You should only describe a service case as an escalation when speaking to your support colleagues. Telling the customer that, "you're going to escalate their case," tells them that they either have a serious problem or that the rep thinks they're getting agitated or frustrated. For a smoother customer experience, it's better to treat escalations like routine transfers, so the customer doesn't feel like their problems are escalating as well.

Alternatives: Case Transfer, Case Reassignment

2. Customer-Centric

Being以顾客为中心这意味着您的企业将客户的需求放在其自身方便之外。以客户为中心的公司没有偷工减料以节省额外的钱，而是额外的英里，尽一切努力使他们的一切感到高兴customer base。

When to Use It:

Almost every business claims to be customer-centric. So, be mindful that when you proudly use this term to describe your business, your support team needs to actually back up the hype. If you've truly built a business that prioritizes customers, then you should have no problem meeting the high expectations that this buzzword creates.

Alternatives:Customer-Driven, Customer-First, Customer-Focused

3. Active Listening

Active listening意味着，当一个人说话时，您正在明确努力表明您正在听。这意味着当您对客户做出回应时，要意识到您的肢体语言和词汇量。您可以证明您了解他们的问题的越多，他们就越有可能信任您的建议。

When to Use It:

客户服务经理在教书或培训员工时应使用此期限。虽然您不想告诉客户您正在积极倾听他们的声音，但管理层应指示代表练习此技术以提供更好的支持。

替代方案：双向交流，有意识的倾听

4. Multi-Channel Customer Service

Multi-channel customer service is exactly what it sounds like. When you offer support across two or more communication channels (phone, email, live chat, etc.), you have a multi-channel customer service system.

When to Use It:

Multi-channel customer service is often confused withomnichannel customer service。The difference between the two is that multi-channel customer service simply means that you offer support across two or more channels. With omnichannel customer service, you not only offer support across multiple platforms, but these channels are integrated so customers can transition between them seamlessly.

Alternatives: Multi-Channel Support, Cross-Channel Customer Service

5. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

According toOxford Languages, AI can be defined as any "computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence." While some of us may have an image of humanoid droids in our minds, the reality is that AI describes a wide range of technology. Some are simple workflows that save employees extra time, others are complex algorithms that power core products and services.

When to Use It:

When talking about AI, it's easy to fall into the trap of labeling all new technology as artificial intelligence. We need to be careful, though, because in customer service not everyone is as excited about new technology as your support team is. Some customers are more dubious and will put up a "red flag" as soon as they hear the words "artificial intelligence." For these people, it's better to be more specific about the technology you're using and call the tool by its proper name, if possible.

Alternatives: *Name of Product/Technology*, Smart Technology, Automation

6. Quality Control

Quality control is the section of your business that's responsible for delivering products that meet your customers' expectations. This department makes sure there aren't any flaws in product development and that feedback is gathered shortly after a product is released or when a new order is shipped. If there are any issues, quality control reports back to product development so changes can be made immediately.

When to Use It:

Quality assurance is a better term to use than quality control because assurance shows the customer that you're confident in your ability to meet their expectations. Quality control sounds reactive — like you're trying to control a part of your business that can sometimes go awry. But, quality assurance tells the customer that while problems may pop up, you're going to deliver a high-quality product regardless.

Alternatives: Quality Assurance

7.客户生命周期

The customer lifecycle describes every interaction a person has with your business from start to finish. This includes the moment where they discover your brand and extends beyond their point of purchase. Mapping this journey out gives businesses an idea of what customers go through when they buy something from that company.

When to Use It:

Since customer interactions are rarely cyclical, "customer journey" is becoming a better term to describe a brand's long-term relationship with a customer. While some people may buy from your brand again, their experience with your business is going to be different the second, third, and fourth time they shop with you. Referring to their combined experiences as a journey highlights how these relationships change over time and how the buying process can become smoother for customers as they continue to buy from your business.

Alternatives: Customer Journey, Customer Lifetime

8. Live Chat

Live chatis a text-based communication medium similar to instant messaging. Customers type out their questions, as they would for email support, but unlike email, they're answered within minutes or seconds. The image below shows what this might look like.

When to Use It:

While most of us are familiar with this tool, many get confused when the term "live chat" is used. That's because live chat is a fairly technical term, so if you don't work in sales or customer service, you might not have heard someone use its proper name before. For most, we'll just call live chat, "chat," or "messaging" to describe this communication channel.

Alternatives: Chat, Messenger, Customer-Initiated Conversations

9. Chatbot

Chatbotsare forms of artificial intelligence that can respond to customer inquiries via live chat. When a customer submits a question, the chatbot identifies the correct pre-written response and automatically forwards it to the customer. This helps customers get a speedy solution to their problems without the need of a human support agent.

When to Use It:

在使用“聊天机器人”一词之前，重要的是要了解聊天机器人和其他形式的虚拟助手之间的区别。例如，尽管聊天机器人仅限于严格实时聊天，但交互式虚拟助手（IVA）可以覆盖增强现实元素以进一步支持客户。如果您有此类高级软件，那么如果您告诉客户这只是一个简单的聊天机器人，bob电竞官方下载则将其卖出。

Alternatives: Bots, Automated Assistant, *Personalized Name (ex. HubBot)*

10.案例队列

A case queue can either refer to the number of cases that an individual rep is managing, or it can refer to the total number of support cases that a service team is working on.

When to Use It:

Most customers won't understand what you're talking about if you bring up your case queue. That's because most people don't see how your business operates internally and what goes into running your customer service team. They may just think calls are taken one by one until a solution is provided, then reps go back to sitting by the phone waiting diligently for it to ring.

Alternatives: Caseload, Workload, The/My Queue

11.积极主动的客户服务

积极的客户服务是您在向您的团队提出问题或问题之前所做的任何事情。这可能很简单，就像发送电子邮件向他们提醒产品更新或打电话以检查您是否注意到他们已经有一段时间没有与您的品牌订婚。这种方法背后的想法是在客户知道自己在那里之前，要删除客户的障碍。

When to Use It:

Proactive customer service is a buzzword that you should be using quite frequently. It helps you prioritize customer success and keeps your team constantly looking for opportunities to add more value to the customer experience.

替代方案：客户成功，积极支持

12. Social Listening

Social listening is a trendy buzzword that describessocial media customer service。More specifically, it refers to what your brand does to monitor social media mentions and follower engagement across different accounts and platforms. The faster and more reliable your responses are, the more you can leverage social media as a powerful support channel.

When to Use It:

自社会倾听是一种相对较新的术语,the average person likely won't know what you're talking about if you use it in conversation. Unless you're speaking with someone with a marketing or customer service background, then they may have an idea of what social listening is and how brands use it to support customers. However, if you don't interact with someone with this level of expertise, then you might want to use a more direct phrase, like one of the alternatives below.

Alternatives: Social Monitoring, Social Media Customer Management

13.案例配额

Your case quota is the number of支持门票that you're expected to field or solve within a given day. While this is typically one of many metrics that customer service personnel are measured by, it's usually one of the most important ones that represent a rep's performance.

When to Use It:

This is a phrase that you really don't want to use with customers or with other employees. You shouldn't use it with customers because it can make them feel like a means to an end. They might think that you're trying to resolve their case as fast as you can, so you'll complete your workload with extra time to spare.

You also don't want to use this phrase with your coworkers because it creates a culture that revolves around number-based goals instead ofcustomer success。当每个人都专注于工作的定量方面时，很容易忽略高质量客户服务的重要性。

Alternatives: Goal, Benchmark

14. Gamified or Gamification

Gamification takes a menial or dull task and adds gaming elements to it to make it more exciting. An excellent example of this is the game,危险, which takes simple question-and-answer trivia and turns it into a competitive game show where contestants are rewarded for their intelligence. Without the points, final scores, and "Daily Doubles,"危险只不过是一个非常敬业的研究小组。

When to Use It:

Since gamification has proved to be effective, it's becoming a very popular trend in many different industries. With that in mind, you'll want to make sure that you don't overuse the term and risk tiring customers out to it.

Alternatives: Updated, Revolutionized, Redesigned

15. Working As Designed (WAD)

WAD是一个代表“按设计工作”的首字母缩写词。这是一个短语，在谈论未破坏产品时支持代表使用的短语。这可能意味着客户误以为是故障的新功能，或者不再存在报告的问题。无论是什么，该产品现在正常运行，并且正在按设计工作。

When to Use It:

这是一个短语，只能由您的客户服务团队内部使用。如果您对客户说这句话，他们可能会认为您正在反对他们的意见，或者您不相信首先存在问题。始终同情客户的位置也很重要，即使他们确信工作产品的行为不正常。

Alternatives: Working as Expected, Working as Intended, Behaving as Expected

有关更多时尚的流行语，请查看这些customer service phrases。