Glossary - Customer Support

The A to Z of Customer Support

A comprehensive list of essential customer support and service terms with their definitions.

List of words

A

Agent Collaboration

Agent collaboration is when support agents work together to resolve complex customer queries. By sharing knowledge through tools like notes, shared drafts, and templates, teams can deliver faster, more consistent support while avoiding inbox clutter and miscommunication.

Agent

A customer support agent is a company representative who helps customers by answering questions, resolving issues, and providing guidance across channels like email, chat, or phone. They play a key role in ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining strong customer relationships.

Business Hours

Business hours are the set times during which your support team is available to assist customers. Clearly communicating these hours helps set expectations around response times and ensures a smoother support experience.

Bug

A bug is a technical flaw in a product or service that causes it to behave incorrectly or unexpectedly. It disrupts normal functionality and often needs support teams to diagnose and resolve it quickly to maintain a smooth customer experience.

Closed Query

A closed query is a customer issue that has been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. Support teams should aim to close queries within SLA timelines and follow up with satisfaction surveys to gather feedback and improve service quality.

Canned Response

A canned response is a pre-written reply used by support teams to answer common customer queries quickly and consistently. They save time and boost efficiency but should be personalized with placeholders to avoid sounding robotic or impersonal.

Downtime

Downtime is when a product or service is unavailable due to maintenance or unexpected issues. It can be planned or unplanned. Clear, timely communication during downtime helps manage customer expectations and reduce frustration.

Draft Messages

Draft messages are replies that agents are still composing, often for complex queries. Tools like Hiver’s shared drafts let agents collaborate on responses, ensuring better accuracy and faster resolution.

Enterprise Customer Support Software

Enterprise customer support software is built for large teams handling high query volumes. It offers advanced features like automation, analytics, SLA tracking, and collaboration tools to boost efficiency, streamline workflows, and deliver consistent customer service at scale.

Email Notification

Email notifications keep both customers and agents informed about query updates—like acknowledgments, replies, resolutions, or SLA breaches. These emails can be customized using placeholders to include details like customer names or expected response times.

First Contact Resolution

First Contact Resolution is when a customer’s issue is fully resolved in the first interaction. It boosts satisfaction by reducing effort. FCR can be improved through well-trained agents, proactive support, and smart helpdesk tools.

Feedback Widget

A feedback widget is a tool used to collect customer opinions via surveys on emails, websites, or product pages. It helps you understand customer sentiment, uncover improvement areas, and show customers that their input matters.

Gamification

Gamification uses game-like elements—like points, badges, or leaderboards—to motivate customer service agents. It boosts engagement, makes training fun, and encourages agents to consistently deliver high-quality support.

Helpdesk

A helpdesk is software that helps customer service teams manage and resolve customer issues efficiently. It supports task assignment, collaboration, automation, and performance tracking—streamlining workflows and improving the quality of support across businesses of all sizes.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response or IVR offer a series of voice or keypad prompts to customers so their queries can be directed to the concerned departments. (“Dial 1 for Support,” “Say yes for payment assistance,” etc.). IVR helps lower call wait and hold time.

In-app Support

In-app support lets customers get help directly within your app—no need to switch channels. It often includes a help button that links to a knowledge base or live support. This reduces effort for users and boosts customer satisfaction.

K

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

A KPI is a measurable value that shows how well your team or company is meeting specific goals. In customer service, KPIs track metrics like resolution time, wait time, customer satisfaction, churn, and retention to evaluate support performance.

Knowledge Base

A knowledge base is an online library of help articles, guides, FAQs, and tutorials that lets customers find answers on their own. It saves agents time, reduces repetitive queries, and improves customer experience through easy, self-serve support.

Lifetime Value (LTV)

Lifetime value is the total revenue a customer is expected to generate during their relationship with your business. It helps you assess customer profitability and shape strategies around retention, upselling, and acquisition.

Multi-channel Support

Multi-channel support lets customers reach you through multiple channels – email, chat, phone, social media, and more. Integrating these channels into one helpdesk ensures smooth management, improves efficiency, and delivers a consistent support experience across platforms.

Merge Queries

Merging queries means combining multiple customer tickets about the same issue into one thread. It helps reduce duplicate work, improves efficiency, and keeps support more organized. Always inform customers when their queries are merged and explain why.

Net Promoter Score

NPS measures how likely customers are to recommend your brand to others. Based on a 0–10 scale, it classifies respondents as Promoters, Passives, or Detractors. It’s a key indicator of customer loyalty and overall satisfaction.

Onboarding

Onboarding is the process of guiding new customers through your product or service to ensure they understand how to use it effectively. A good onboarding experience builds trust, reduces churn, and sets the stage for long-term success.

Omnichannel

Omnichannel support lets customers reach you via email, chat, phone, or social—and unifies all those interactions in one helpdesk. It enables better collaboration, easy tracking, and a seamless, consistent experience across all channels.

Proactive Support

Proactive support means anticipating and addressing customer issues before they arise. It builds trust, reduces incoming queries, and shows customers you care—often through self-service tools, guides, or timely updates.

Pending Query

A pending query is a customer issue that can’t be resolved immediately, often due to missing info or the need for expert input. Marking it as ‘Pending’ usually pauses the SLA timer until further action can be taken.

Query

A query is a customer’s request for help or information, usually submitted via email, chat, phone, or support ticket. Support agents handle queries by understanding the issue and providing timely, accurate solutions to ensure customer satisfaction.

Reopening a Query

A query is reopened when a customer responds to a previously closed ticket. This may happen due to unresolved issues, recurring problems, or new concerns raised on the same thread. Frequent reopenings may indicate gaps in resolution quality or customer preference for specific agents.

Service Personalization

Service personalization is the practice of tailoring support to each customer’s specific needs using automation and empathetic agents. It creates more meaningful experiences, builds loyalty, and turns customers into brand advocates.

Temporary Agent

A temporary agent is a short-term hire brought in during peak periods to help manage high volumes of customer queries. They work on brief contracts and ensure timely support without overwhelming the core team.

Unassigned Query

An unassigned query is a customer request that has entered the support system but hasn’t been allocated to any agent yet. It remains in the queue awaiting assignment for further handling and resolution.

Voice of Customer

Voice of Customer is the feedback—both spoken and unspoken—that customers share about their experience with your brand. It captures their needs, expectations, and opinions, helping you improve products, services, and overall satisfaction.

Workload

Workload refers to the volume and complexity of customer queries and tasks a support team or agent must handle within a set period. It includes all activities involved in assisting and resolving customer issues.

The A to Z of Customer Support

List of words

A

Agent Collaboration

Agent

B

Business Hours

Bug

C

Closed Query

Canned Response

D

Downtime

Draft Messages

E

Enterprise Customer Support Software

Email Notification

F

First Contact Resolution

Feedback Widget

G

Gamification

H

Helpdesk

I

IVR

In-app Support

J

K

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Knowledge Base

L

Lifetime Value (LTV)

M

Multi-channel Support

Merge Queries

N

Net Promoter Score

O

Onboarding

Omnichannel

P

Proactive Support

Pending Query

Q

Query

R

Reopening a Query

S

Service Personalization

T

Temporary Agent

U

Unassigned Query

V

Voice of Customer

W

Workload

X

Y

Z

Compare

Company

Explore Hiver

Resources

Try Hiver

Get Hiver's Chrome extension for Gmail to start your 7-day free trial!

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

The modern AI-powered customer service platform

Switch to desktop

Not ready to install Hiver’s Gmail extension?

Thank you for your interest!

The modern AI-powered customer service platform

Get started for free

Book your slot

Awesome! We've reserved your spot.

Fin Brown

Get in touch with us

The modern AI-powered
customer service platform

The modern AI-powered
customer service platform