The Customer Support Dictionary — Volume 3

Sep 30, 2022

The first step to solving your customer support problems is understanding the terms that make-up this whole department and what they all mean. The more you understand what each metric means – the better you can triage!



Let’s break it down by customer satisfaction and cost definitions:

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION


Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

A score measured through customer feedback gathered via one or more variations of the question: “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the goods/service you received?”

Net Promoter Score (NPS) 

NPS is measured with a single-question survey and reported with a number from 0-100. Customers are categorized as promoters (score of 9 or 10), passive (score of 8 or 9), and detractors (score of 0-6).

Customer Frustration Score 

Customer Frustration Score shows the emotional state of the user and is measured through sentiment analysis. Modern sentiment analysis technology makes it possible not just to search for keywords, but also to understand the meaning of written text. To learn more about how Stylo measures Frustration and Delight, read our blog post: "Emotions Are Data, Too: Measuring Customer Frustration and Delight"

Customer Effort Score (CES)

‍The ratio of the sum of all individual customer responses by the number of customers who provided a response. This metric shows how much effort a customer needs to put into getting their problem solved.

COSTS AND REVENUE


Average Cost per Ticket

The total cost of all interactions divided by the total number of interactions. To learn more about this metric and what can lead to its increase, read our blog post: "7 Things Increasing Your Cost to Serve"

Support Costs vs. Annual Recurring Revenue, per Customer

The total cost of providing customer support to a particular customer in comparison with revenue coming from this customer.

Cost per ticket vs. ARR is essential for B2B organizations. Knowing the ARR for a particular customer and comparing it to the support costs allows you to prioritize your team’s work better.

Customer Churn Rate

The percentage of customers that stopped using your company's product or service during a specific time frame. 

Churn rate is calculated by dividing the number of customers you lost during the time frame by the number of customers you had at the beginning of that time frame.

Customer Retention

‍Customer retention’s a percentage-based metric measuring how many customers are retained by the end of a given time frame. 

Customer retention = ((Customers at the End of Period — Customers Acquired During Period) / Customers at Start of Period) x 100

The first step to solving your customer support problems is understanding the terms that make-up this whole department and what they all mean. The more you understand what each metric means – the better you can triage!



Let’s break it down by customer satisfaction and cost definitions:

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION


Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

A score measured through customer feedback gathered via one or more variations of the question: “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the goods/service you received?”

Net Promoter Score (NPS) 

NPS is measured with a single-question survey and reported with a number from 0-100. Customers are categorized as promoters (score of 9 or 10), passive (score of 8 or 9), and detractors (score of 0-6).

Customer Frustration Score 

Customer Frustration Score shows the emotional state of the user and is measured through sentiment analysis. Modern sentiment analysis technology makes it possible not just to search for keywords, but also to understand the meaning of written text. To learn more about how Stylo measures Frustration and Delight, read our blog post: "Emotions Are Data, Too: Measuring Customer Frustration and Delight"

Customer Effort Score (CES)

‍The ratio of the sum of all individual customer responses by the number of customers who provided a response. This metric shows how much effort a customer needs to put into getting their problem solved.

COSTS AND REVENUE


Average Cost per Ticket

The total cost of all interactions divided by the total number of interactions. To learn more about this metric and what can lead to its increase, read our blog post: "7 Things Increasing Your Cost to Serve"

Support Costs vs. Annual Recurring Revenue, per Customer

The total cost of providing customer support to a particular customer in comparison with revenue coming from this customer.

Cost per ticket vs. ARR is essential for B2B organizations. Knowing the ARR for a particular customer and comparing it to the support costs allows you to prioritize your team’s work better.

Customer Churn Rate

The percentage of customers that stopped using your company's product or service during a specific time frame. 

Churn rate is calculated by dividing the number of customers you lost during the time frame by the number of customers you had at the beginning of that time frame.

Customer Retention

‍Customer retention’s a percentage-based metric measuring how many customers are retained by the end of a given time frame. 

Customer retention = ((Customers at the End of Period — Customers Acquired During Period) / Customers at Start of Period) x 100

The first step to solving your customer support problems is understanding the terms that make-up this whole department and what they all mean. The more you understand what each metric means – the better you can triage!



Let’s break it down by customer satisfaction and cost definitions:

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION


Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

A score measured through customer feedback gathered via one or more variations of the question: “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the goods/service you received?”

Net Promoter Score (NPS) 

NPS is measured with a single-question survey and reported with a number from 0-100. Customers are categorized as promoters (score of 9 or 10), passive (score of 8 or 9), and detractors (score of 0-6).

Customer Frustration Score 

Customer Frustration Score shows the emotional state of the user and is measured through sentiment analysis. Modern sentiment analysis technology makes it possible not just to search for keywords, but also to understand the meaning of written text. To learn more about how Stylo measures Frustration and Delight, read our blog post: "Emotions Are Data, Too: Measuring Customer Frustration and Delight"

Customer Effort Score (CES)

‍The ratio of the sum of all individual customer responses by the number of customers who provided a response. This metric shows how much effort a customer needs to put into getting their problem solved.

COSTS AND REVENUE


Average Cost per Ticket

The total cost of all interactions divided by the total number of interactions. To learn more about this metric and what can lead to its increase, read our blog post: "7 Things Increasing Your Cost to Serve"

Support Costs vs. Annual Recurring Revenue, per Customer

The total cost of providing customer support to a particular customer in comparison with revenue coming from this customer.

Cost per ticket vs. ARR is essential for B2B organizations. Knowing the ARR for a particular customer and comparing it to the support costs allows you to prioritize your team’s work better.

Customer Churn Rate

The percentage of customers that stopped using your company's product or service during a specific time frame. 

Churn rate is calculated by dividing the number of customers you lost during the time frame by the number of customers you had at the beginning of that time frame.

Customer Retention

‍Customer retention’s a percentage-based metric measuring how many customers are retained by the end of a given time frame. 

Customer retention = ((Customers at the End of Period — Customers Acquired During Period) / Customers at Start of Period) x 100