Glossary

Two-factor authentication (2FA), also known as two-step verification, is a security measure to verify users logging in on a platform. The process requires the user to provide two separate and distinct forms of identification to verify themselves. The first factor is usually a password and the second one could be a text (e.g. one-time password) that’s sent to your phone number or email or a biometric (fingerprint, face or retina).

Accuracy, in a given data set, is the rate or percentage of correct predictions made by the AI.

Admin on the Verloop.io platform is a user account that carries out tasks that require special permissions.

An Agent is a customer support representative who interacts with customers and helps them resolve their queries.

Agent Assist is an agent’s personal assistant and uses AI to help customer support agents resolve customer queries efficiently in real-time. With the Agent Assist feature, agents improve productivity, reduce average ticket handling time and provide personalised customer support.

Agent handover, or sometimes referred to as agent handoff, is the process by which the voicebot or chatbot hands over the conversation to a human agent. TheAI intelligently routes the conversation to the right department with all context and information.

An AI chatbot, also known as a conversational chatbot, is an intent-based program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to communicate with users in natural language. It is usually applied for automating customer support but can also be used for sales and marketing purposes.

A chatbot can be present on a website, on mobile apps, social media pages or other messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Viber.

An algorithm is a set of rules or instructions for a computer system, software or mathematical problem to solve or perform a task.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an online platform where users can host their software, platform and databases remotely on cloud servers and access data quickly, efficiently and securely.

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a programming code that allows data transmission between two software applications. In simple terms, it’s a mediator that creates a channel to allow two different software to talk to each other and enable users to enhance the experience.

API integration is the process where two software are connected to each other through an API.

An API call is a process that happens when you use the API to send a request to a server. For example, let’s take the scenario where your users are interacting with your website chatbot and submit their email IDs. The moment they hit the enter button to submit the details, an API call happens.

An app notification is a message sent to a user who has downloaded the application on their mobile or desktop. The message is displayed on the screen on the notification bar. The user need not be active on the application to receive the app notification.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the technology that reproduces human intelligence in machines to allow them to perform tasks associated with intelligent beings. These tasks could involve decision making, speech recognition, context understanding, etc.

An attribute is a quantity describing an instance (in our case, customer responses). For example, for the object ‘car’, the attribute could be “colour”.

Auto-engage is the ability of conversational AI to automatically start a conversation with the visitors on completion of some actions such as landing on a page or clicking on a call to action button. It’s usually done with a bubble message to grab visitors’ attention.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is a technology that enables bots/machines to make sense of voice-based words and translate them into a format readable by machines.

Automation is the use of technology to systematically execute monotonous and repetitive tasks with minimal human involvement. This improves efficiency, reliability and reduces errors.

Autoresponder is a program that automatically generates a pre-set response to messages. Autoresponders engage visitors who start conversations with a voicebot or chatbot.

Average handle time (AHT) is a metric that defines the total amount of time an agent spends in conversation with a customer. It begins with the customer’s first message and ends when the conversation is closed. AHT includes everything that happens in between, including the time customer spends on hold/wait and the agent spends on completing tasks during the conversation.

The average hold time is the metric that measures the average time a customer spends on hold. This includes the time customer is waiting to be connected to an agent and also during the conversation.

Average response time (ART) is the time taken by a bot or an agent to respond to a chat between conversations.

Big data refers to the structured and unstructured data sets that are processed by AI.

Blocks are the basic building units of a conversational flow. These blocks serve different purposes such as greeting with a welcome message, asking questions, redirecting to an agent, providing options to select from, etc. to define the direction of conversation.

A bot, short for chatbot or voicebot, is a software program that uses conversations to perform simple and repetitive tasks much faster than a person could. A bot could be simple keyword-based or intelligent AI-powered.

A bot builder tool provides an easy-to-use interface to create a functional conversational workflow using blocks. You don’t need programming or coding knowledge to use this.

Bot deflection is the percentage of chats/voice calls addressed by the bot that would otherwise be handled by support agents.

A bot recipe is a conversational workflow you design to communicate with users and complete tasks.

A bot response is a reply a bot gives after understanding the user’s question and the intent behind it. The bot response can be in voice, text, image, video, or button format.

A broadcast is a mass message sent to a specific group. Broadcast messages are outbound messages sent proactively by a business to inform, notify or alert the users.

Business intelligence (BI) leverages technology to read data and get actionable insights from it. Organisations use these insights to make strategic and tactical business decisions.

A campaign is a planned outreach activity that a business carries out over a period of time in order to achieve something. For example, sharing notifications or alerts after users complete an action.

Canned responses are pre-populated, ready-to-send responses that make it easy for agents to respond to repetitive customer queries quickly and error-free.

A channel is a medium through which brands interact with their audience. Channels could be websites, mobile apps, emails, voice calls, social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, and messaging apps such as Viber and WhatsApp.

A chat log is an archive of transcripts of conversations between users and chatbot/agents.

A chat widget is a little circle or box present usually present on the corner of your website. On clicking it, visitors can instantly get a response from the company and resolve their queries.

A chatbot or a bot is a software program that uses conversations to perform simple and repetitive tasks much faster than a person could. A chatbot could be simple keyword-based or intelligent AI-powered.

The click-to-chat feature by WhatsApp is a link that allows you to start a chat with someone without having their phone number saved in your phone’s address book.

Cloud refers to the technology that enables users to access and store files on online servers.

Cognitive science is the scientific study of the mind and its processes. It focuses on the intelligence and behaviour of the human mind and how it processes information.

Compliance refers to the process of following or conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. When it comes to data, formal standards and practices need to be followed to ensure sensitive data is secured and protected from loss, theft, corruption, and misuse.

A contact centre is the part of customer service that handles inbound and outbound customer communication in large volumes.

Contact Center AI (CCAI) is the use of AI to enhance contact centres by improving interactions and assisting agents.

Contextual chatbots are advanced chatbots that use AI to decode user intent, emotion and behaviour to tailor the relevant responses.

Contextual voicebot is an advanced voice technology that uses AI to decode user intent, emotion and behaviour to tailor relevant responses.

Conversational AI is the use of artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots and voicebots to understand, plan, use past data and respond to queries in conversational, natural languages.

Conversational Support uses Machine Learning and AI technology to analyse customers’ pain points and bottlenecks to understand their queries accurately and respond to give them accurate and quick answers.

Conversational UX (user experience) is the experience users go through while interacting with the bot. Every conversation is a personalised, one-on-one conversation that is a replication of an interaction with a real human being.

Conversion rate is a metric derived to calculate the number of users who have completed a goal. For instance, if your website received 100 users a day and 25 of them have completed a goal (e.g. signing up for your product), the conversion rate is 25%. This is calculated on the basis of the total number of visits to a total number of conversions.

Customer can be an individual or a business who is transactionally involved with a company. Customers are basically the end-users who opt for a product or service based on their needs.

Customer delight is the process of making customers happy by exceeding their expectations. This happens when a business provides a solution for a customer and when they find it more helpful than they asked for, the customer gets delighted.

Customer experience is the series of scenarios the customer has to go through with a company. The scenarios vary from sales to support from which the impression of a business is created on the customer. The company can analyse the touchpoint based on the customer journey that led to the impression.

CRM is a process that companies use to manage their relationship with customers. The CRM is based on a technological approach which is using computer software. CRM is used to manage sales, customer service and workflow automation.

Customer satisfaction is a metric derived to measure the satisfaction level of customers towards a product or service opted by them. There are various parameters used to measure the value such as feedback, surveys and rating scores.

Customer service is the series of interactions involved from a business in catering service to their customers. The interaction can happen before, during the course or after a transaction made by the customer from a company.

Customer service automation is the process of eliminating redundant workflows involved between a customer and a business. The main motive of this approach is to replace human involvement with computer software in catering service for a customer.

Customer support is the series of interactions involved after the customer makes any purchase from a business. The interactions can be while a company assists a customer in troubleshooting any issue, resolving queries, installing the application, and educating them about the product or service.

Customer support automation is the process of automating common business workflows involved in post-purchase scenarios. It helps the business to save time, increase the efficiency of the customer support team by helping customers with complex issues.

The dashboard consists of various visual-based elements that help the user in gaining required information. The user can generate reports, monitor key metrics, and measure KPIs for bots and agents.

Deep Learning is a part of machine learning and artificial intelligence that is used to imitate human behaviour. The data is collected through various interactions involved between a conversational AI and humans.

Deployment is the set of tasks involved in handing over the programmed software application to the end user’s operation.

A digital assistant is an Internet-based software application to assist users. For example, a digital assisting can be a voicebot or a chatbot that is integrated with a website to initiate a conversation with visitors.

Email support is when a user has any query related to using the product or service and they reach out to the company using Email. The business and customer actively engage in conversation through this channel.

Embed is the process of inserting coded scripts on a particular section of the web page or software application.

Encryption is the process to avoid cyber theft or attack by translating readable data in form of a secret code. For instance, the conversation between a human and a voice/chatbot is completely encrypted.

Enterprise-grade is a term used to express the products offered to a company that has all the integrational capabilities to reduce complex processes. These can be the features or specifications to help companies in accessing, controlling, and managing the product.

The entity is a unique attribute that is usually associated with an individual, product, or company. In AI, an entity describes a product or query. It could be time, location, person, number, feature, etc.

Entity analysis is the process of checking information that is related to an entity by using NLP. For example, the analysis can be based on sentimental analysis through which the texts between human and conversational platforms are analysed. The analysis lets us know whether it is a positive or negative conversation.

Entity extraction is the data that is generated from entity analysis. The NLP helps to recognise the nature of the text and segregate them into predefined categories by converting unstructured to structured data.

The export data is the function that is used to transfer a file from one system to another. The file can be a document, image, or video from an online application saved to the user’s computer.

Facebook Business Manager is a unified platform that is developed to manage the Facebook page, Ad account, and users associated with a business.

Facebook Messenger Chatbot is an online AI application that is used to communicate with people. The communication can be about customer service, acquisition, or engagement.

The fallback option is a step that is taken when you do not find the things that you wanted.

Feedback is a process of receiving the results based on the action of a subject. Considering the interaction between conversational platforms and humans as an example, a feedback form is shared with the end-user after having a conversation with a voicebot or chatbot. This method is done to measure the effectiveness of the communication.

Filters are the function enabled in software to find the relevant data. The filters can be based on CSAT scores, triggers, customer queries, and so on.

First Response Time is the time taken to first respond to a customer. It is usually mentioned in seconds, minutes, or hours after the first contact of a customer with a customer service rep. In customer service, lesser FRT is vital when it comes to creating a better support experience.

Flow-based chatbot has a predefined process to engage with humans based on the way it’s programmed. As the businesses are aware of the common workflows, they map the customer journey step by step and train the bot. Based on the user’s query, the chatbot responds to customers respectively.

A framework is a set of rules or steps you need to define the modules, architecture, and technology. Chatbots and voicebots are planned, programmed, and developed before deployment with the help of frameworks.

FAQs is a list of commonly asked questions by the end-user. Based on the scenario and product solution, the FAQs are generated by companies to make it easy for users to find solutions to their queries on their own.

GDPR stands for general data protection regulation. They have been formed with a set of principles and guidelines to avoid the misuse of users’ personal data. It has been exclusively developed for people in European countries. The businesses who are engaging with the EU should clearly define their disclosure on the customer database they generate.

Goal completion rate is the metric derived to calculate the total number of visitors who have completed a goal. It is based on how many users are completing the actions mapped on a software, app, or website. For an instance, if 100 people are interacting with the chatbot and 30 of them have submitted their email, then the goal completion rate for email submission would be 30%

Goal tracker is the process when companies monitor and measure KPIs through the user’s journey. These are the real-time data that is based on the objectives and goals set by businesses.

Handled chats are the total conversations managed by a chatbot or customer service agent.

The helpdesk is a pre-developed platform created by a business to provide the required information for the end-user.

Hosting is the process of storing web files on a server that is done with the help of a computer that is connected to the internet.

Human handover happens when chatbots can’t respond to the user query or a customer service agent who wants to take over the control of the conversation.

Image Recognition is software that has been developed to find the subject for which it had been programmed. For instance, if a user wants to fetch the data which can be text, number, or other objects, the software is used to extract it from an image.

The data that you can upload from an external source towards the given server space is known as Import Data.

In-app chatbots are ones which have been integrated within the mobile app.

An inbound message is a message routed from an end user’s and delivered to a business’. These messages are always started by the user.

Insights are important takeaways on a complicated problem or situation that can help the user gain a well-rounded and in-depth understanding. For example, CSAT, response time, resolution time etc. are metrics that provide insights on customer behaviour as well as support efficiency.

Integration is the process of connecting different software so that they come together and create a unified single system.

Intelligent routing refers to the process of gathering customer queries from different channels and allocating them to an agent who is best suited to attend to them.

With regard to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and chatbots, intent refers to the customer’s intent by analyzing the language they use and then being able to direct the customer to an agent or bot that can handle the query.

An interaction is any communication between a business and a customer. This mostly involves customer queries when they need help regarding a particular topic, issue or process.

Interactive voice response (IVR) refers to a customer support technology in which humans interact with keypad inputs with a telephony system that offers voice prompts.

The interface is the point of human-computer interaction and communication in a device and is the primary way through which a user interacts with an application or a website.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an organization that provides standardization for products and companies with the main aim of enabling improvement, safety, and quality.

ISO/IEC 27001 is the international standard for the management of information security that was introduced by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission.

A keyword refers to a word or a term that a user uses in a search engine. In terms of SEO strategy, keywords are very important and should be the core of any content written for the web. They can also describe the content of a Web page using the keyword meta tag.

A knowledge base is a database is used to store structured/unstructured data that can be used for knowledge sharing. Knowledge bases are used by AI as not just a means to store data but also to train itself and find solutions for further problems using data from previous experience within it.

Language detection is the ability of an AI to determine which natural language is used for a given content.

Lead generation is the process of gaining prospects and increasing their interest in your business through nurturing. The end goal is them converting into a customer. Leads from this process can be classified as Chat Qualified Lead (CQL), Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), Sales Qualified Lead (SQL), Product Qualified Lead (PQL) etc.

Live Agent refers to customer support executives that help customers get real-time assistance. In cases where a chatbot is implemented, customers or visitors can initiate the chat sessions by simply clicking the button or link or invitation on a webpage. Chat can be routed to different Live Agent users based on their skill set and priority.

Live Agent Handoff refers to the process whereby a user who has interacted with the implemented chatbot is now handed over to a human agent. When chatbots are unable to answer queries or provide the needed solution, there is a handover of the customer to a human agent.

Machine learning refers to the process in which algorithms are capable of learning and improving from experience without being specifically programmed. Machine learning adds emphasis to the development of the AI to access data and to learn for themselves from previous data.

Magento is an open-source platform that allows companies to create e-commerce websites. Magento is primarily based on PHP frameworks. Over $155 billion worth of goods have been sold through this platform since 2019.

A marketplace is an online aggregator that enables users to shop from different sources. In a marketplace, the operator does not own any inventory. Their business is to provide a platform to present other people’s inventory and facilitate a transaction.

Message templates refer to pre-determined messages that businesses send out to customers that have opted in. These messages use a specific format, for example, payment reminders, shipping updates, refund updates etc.

Metrics refer to the criteria or parameters that a business uses in order to assess, compare, and track performance. For example in Google Analytics, page views, user sessions, bounce rate etc. are the metrics presented for users to engage with and draw insights out of.

Multiple-Intent recognition refers to AI’s ability to recognise multiple intents from a single utterance. This is driven by a platform’s training phrases. After the execution of each intent, the next intent is triggered in the order in which it was identified.

Multichannel is the use of multiple mediums of communication. When businesses deploy multiple channels (such as websites, WhatsApp, social media, etc.) to engage and interact with users, they are using a multichannel platform.

Multilingual customer support offers support to users in more than one language. By offering customers a language choice when they call your support line, browse your company website or are interacting with your customer support chatbot, you can improve CSAT and retain more customers.

Natural language processing (NLP) refers to an aspect of AI that enables it to understand spoken words and natural human languages in a way akin to how human beings perceive language.

Natural-language understanding (NLU) is part of natural-language processing in artificial intelligence that deals with machine reading comprehension. Here, Artificial Intelligence uses computer software to interpret text and any type of unstructured data.

Net promoter score is a metric that measures how happy a user is with a product or service’s experience. NPS helps companies predict business growth. High NPS indicates a user is happy with the product or service and is likely to recommend it to a friend or a colleague.

Neural networks are a series of algorithms that try to understand the underlying relationship between data points, similar to a human brain.

Omnichannel refers to an approach in customer support that offers a shopping experience, regardless of whether they’re shopping online from a desktop or mobile device, on social media, or in a brick-and-mortar store.

An OTP is a short-lived code sent to a user to log in to a platform or complete a transaction. It is a unique combination of alpha-numerical digits that is valid for a stipulated time window.

Opt-in is when a user gives permission to a business to participate in an event, such as contact them for promotional messages.

Opt-out is when a user withdraws permission to participate in an event.

An outbound message is a message routed from a business and delivered to an end-user. These messages are always initiated by a business.

Outreach feature helps a business streamline their outbound messages and proactively interact with users to send alerts, updates, notifications, invites, etc.

Overall dashboard on the Verloop.io platform gives you an overview of customer support metrics and KPIs for both bots and agents.

This is an aspect of Machine learning that enables the AI to recognize patterns. ML algorithms are able to recognise patterns from pre-existing data sets and rely on past experience in order to determine recurring patterns and data sets.

They are clickable pop-up notifications that appear on a user’s device or browser. Businesses use the aid of pop-up notifications as means of quick communication with regard to promotional messages, offers, etc.

Quick replies or canned responses are pre-defined messages for frequently asked questions. With the help of quick replies, agents can respond quickly to users and improve CSAT.

Real-time monitoring on the Verloop.io platform is a dashboard that allows an admin to track voice and chat conversations in real-time.

These can be periodic or non-periodic data sets that are shared with a user from which the user can gain knowledgeable insights. Raw data in a report is represented in such a way that there are insights derived from them that the user can employ in various actionable tasks.

Reports scheduling is the process of automating report generation on customer support metrics to understand the value a tool, such as a chatbot or voicebot, is delivering to users.

Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) refers to a software technology that allows you to build and deploy a bot to mimic natural conversations and handle high-volume repetitive tasks.

A self-service technology, such as a self-service voicebot and chatbot, is a tool that allows customers to navigate and render services without human intervention.

Semantic analysis is a Natural Language Processing (NLP) technique used by AI to decode human language in order to contextually understand conversational text, tone, and sentence structure.

Sentiment analysis is a Natural Language Processing (NLP) technique used by conversational AI to identify and analyse positive, negative or neutral sentiment behind customer’s input.

A session is a conversation initiated either by the business or the user occurring within a specified time frame.

Shopify is a cloud-based e-commerce store builder that lets anyone set up their online store and sell products for a monthly subscription fee.

Slack is a communication app built for teams to efficiently collaborate across multiple devices and platforms in an organisation.

SOC stands for system and organisational controls. It’s a form of data compliance businesses need to follow to manage customer data. The criteria for SOC 2 is based on 5 principles – security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.

Structured data is quantifiable and precisely organised data that is easy to comprehend and analyse with data analytics.

Tags are labels that agents can add to chat conversations. It helps them categorise and sort them later.

Training data is a set of information that is used to teach AI and ML algorithms to operate in the desired way. It acts as the fundamental knowledge base for an algorithm to augment and contextualise conversations.

A transcript is a detailed report of the conversation between a user and a conversational platform.

Triggers are customisable stimuli that prompt your chatbot to respond to users accordingly. You can set your chatbot to respond in a certain way whenever a trigger is activated.

Unstructured data is information that is not organised in a specific and identifiable way. It is harder to process and consume.

A use case is a particular situation in which a product or service can potentially be implemented to accomplish a business goal.

User behaviour is the way a user interacts with your business on your website or conversational channel. It includes how they access, browse, and engage with your business online.

User insights are the actionable inferences you can draw from customer data that can be used to personalise your support resolutions to specific users.

An utterance is the smallest unit of speech that begins and ends with a pause. You can define a user intent with several utterances ensuring your AI understands exactly what the user means through the input.

An utterance is the smallest unit of input that helps define user intents and entities. Utterances are used to train AI to respond accurately.

Veca is Verloop.io’s AI virtual assistant designed especially for eCommerce businesses that can understand multi-user intents and respond to complex support requests with ease.

A virtual assistant is a software agent that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to provide text or voice-based support to users on an app or a website. It can perform tasks or services based on user input.

A voicebot is an AI-enabled tool that businesses can use to automate various processes like customer support resolutions or user journeys. Customers can converse to a voicebot like they would do with a live agent and receive NLP-enabled voice support in real-time.

A voice log is an archive of transcripts of conversations between users and voicebot/agents.

A webhook is a method for an app to provide real-time dynamic data to other apps as and when an event occurs.

A website chatbot is a 24×7 AI-powered chat program that simulates conversations with visitors and helps them get information about your business and products. It can answer support queries and offer solutions to issues.

WhatsApp Business is a free-to-download app that businesses can use to establish their presence on the app to communicate with their customers securely. They can display website URL, showcase product catalogue, insert company description, update location and define working hours.

The WhatsApp API is an application programming interface that businesses can integrate with their customer communication tools to receive and send unlimited WhatsApp messages to their customers.

WhatsApp lets you run your marketing campaigns on its platform. You can design your campaign message and engage with your users through direct and personalised messaging.

A WhatsApp template is a type of message that businesses send to customers. These messages are used to initiate conversations with users for notifications or alerts. Template messages can be sent to only those customers who have opted in and need to be pre-approved from WhatsApp. Messages can include reminders, order status, issue resolution and payment updates.

A widget is a button present on your website. On clicking it, a chatbot or voicebot opens up that handles conversations and provides real-time customer support to your users.

Zapier is an online automation tool that lets you connect apps and services without building separate integrations. It automates the repetitive tasks between two apps, without the need to code.