Your Complete Guide to
Call Centre Terminology
Plain-English definitions for 50+ call centre, contact centre, and sales terms. Whether you're new to call operations or training your team, this glossary covers everything.
Free resource · Updated 2025 · No sign-up required
Browse All Call Centre Terms
Organised by category for quick reference. Use the sections below to find the terms most relevant to your role.
Call Metrics
AHT (Average Handle Time)
The average total time a rep spends on a single customer interaction, including talk time, hold time, and after-call work. A key efficiency metric — lower is generally better, but not at the expense of quality.
FCR (First Call Resolution)
The percentage of customer issues resolved on the first call without a follow-up. High FCR (70%+) indicates effective agents and reduces operational cost. It is one of the strongest predictors of customer satisfaction.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)
A post-call survey metric measuring how satisfied customers are with their interaction, typically on a 1–5 or 1–10 scale. CSAT scores above 80% are generally considered good.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
A loyalty metric asking customers how likely they are to recommend your business (0–10). Promoters (9–10) minus Detractors (0–6) equals your NPS. Scores above 50 are considered excellent.
Call Abandonment Rate
The percentage of inbound callers who hang up before reaching an agent. Industry benchmark is below 5%. High abandonment often signals understaffing or long queue times.
ASA (Average Speed of Answer)
The average time callers wait in queue before being connected to a live agent. Best-practice target is under 20 seconds. LimeCall's callback technology eliminates queue wait entirely.
Sales Terms
Speed-to-Lead
The elapsed time between a prospect showing purchase intent and your sales rep making first contact. MIT research shows responding within 1 minute increases conversions by 391% versus responding at 5 minutes.
Contact Rate
The percentage of leads you successfully reach via phone. Low contact rates (under 30%) usually indicate a slow response time problem. LimeCall's 28-second average callback produces contact rates above 70%.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of leads that become customers. In sales calls, this is typically measured as calls-to-close. Average B2B phone conversion rates range from 1–5%, while warm callback leads convert at 8–15%.
Pipeline
The total value of all active sales opportunities in progress, grouped by stage. A healthy pipeline has 3–5x the value of your quarterly target to account for deals that fall through.
Lead Scoring
A system for ranking leads based on their likelihood to convert, using demographic data, firmographic data, and behavioural signals. High-scoring leads are prioritised for immediate callback.
Technology
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
An automated phone system that greets callers and routes them to the right department using keypad inputs or voice commands. Well-designed IVR reduces agent workload and improves customer experience.
CTI (Computer Telephony Integration)
Technology that links phone systems to computer applications like CRMs. When a call comes in, CTI can automatically pull up the customer's record, log call details, and enable click-to-dial from within the CRM.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Software used to manage customer interactions, store contact data, track deal progress, and automate follow-ups. Common CRMs include HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho.
ACD (Automatic Call Distributor)
A phone system that automatically routes incoming calls to the most appropriate available agent based on rules like skills, availability, or round-robin. LimeCall includes ACD functionality natively.
DNI (Dynamic Number Insertion)
A call tracking technique that displays different phone numbers to different website visitors based on their source. This lets you attribute calls back to specific campaigns, keywords, or referral sources.
Predictive Dialer
An outbound calling system that automatically dials multiple numbers ahead of an agent becoming available, maximising talk time by eliminating manual dialling and reducing idle time between calls.
Call Types
Inbound Call
A call initiated by the customer to your business. Inbound calls typically have higher purchase intent because the customer chose to reach out — they should be answered quickly for maximum conversion.
Outbound Call
A call initiated by your team to a prospect or customer. Outbound calls include cold calls, warm follow-ups, renewal reminders, and proactive customer success outreach.
Warm Transfer
A call transfer where the first agent briefs the receiving agent about the customer before connecting them. This avoids the frustrating experience of customers having to repeat their issue from scratch.
Cold Call
An outbound call to a prospect who has not previously expressed interest in your product. Cold call average connect rates are typically 1–5%. Warm callbacks triggered by intent signals are typically 10–15x more effective.
Callback
A call initiated by your business in response to a customer request or trigger event. Callback software like LimeCall automates this — triggering an outbound call to both the rep and the customer within 28 seconds of intent.
Top Call Centre Term Questions
What is average handle time (AHT)?
What is first call resolution (FCR)?
What is a good call abandonment rate?
What does IVR stand for?
What is CTI in a call centre?
Now You Know the Terms.
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