The Customer Service Rep’s Guide to Acronyms

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As hard as it may be to believe, the online acronym “LOL”  – laughing out loud, has been around for 25 years. Initially meaning “lots of love” used in letter-writing.

Acronyms are everywhere, and for good purposes: They speed up conversations by eliminating the need to repeat multi-word phrases everyone knows already and they’ve been around for thousands of years.

The word “TaNaKh,” the Hebrew name for the collection of texts in the Jewish canon and source of the Christian Old Testament, is an acronym formed from the first Hebrew letters of the words given to the sections of the canon: Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim – hence TaNaKh

Tanakh

It’s important for professionals in any niche to be familiar with or at least, have a working knowledge of acronyms commonly used within their industry. (You might find yourself in the midst of peers who want to impress you with fancy terms and acronyms). 
Check out this infographic and decode what the question below means –

Drive NPS, CSAT, and FCR by EOD?

I advise…

While acronyms can be useful when communicating with colleagues who know what they mean, take special care not to use acronyms when you’re communicating with customers. Your conversations with a customer should be focused on helping and not confusing them.

Acronyms are as likely to confuse or irritate as they are to help, just assume they don’t know what any acronym means. Make use of simple words and phrases anyone can understand.

Kelechi Okeke
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