142 terms, no jargon
The terms, in plain English.
AI chatbot, chat widget, lead capture, retrieval-augmented generation. Clear definitions of every word that comes up when you're looking at adding chat to your website.
142 terms
A
- A/B TestingA/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of a page, email, or message by showing each to a portion of your audience and measuring which produces better results. It replaces opinion with observed behaviour.
- After-hours answeringAfter-hours answering is covering customer enquiries that arrive outside business hours, evenings, weekends, and holidays, so those customers get a response instead of moving on to a competitor.
- AI agentAn AI agent is a software system that uses a language model to work towards a goal by deciding what to do next, calling tools or APIs, and acting on the results. It goes beyond generating text to taking actions in a loop until the task is done.
- AI answering serviceAn AI answering service is software that responds to customer enquiries automatically, around the clock, using AI trained on the business's own information rather than a team of human operators.
- AI chatbotAn AI chatbot is software that uses artificial intelligence to hold natural, human-like conversations, answering questions and helping people on a website, app, or messaging channel.
- AI GuardrailAn AI guardrail is a constraint that defines what a chatbot will and will not say or do, keeping it inside safe, accurate and on-brand territory regardless of what a visitor asks.
- AI hallucinationAn AI hallucination is an output from a language model that is fluent and confident but factually wrong or entirely invented. It happens because the model generates plausible language rather than retrieving verified facts.
- AI OverviewsAI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some Google search results, answering the query directly and linking to the pages the summary drew from.
- AI receptionistAn AI receptionist is software that answers customer questions and captures booking requests on your website automatically, around the clock, the way a front-desk employee would.
- Answer CorrectionAn answer correction is the act of identifying a wrong or unhelpful chatbot reply and fixing it at the source, so the same question gets the right answer the next time it is asked.
- Answer EngineAn answer engine is a system that responds to a question with a direct answer rather than a list of links, typically by retrieving relevant sources and synthesising them into a single response.
- Answering serviceAn answering service handles a business's calls or enquiries when its own staff can't, taking messages and bookings so nothing is missed.
- APIAn API, or application programming interface, is an agreed set of rules that lets one piece of software ask another for data or ask it to do something. It is how separate tools work together without either one knowing how the other is built.
- Appointment booking softwareAppointment booking software lets customers request or schedule appointments with a business online, instead of only by phone.
- Appointment DepositAn appointment deposit is a partial payment taken when a booking is made, held against the final invoice and usually forfeited if the customer cancels late or fails to attend. It converts a verbal commitment into a financial one.
- Appointment ReminderAn appointment reminder is an automated message sent ahead of a booking to remind the customer it is happening and give them an easy way to confirm, reschedule or cancel. It is the cheapest no-show prevention available.
- Availability WindowAn availability window is a defined block of time during which a service can be booked or a visit will take place, such as between 8am and 12pm. It replaces a precise appointment time with a range you can realistically keep.
- Average handle timeAverage handle time (AHT) is the mean length of a customer interaction, counting the conversation itself plus any hold time and the follow-up work the agent completes afterwards.
B
- Booking requestA booking request is a customer's proposed appointment, their details plus a preferred time, which the business reviews and confirms, rather than a slot booked directly into the calendar.
- Bounce RateBounce rate is the share of visitors who arrive on a page and leave without any further interaction. It is a rough signal of whether a page met the expectation that brought someone to it.
- Buffer TimeBuffer time is the gap deliberately left between appointments to absorb travel, setup, paperwork and jobs that run over. It is scheduled empty space that exists so the rest of the day stays on time.
C
- Calendar SyncCalendar sync is the automatic exchange of appointment data between systems so that a booking made in one place appears everywhere else. Its job is to make sure everyone is looking at the same availability.
- Call to ActionA call to action, or CTA, is the prompt on a page that tells a visitor exactly what to do next, usually as a button or link. Its job is to convert intent into a single, specific action.
- Cancellation PolicyA cancellation policy is the rule stating how much notice a customer must give to cancel or reschedule without incurring a charge, and what that charge is if they do not. It exists to protect the time you have set aside for them.
- Canonical URLA canonical URL is the address you designate as the preferred version of a page when the same or very similar content is reachable at more than one URL, declared with a link element in the page head.
- CCPACCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA) is a California law that gives state residents rights over the personal information businesses collect about them, including the right to know what is held, to delete it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing.
- Chat BubbleA chat bubble is the rounded container that holds one message in a chat interface, visually separating what the visitor said from what the assistant replied. It is the basic unit of a conversation on screen.
- Chat LauncherA chat launcher is the small, persistent button on a website, usually in a bottom corner, that a visitor clicks or taps to open the chat window. It is the entry point to the whole conversation.
- Chat SessionA chat session is a single continuous conversation between one visitor and a chat widget, from the first message until the conversation ends or times out through inactivity.
- Chat transcriptA chat transcript is the stored written record of a conversation between a visitor and a business, containing every message exchanged in a session along with timestamps and who sent each one. It serves as the reference copy of what was actually said.
- Chatbot PersonaA chatbot persona is the consistent character a chat widget presents to visitors, covering its name, tone, level of formality and how it handles moments like uncertainty, complaints or requests it cannot fulfil.
- Chatbot trainingChatbot training is the process of teaching an AI assistant what it knows and how to answer, and modern tools do it by reading your existing content instead of making you script every reply.
- Churn rateChurn rate is the proportion of customers, or of recurring revenue, lost over a given period. It is the counterweight to acquisition: a business winning clients quickly while losing them quickly is busy rather than growing.
- Content delivery network (CDN)A content delivery network, or CDN, is a global network of servers that store copies of your website's files so each visitor receives them from a location physically near to them. The result is faster loading and less strain on your own server.
- Context WindowA context window is the maximum amount of text, measured in tokens, that an AI model can take into account when producing a single response. It covers the instructions, the retrieved source material and the conversation so far.
- Conversation ContextConversation context is the complete set of information a chatbot has available when composing a reply, including the earlier messages in the conversation and any content retrieved from its knowledge base for the current question.
- Conversation FlowConversation flow is the path a chat takes from the opening message to a resolution, including the order questions are asked, the branches available and the points where the conversation can end or transfer to a human.
- Conversation RatingA conversation rating is a simple signal, usually a thumbs up or thumbs down, that a visitor gives to a chatbot reply to indicate whether it was helpful. It is the cheapest quality feedback a chat widget can collect.
- Conversational AIConversational AI is the technology that lets software understand and respond to human language in a natural way, powering chatbots, voice assistants, and AI receptionists.
- Conversion funnelA conversion funnel is the sequence of steps a visitor moves through on the way to becoming a customer, from first arriving on your site to completing the action you want. It narrows at each stage, and the shape of that narrowing shows where you are losing people.
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO)Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic practice of increasing the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as submitting a form, booking a call, or making a purchase. It combines behavioural research, hypothesis-driven changes, and measurement to improve results from existing traffic rather than buying more of it.
- Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are a small set of measurements Google uses to describe how a page feels to real visitors, covering how quickly the main content appears, how fast the page responds to input, and whether the layout jumps around while loading.
- Crawl BudgetCrawl budget is the number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site within a given period, determined by how much crawling your server can handle and how much crawling the search engine thinks your site is worth.
- Custom FieldA custom field is an additional piece of structured information you configure a chat widget to collect from visitors, beyond the standard name and email. Common examples are postcode, service type, budget range, or preferred date.
- Customer effort scoreCustomer effort score (CES) measures how much effort a customer had to expend to get their issue resolved, based on the idea that making things easy predicts loyalty better than delighting people does.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total profit a business expects to earn from a single customer over the entire relationship, not just the first purchase. It sets the ceiling on what you can sensibly spend to acquire one.
- Customer relationship management (CRM)Customer relationship management (CRM) is the practice of tracking every interaction with prospects and customers in one system, and the software category built to do it. A CRM holds contacts, conversation history, deals in progress and the tasks attached to each.
- Customer satisfaction scoreCustomer satisfaction score (CSAT) is a metric that measures how satisfied a customer was with a specific interaction, collected by asking them to rate the experience immediately afterwards.
- Customer self-serviceCustomer self-service is letting customers find answers and complete simple tasks on their own, like checking prices, confirming service areas, or requesting a booking, without needing a staff member to respond.
D
- Data Processing Agreement (DPA)A data processing agreement (DPA) is a contract between a data controller and a data processor that sets out how the processor may handle personal data on the controller's behalf, what safeguards apply, and what happens when the arrangement ends.
- Data ResidencyData residency refers to the country or region where an organisation's data is physically stored, and to any requirement that it stay within a particular jurisdiction.
- Data RetentionData retention is the policy and practice of deciding how long you keep each type of data before deleting it, based on how long you actually need it and what the law requires or permits.
- Dialogue ManagementDialogue management is the part of a chatbot that decides what to do at each turn of a conversation, tracking what has been said, what information is still missing and what should happen next.
- Document Object Model (DOM)The Document Object Model, or DOM, is the structured map a browser builds of your web page after loading it. Code can read and change that map, which is how anything on a page moves, updates or responds to a click.
- Double-BookingDouble-booking is when two appointments end up assigned to the same time slot, staff member or resource. Occasionally it is deliberate overbooking to absorb expected no-shows, but usually it is an accident caused by two booking channels that do not talk to each other.
E
- E-E-A-TE-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It is the framework in Google's search quality rater guidelines for judging how much confidence a page deserves.
- Embed codeEmbed code is a small snippet of code you paste into your website to add a third-party feature, such as a chat widget, video player, or booking tool, without rebuilding your site.
- EmbeddingsEmbeddings are lists of numbers that represent the meaning of a piece of content, such as a sentence or a paragraph. Items with similar meaning end up with similar numbers, which lets software compare meaning mathematically instead of matching exact words.
- Encryption at RestEncryption at rest means data is stored in an encrypted form, so that anyone who obtains the underlying storage — a disk, a backup, a database file — cannot read it without the decryption key.
- Entity ExtractionEntity extraction is the process of pulling specific pieces of structured information out of unstructured text, such as a name, date, phone number, postcode or service type mentioned in a chat message.
- EscalationEscalation is the process of passing a customer enquiry to someone with more expertise, seniority, or authority, because the person or system handling it first cannot resolve it.
F
- Fallback ResponseA fallback response is what a chatbot says when it cannot answer a question, either because the request falls outside its scope or because nothing in its knowledge base supports a reliable answer.
- FAQ chatbotAn FAQ chatbot is a chat widget that answers a business's frequently asked questions in conversation, instantly, so visitors get the exact answer they need without reading through an FAQ page.
- Featured SnippetA featured snippet is a short answer Google displays in a box at the top of search results, extracted directly from a web page and shown with a link to its source.
- Fine-TuningFine-tuning is the process of taking a model that has already been trained on general data and training it further on a smaller, specific set of examples so it adopts a particular style, format or behaviour.
- First response timeFirst response time (FRT) is the elapsed time between a customer's first message and the first meaningful reply from the business. It is a standard support and sales metric because it measures how long someone is left waiting before they know a human or system has engaged with their request.
- First-contact resolutionFirst-contact resolution (FCR) is the share of customer enquiries that are completely resolved during the first interaction, without the customer needing to follow up or be called back.
- Form abandonmentForm abandonment is when a visitor begins interacting with a web form but leaves the page before submitting it. Because the submission never arrives, the business has no record of the enquiry and no way to follow up.
G
- GDPRGDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation) is European Union law that sets rules for how organisations collect, store, use and share the personal data of people in the EU and UK. It applies to any business handling that data, wherever the business itself is based.
- Generative Engine OptimizationGenerative engine optimization, usually shortened to GEO, is the practice of structuring and writing your content so AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can find it, understand it and cite it in their answers.
- Greeting MessageA greeting message is the first thing a chat widget says when a visitor opens it or when it appears on the page, setting expectations for what the assistant can help with.
H
- HIPAAHIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is US law that sets standards for protecting individually identifiable health information held by healthcare providers, health plans and the vendors that work with them.
- Human handoffHuman handoff is the moment an AI assistant passes a conversation to a real person, either because the visitor asked for a human or because the question genuinely needs one.
I
- iframeAn iframe is an HTML element that embeds one web page inside another, in its own isolated box. Embedded videos, maps and payment forms usually arrive as iframes, and the content inside one is walled off from the page around it.
- InferenceInference is the act of running a trained AI model to produce an output from a new input. It is the moment a visitor asks a question and the model generates an answer, as opposed to the earlier training phase that built the model.
- Intent DetectionIntent detection is the process of working out what a person is trying to achieve from what they typed, so a chatbot can respond appropriately rather than matching on surface wording.
J
- JavaScript snippetA JavaScript snippet is a small piece of code you copy from a service and paste into your website so that the service's feature appears on your pages. It is how most third-party tools, from analytics to chat widgets, get installed.
- JSONJSON is a lightweight, plain-text format for organising data as labelled fields, lists and nested groups. It is the format most web services use to send information to each other because it is readable by people and trivially parsed by software.
K
- Knowledge baseA knowledge base is the organized collection of information a business, or an AI assistant working for it, draws answers from: website pages, documents, price lists, policies, and FAQs.
- Knowledge SourceA knowledge source is any body of content a chatbot uses to answer questions, such as your website pages, product descriptions, policy documents or a list of frequently asked questions.
L
- Landing PageA landing page is a standalone web page built around a single action, such as requesting a quote or booking a call. Unlike a homepage, it removes competing choices so the visitor has one obvious next step.
- Large language model (LLM)A large language model (LLM) is an AI system trained on very large amounts of text to predict the next piece of language in a sequence. That single capability lets it answer questions, summarise documents, write code and hold a conversation.
- Lazy loadingLazy loading is a technique where a web page delays downloading images, videos or other heavy elements until the visitor is about to scroll them into view. Only what is needed immediately loads first, so the page becomes usable sooner.
- Lead captureLead capture is the process of collecting a potential customer's contact details and what they need, so a business can follow up and turn interest into a booking or sale.
- Lead generationLead generation is the process of attracting potential customers and collecting their interest, so a business has people to follow up with and convert.
- Lead magnetA lead magnet is something genuinely useful offered free in exchange for a visitor's contact details. Common formats include guides, checklists, templates, calculators and sample audits, and the trade is explicit: value for permission to make contact.
- Lead qualificationLead qualification is the process of working out whether a new enquiry is a good fit for your business and worth your team's time, usually by collecting a few key details up front.
- Lead routingLead routing is the automatic assignment of an incoming lead to the right person or team based on defined rules, such as location, service requested, deal size, language or who is available. Its purpose is to remove the delay and ambiguity of manual allocation.
- Lead scoringLead scoring is the practice of assigning a value to each lead based on how well they fit your ideal customer profile and how much buying interest they have shown. The resulting ranking tells a sales team which contacts to work first when there are more leads than hours.
- Live chatLive chat is a chat window on a website that a member of the business's team answers in real time, as opposed to an automated chatbot.
- llms.txtllms.txt is a proposed convention for a plain-text file at the root of a website that gives large language models a curated, readable index of the site's most useful content.
M
- Machine LearningMachine learning is an approach to building software where a system learns patterns from examples rather than following rules a developer wrote by hand. The resulting model makes predictions on data it has not seen before.
- Marketing attributionMarketing attribution is the practice of assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touchpoints that contributed to it. It exists to answer a deceptively hard question: which of the things you are paying for actually produced the customer.
- Marketing qualified lead (MQL)A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a contact who has shown enough interest through their behaviour and matches your target profile closely enough that marketing considers them worth a sales conversation. It is a handover threshold, not a promise of a sale.
- Model DriftModel drift is the gradual decline in an AI system's accuracy that happens when the real world moves away from the conditions it was built for. The model has not changed; the situation around it has.
- Model TemperatureModel temperature is a setting that controls how much randomness an AI model applies when choosing its next word. Lower values produce consistent, predictable output; higher values produce more varied and creative output.
N
- Natural Language ProcessingNatural language processing, usually shortened to NLP, is the field of computer science concerned with getting software to understand, interpret and produce human language in text or written form.
- Net Promoter ScoreNet Promoter Score (NPS) is a loyalty metric based on one question, how likely a customer is to recommend you to someone else, scored by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.
- No-codeNo-code describes software that is built or configured entirely through a visual interface rather than by writing programming code. It lets people who are not developers create websites, automations, and internal tools using settings, forms, and drag-and-drop editors.
- No-ShowA no-show is a booked appointment where the customer never turns up and never cancels, leaving the slot empty and unsellable. It is different from a cancellation, because a cancellation at least gives you time to refill the time.
O
- Omnichannel supportOmnichannel support is an approach where customers can contact a business across several channels and the conversation context follows them, so switching from chat to email or phone does not mean starting over.
- Online bookingOnline booking is any way a customer arranges an appointment through a website rather than by phone, either by choosing a time slot directly in a calendar or by sending a booking request the business confirms.
- Organic TrafficOrganic traffic is the visitors who reach your website through unpaid search results rather than through ads. You earn it by publishing content that search engines judge relevant to what people are looking for.
P
- Page speedPage speed is how quickly a web page loads and becomes usable for the person visiting it. It covers both how fast something appears on screen and how soon the page responds to being tapped or clicked.
- Pay Per ClickPay per click, or PPC, is a form of advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad rather than each time it is displayed. Search engines and social platforms are the most common places small businesses run it.
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII)Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that can identify a specific individual on its own or when combined with other information — names, email addresses, phone numbers, account identifiers and more.
- Proactive chatProactive chat is when a website chat widget initiates the conversation itself, greeting a visitor with a message rather than waiting to be clicked. The trigger is usually rule-based: a particular page, a set time on site, repeat visits, scroll depth, or exit intent.
- Prompt injectionPrompt injection is an attack where a user types instructions to an AI system, like "ignore your previous instructions," attempting to trick it into abandoning its rules and behaving outside its intended job.
Q
R
- Recurring AppointmentA recurring appointment is a booking that repeats automatically on a set pattern, such as every Tuesday, every fortnight, or twice a year. One agreement fills many slots instead of one.
- REST APIA REST API is a widely used style of web API in which software interacts with data through ordinary web addresses and standard HTTP actions such as get, create, update and delete. It is the default way most modern web services expose their data.
- RetargetingRetargeting is advertising aimed at people who have already visited your website, shown to them later on other sites or platforms. It works by tagging visitors so they can be recognised and served follow-up ads.
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is an AI technique where, before answering, the system retrieves the most relevant passages from a trusted knowledge base and generates its answer from those passages rather than from its general training memory.
S
- Sales pipelineA sales pipeline is a structured view of every open opportunity organised by the stage it has reached, from first contact through to won or lost. It shows what is in progress, what is stuck and what needs action next.
- Sales qualified lead (SQL)A sales qualified lead (SQL) is a prospect that a salesperson has personally vetted and accepted as a genuine opportunity worth pursuing. Unlike a marketing qualified lead, it reflects a human judgement that the need, budget, timeline and authority are real.
- Sandbox PlaygroundA sandbox playground is an isolated environment where you can test a chatbot's answers privately, before it is live on your website and before any real visitor can see it.
- Schema MarkupSchema markup is structured data added to a web page, usually as JSON-LD, that tells search engines and AI systems what the page describes in a machine-readable format.
- Search IndexingSearch indexing is the process by which a search engine analyses a page it has crawled, works out what it is about, and stores it in a database so it can be retrieved and ranked for relevant queries.
- Self-service rateSelf-service rate is the proportion of customer questions that get resolved without any human involvement, through help articles, site search, or automated chat.
- Semantic searchSemantic search finds content based on meaning rather than literal keyword overlap. It converts both the query and the indexed content into embeddings and returns the items that are closest in meaning, even when no words match.
- Service level agreementA service level agreement (SLA) is a documented commitment to a defined standard of service, such as how quickly you will respond or how much uptime you guarantee, usually with agreed consequences if it is missed.
- Session DurationSession duration is the length of time a visitor spends on your website in a single visit, from the first page view to the last recorded interaction. It is used as a rough proxy for engagement.
- Shadow DOMThe Shadow DOM is a browser standard that attaches a separate, encapsulated DOM tree to an element. Styles and markup inside that tree are isolated from the rest of the page, so neither side can accidentally restyle or select the other.
- SOC 2SOC 2 is an independent examination of how a service provider protects customer data, carried out by an accredited auditor against criteria covering security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.
- Social ProofSocial proof is evidence that other people have used and trusted your business, such as reviews, testimonials, case studies, client logos, and ratings. It reduces a prospect's uncertainty by showing that others took the risk first.
- Speed to leadSpeed to lead is how quickly a business responds to a new enquiry, and it's one of the strongest predictors of whether that enquiry becomes a customer.
- System promptA system prompt is the set of instructions supplied to a language model ahead of a conversation, defining its role, scope, tone and rules. It is not visible to the end user but shapes every response the model produces.
T
- Ticket deflectionTicket deflection is when a customer gets their answer through self-service or automation and therefore never opens a support ticket or contacts a human agent.
- TokensTokens are the small pieces of text, usually a word or part of a word, that an AI language model reads and generates. Models measure everything they process in tokens rather than characters or words.
- Training DataTraining data is the collection of examples an AI model learns from during training. Its content, quality and coverage shape what the resulting model knows and how it behaves.
- Transformer ModelA transformer model is a type of neural network architecture that processes text by weighing how much every part of the input relates to every other part. It is the design underpinning virtually all modern large language models.
- Typing IndicatorA typing indicator is the animated cue shown in a chat interface while a reply is being composed, signalling that the system has received the message and a response is on the way.
U
V
- Value PropositionA value proposition is a short, plain statement of who you help, what you do for them, and why they should pick you over the alternatives. It is the sentence a visitor should be able to repeat after reading your homepage.
- Vector databaseA vector database is a store designed to hold embeddings and retrieve the entries most similar to a given query vector. It answers "what is closest in meaning to this?" rather than "which row exactly matches this value?"
- Virtual receptionistA virtual receptionist is a remote human, often part of a shared team, who answers a business's phone calls and messages on its behalf, typically billed per call or on a monthly retainer.
W
- WaitlistA waitlist is an ordered list of customers who want an appointment that is not currently available, so they can be offered a slot the moment one opens up. It turns a fully booked calendar from a dead end into a queue.
- Web crawlerA web crawler is a program that automatically browses websites, fetching pages and following their links to discover more pages. Search engines, archives and AI systems use crawlers to collect the content they later index or answer from.
- WebhookA webhook is an automated HTTP request that one application sends to a URL you control the moment a specific event occurs. Instead of your system repeatedly asking an API whether anything has changed, the source pushes the event data to you as it happens.
- Webhook PayloadA webhook payload is the block of data, almost always JSON, that one system sends to another when an event happens. For a chat widget, it is what gets delivered to your endpoint the moment a lead is captured or a conversation ends.
- Website chat widgetA website chat widget is the small chat window, usually in the corner of a website, that lets visitors ask questions and get help without leaving the page.
- Widget ThemeA widget theme is the collection of visual settings that control how a chat widget looks on your site: colours, typography, corner radius, launcher style, position, and the wording of standard messages.
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