What is Escalation Management: A Complete Guide

Senior Writer: Dharmik Joshi

Date: July 12, 2024

Building a successful business requires keeping customers satisfied and providing them with the best possible response.

However, mishandled escalations can often lead to a significant loss of customers, making it a matter of utmost importance.

A customer is four times more likely to make the switch to a competitor if they’re facing frequent issues related to support.

Let us walk through the fundamentals of escalation management, its types, processes, challenges, and strategies for improvement.

What is Escalation Management?

Escalation management refers to the structured process through which businesses handle customer complaints or issues that require higher levels of authority or expertise to resolve.

Improving customer satisfaction involves taking an organized approach to make sure escalated problems get the attention they require and are promptly handled.

In other words, customer escalation management means your overall strategy for dealing with clients who need to speak with the manager or supervisor when their problems cannot be handled by the initial front-line call center agent.

Pro-tip

To excel in escalation management, the customer service team should focus on clear communication, thorough documentation, and proactive problem-solving methods. Utilize technology for tracking and follow-ups and conduct regular team reviews to discuss escalations and share learning points.

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What are the Different Types of Customer Escalations?

Customer service escalation can vary in nature and severity, influencing how they are prioritized and resolved. There are generally 3 types of escalation:

1. Functional Escalation

Functional escalation occurs when an issue or concern is transferred to a different department or team within the organization because it requires specialized knowledge or skills that the current handling team might not possess.

For example, the agent would forward the customer’s inquiry to a member of the finance team if the customer calls with a question about a payment failure and the person they are chatting with does not have access to the necessary information about the same.

2. Hierarchical Escalation

Hierarchical escalations occur when an issue is escalated up the chain of command within an organization.

This type of escalation is typically required when the frontline team or lower-level support cannot resolve a problem due to the need for higher authority or decision-making power or when a customer demands to speak with someone at a higher level.

3. Automatic Escalations

Automatic escalations are pre-programmed processes within customer service and support systems that trigger the escalation of an issue based on predefined criteria.

These criteria might include time-based triggers, the severity of the issue, or specific keywords in customer communication. Automatic escalations aim to ensure appropriate handling of issues in a timely manner without relying on manual intervention.

Scenarios when Automatic Escalations come into play:

• A high-priority customer issue remains unresolved for more than 2 hours.
• A system outage affecting multiple customers is reported.
• An issue exceeds the expected resolution time defined in the SLA.

Companies generally integrate with a ticket system or CRM systems that have built-in automation features for escalation. These systems can track issues and trigger escalations based on predefined rules.

Recommended Read: : 20+ Must-Have Call Center Phone Systems Features

How to Set Up an Escalation Management Process?

It’s important to take the time to set up a customer service escalation process that your team can adhere to in order to make sure you’re serving your customers as effectively and efficiently as possible. Here’s a breakdown of the key steps:

1. Define your Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Define specific metrics that will be measured to assess performance, such as response time, resolution time, uptime percentage, and quality standards.

Set realistic and achievable targets for each metric based on customer needs, industry standards, and organizational capabilities. For example, resolving customer inquiries within 24 hours or maintaining a system uptime of 99.9%.

Discuss the drafted SLAs with your customers to ensure mutual understanding and agreement on expectations. Negotiate terms as needed to align with both parties’ interests.

2. Establish Escalation Tiers

Escalation tiers represent different levels within an organization’s hierarchy or expertise, where issues are escalated as they become more complex, sensitive, or critical.

Each tier is responsible for handling specific types of escalations based on predefined criteria. By organizing support into different levels or tiers, organizations can ensure that the most appropriate resources address issues at each stage.

Different Tiers of Escalation are:

• Tier 1: Frontline Support
• Tier 2: Technical Support
• Tier 3: Customer Service Manager
• Tier 4: Department Head or Director
• Tier 5: Executive Leadership (CEO/COO)

3. Develop Escalation Protocols

Developing escalation protocols involves creating a structured framework that outlines the steps, responsible personnel, and timeframes for escalating issues within an organization.

Below is an example of how you can elaborate on this with a table format:

4. Train Your Team

Equip your representatives with the knowledge and skills to identify escalation triggers.

Conduct interactive training sessions led by experienced team leads or managers who can simulate real-world scenarios and discuss best practices. Additionally, businesses can organize role-playing exercises where staff can practice escalating and resolving issues in a controlled environment.

This practice can ensure that your team handles escalated situations with confidence, professionalism, and effectiveness.

Recommended Read: : 7 Incredible Ways VoIP Improves Customer Service

Challenges in Escalation Management

There are various obstacles that the customer support teams face when a situation like escalation occurs. Here are some of the biggest challenges during escalation management:

1. Identifying the Right Time to Escalate

Identifying the right time to escalate is one of the biggest challenges that management faces. This requires balancing the need for quick resolutions with the appropriate use of resources and authority.

It can be difficult for frontline staff to assess the complexity of an issue accurately, especially if it’s a novel problem. Escalating too soon or too often can overwhelm higher-tier support teams, leading to delays and burnout.

Here’s an overview of when to escalate and to whom to assign the particular query:

2. Communication Breakdowns

Communication breakdown can occur at various stages of the escalation process, leading to delays, misunderstandings, and customer dissatisfaction.

Assumptions made by one team may not be clearly communicated to the receiving team, leading to confusion. Moreover, different departments may use jargon or terminology unfamiliar to other teams.

Thus, companies should develop clear, standardized procedures for escalating issues, including specific steps for documenting and communicating escalations.

3. Delayed Responses

Delays can occur at various stages of the escalation process, from the initial recognition of an issue to its resolution. Complex and bureaucratic procedures can slow down the escalation process, causing unnecessary delays.

Moreover, inefficient workflows and a lack of automation can hinder the timely escalation and resolution of issues.

However, simplifying escalation procedures can reduce bureaucratic delays. Creating clear, straightforward workflows for common escalation scenarios can prevent information gaps and delays.

4. Ineffective Monitoring and Reporting

Without proper monitoring and reporting mechanisms, it’s difficult to track the status of escalated issues, measure performance, and identify areas for improvement. Different teams might use different metrics and standards for reporting, leading to inconsistencies and difficulties in comparing performance.

Therefore, companies should use live dashboards to provide real-time updates on the status of escalated issues. These dashboards should be accessible to all relevant stakeholders.

Moreover, they can set up automated alerts for critical events, such as missed SLAs or high-priority escalations, to ensure timely action.

Recommended Read: : 13 Best Call Monitoring Software Reviews & Pricing

Best Practices in Customer Escalation Management Process

Now that we’ve discussed the basics of customer escalation let us understand how to handle escalations at work in the best possible manner. Here are a few best practices that you can implement during an escalation:

1. Predefine SLAs for Your Team

Setting internal SLAs is the first step in your escalation management processes. These are the guidelines that you will apply to decide when an escalation is required and what should happen after it is initiated. Here are a few examples of customer issues that can trigger escalations:

• When a customer tries to reach the customer support team multiple times without being assisted.
• The service is not delivered within 24 hours after making a purchase.
• When the result from the satisfied customers’ survey is below a predetermined level.

Determine the core services your team provides and the critical areas where SLAs need to be established. Make sure that you consider the needs and customer expectations when defining service areas.

2. Assign Each Escalation a Handler

Assigning a handler for every escalation is a fundamental practice in effective escalation management. By designating a specific individual responsible for managing an escalation, organizations can streamline the process and improve response times.

It provides a defined point of contact for all stakeholders, including customers, team members, and management. With a clear roadmap, the escalation process becomes more structured, and issues get quickly resolved.

3. Establish Realistic Expectations With the Client

Clear and realistic expectations help customers understand the process, timeline, and potential outcomes.

Conduct an initial assessment to fully understand the customer’s needs, concerns, and the nature of the escalation. Avoid making promises that cannot be kept. It’s better to under-promise and overdeliver than the opposite.

4. Keep Track of Every Customer in an Escalation

The companies should log every interaction with the customer, including the date, time, and the team member involved. Also include minute detailed notes about the discussion, customer concerns, and any information provided.

By carefully recording each customer interaction during an escalation, organizations can ensure a clear, consistent, and comprehensive escalation process.

Recommended Read: : Call Tracking Software For Your Business

Bottom Line

Escalation management is not just about resolving customer complaints; it’s about maintaining customer relationships and strengthening brand reputation.

Companies can handle customer queries more skillfully, optimize service delivery, and eventually drive customer loyalty by establishing in place a systematic escalation system management proximity.

FAQs

1. What metrics should be tracked to assess escalation management performance?

Metrics such as average resolution time, escalation rates, customer satisfaction scores post-escalation, and escalation closure rates are essential for assessing escalation management performance.

2. How can training in escalation management benefit customer service agents?

Training in escalation governance equips teams with the skills to handle complex customer issues efficiently, leading to improved customer satisfaction, reduced escalations, and enhanced team morale.

Dharmik Joshi

Dharmik Joshi is an ardent learner of business management and channels his passion for articulating ideas into writing. With a wealth of experience spanning 2 years in content creation, he remains committed to staying abreast of industry trends and evolving content strategies. He thrives on the dynamic nature of digital marketing, constantly looking for fresh approaches to captivate audiences and deliver measurable results for clients.

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