Customer Service Glossary
What Is Escalation Management?
Escalation management is a system or process that businesses employ to handle customer issues and other problems within a customer service department. Escalation management enables customer service agents to effectively resolve and address problems or transfer issues to a higher-ranking representative for further support.
Most companies have some type of escalation management plan in place. For example, customer service representatives may be told to transfer major issues – such as significant product or service breakdowns or financial concerns – to a manager. Alternatively, new agents may need to transfer the customer to another agent or department because they don’t have the authority or experience to resolve the issue.
Finally, some companies hire escalation managers to handle escalating issues and boost customer satisfaction ratings. Escalation managers typically have excellent customer support abilities and can provide a satisfactory solution quickly and efficiently.
How to Manage the Customer Service Escalation Process
Managing the customer service escalation process involves several steps, as follows.
- Prioritizing emails, support tickets, phone calls, and social media interactions that require immediate attention.
- Defining service tiers to address customer concerns.
- Creating a standardized process for assessing and addressing customer support tickets.
- Training customer service agents to manage escalating situations.
Common Questions About Escalation Management
What is escalation in a customer service call center?
When customer service representatives escalate an issue in a call center, they transfer an email exchange, instant messaging chat, or phone call to a higher-ranking or more knowledgeable agent, such as an IT support team or a member of the financial department.
Why are escalation management processes important?
Escalation management processes ensure that customer service agents can provide satisfactory solutions to as many customers as possible. Further, escalation processes feature ways to address issues at the lowest level possible, resulting in faster resolutions and smoother customer experiences.
How do customer support agents manage escalated issues?
Customer support teams can manage escalating issues by defusing the situation, clarifying the details of the customer’s issues or concerns, responding with kindness and empathy, seeking a satisfactory solution, or transferring a customer to a more skilled or knowledgeable representative for further care.