Customer escalations can be challenging to handle, especially when you are short-staffed and have limited resources. However, there are some strategies that can help you manage difficult situations and maintain customer satisfaction. In this article, we will share some tips on how to handle customer escalations when short-staffed, such as:
Not all escalations are equally urgent or important. Some may require immediate attention, while others can wait for a more convenient time. To prioritize urgent cases, you can use criteria such as the impact, severity, and duration of the issue, the customer's expectations and emotions, and the potential consequences of delaying the resolution. You can also use tools like tags, filters, or categories to sort and organize your cases based on these criteria.
In my experience, assessing the issue severity among a whole lot of escalations is quite crucial. More than the time of the request, if the customer is facing a loss, a call has to be taken immediately. One thing that I've found helpful is updating a customer periodically so the trust remains and we would also have to loop in necessary stakeholders and set a plan of action.
Because urgent cases can derail the team member working on it, I like to create an escalation team where these sorts of cases can be escalated to them to resolve. That way they are focused and have resources to deal with these in a timely manner. Because they are an escalation team, they will also have additional system permissions and can resolve without having to interact with different teams.
One of the most important skills for handling customer escalations is communication. You need to communicate clearly and empathetically with your customers, as well as with your team members and managers. You should acknowledge the customer's problem and frustration, apologize for any inconvenience, and explain what you are doing to resolve the issue. You should also set realistic expectations and timelines, and update the customer regularly on the progress. Additionally, you should communicate with your team and managers to share information, ask for help, or escalate further if needed.
When you are short-staffed, you may not have enough time to write personalized responses to every customer escalation. However, you can still provide consistent and professional service by using templates and scripts. Templates and scripts are pre-written messages that you can customize and adapt to different situations and customers. They can help you save time, avoid errors, and maintain a positive tone. You can create templates and scripts for common scenarios, such as acknowledging an escalation, apologizing for a delay, or offering a solution.
Using Templates for documentation and notes can help the team stay consistent with the escalation process. It also helps with following a pattern to ensure the correct information is gathered. Scripts should be used on a case by case basis, or just for regular calls. In my experience I don't agree with using scripts in an escalation matter because it can come across impersonal and robotic. Tip: Train more than one team member to help with de-escalation.
Another way to handle customer escalations when short-staffed is to automate and delegate tasks that are repetitive, simple, or low-priority. You can use tools like chatbots, autoresponders, or knowledge bases to provide instant answers, confirmations, or instructions to your customers. You can also delegate tasks to other team members, departments, or external partners who have more expertise, availability, or authority to handle them. By automating and delegating tasks, you can free up your time and focus on the most complex and critical escalations.
Finally, you can handle customer escalations when short-staffed by learning and improving from feedback. Feedback can come from various sources, such as customer surveys, reviews, ratings, or comments, as well as from your own self-evaluation, team discussions, or manager reviews. Feedback can help you identify the root causes of escalations, the gaps in your skills or processes, and the areas for improvement. You can use feedback to make changes, implement best practices, or seek training that can help you prevent or reduce escalations in the future.