How can you determine the severity of a customer escalation?

Escalations nowadays are very commonly customers trying to escalate to higher authority or different channel, which says to me there is a problem with routing or method of feedback that customers understand, or how heard they feel. These situations are all learning opportunities, if the business is prepared to understand them as such. Often times business want to eliminate escalations altogether, rather than understand why occurred to create improvements in process or operations. Escalations are commonly negative, but often times can be mitigated before they reach a true point of negativity, if teams and leaders are fully equipped to address them with true change.

I believe that there will always be two points of view; from the customer’s perspective, the customer might have a reason to escalate and determining this reason is important to a satisfactory resolution. From the associate’s perspective, the associate might have a genuine reason to escalate and finding out that reason is also important. Many times, there will be conflicting interests that would need to be addressed. Knowing how to go through the data and finding a satisfactory resolution to provide a win-win situation should be the goal.

Based on my experience, I suggest the below - Assess the nature of the issue: Determine if it's a minor or a critical problem affecting multiple customers. - Evaluate customer sentiment: Analyze the tone, language, and urgency in escalation. - Consider the customer's history: Check if the customer has a history of escalating issues or if this is an isolated incident. - Impact on business: Gauge the financial and reputational impact. - Verify facts: Ensure all relevant information is gathered to accurately assess the situation. - Involve relevant stakeholders: Consult with the team and experts to understand the escalation's scope and solutions. - Set escalation severity levels: Develop a SOP to classify and prioritize based on severity.

To determine the severity of a customer escalation, you can assess factors such as the impact on the customer, the urgency of the issue, and the potential consequences if not resolved promptly. It's important to gather all relevant information and prioritize based on the potential negative impact on the customer experience.

An escalation is a trigger that says there is a hole in the system that one needs to fix. For a product based or service based company in most cases it will be quality or setting wrong expectations or false promises. When there are various level of silos within an organisation the communication breaks internally. Then each team starts to focus on just individual goals rather focusing on bigger picture of “customer satisfaction”.

Severity is another term for prioritization. Think: what is the most "urgent" escalation? This definition varies by organization. A common rule of thumb is either how many users are affected, or to what degree the impact is. (Is the software/product completely unusable? Is the entire user base affected? Is any legal threat involved?) Additionally, Support teams should know exactly how and where to direct all ranges of escalation severity. Those workflows need to have an full-close touchpoint, back from other team or owner of the severity type. Escalations are made worse when they are ignored, and high-severity escalations are not the ONLY ones worth regarding.

Severity and priority are two very different things that I believe get intermixed all to often. Severity is the level of impact, be it systems, users, or other metrics. It is important to be aware of the severity of the issue as it can greatly affect the priority of an escalation. It is also important to have a clearly defined support matrix that outlines how it is determined and also expectations on follow-up and resolution. If it is a high-severity issue, it should be prioritized for a quicker resolution regardless of its initial determined priority.

One thing I’ve found helpful in understanding the importance of severity is recognizing that it goes beyond just an immediate response to an escalation. Severity, when accurately gauged, helps in strategically channeling organizational resources to create a long-term impact. For instance, consistent high-severity escalations in a particular area could indicate a more systemic problem that needs strategic intervention, while sporadic low-severity ones might point towards isolated incidents or gaps in communication.

The Severity of the customer involves factors such as their emotions, how bad impact on the customer and it’s business model, the history of the issue and it’s frequency, the legal implications, resolution & challenges faced and lastly the relationship with the customer. A highly emotional or angry customer may indicate a more severe escalation. Is it causing significant disruption or financial loss? This can indicate severity. A direct call to a manager/higher management might be more serious than an email to customer support. By reviewing the SLAs we can understand if the issue violates any commitments.

To determine the severity of a customer escalation, you can consider the following factors: ?Impact: How many customers is the issue impacting? Is it causing a significant disruption to business operations? ?Urgency: How quickly does the customer need the issue resolved? Is it a critical issue that needs to be addressed immediately? ?Complexity: Is the issue complex and requires specialized knowledge or expertise to resolve? ?Customer sentiment: How frustrated or angry is the customer? Are they demanding a refund or threatening to cancel their service?

A particularly helpful approach mentioned is evaluating the impact on a customer's business or personal goals, as this directly correlates with the potential business value at risk. I wholeheartedly agree with the emphasis on the urgency of the customer's need and the scope of the escalation. However, while customer sentiment is crucial, I'd argue it might not always be a reliable metric for severity. For instance, a customer might express extreme dissatisfaction over a minor inconvenience, while another might remain calm despite facing a critical issue. Thus, while sentiment provides context, it should be weighed alongside other tangible factors to accurately gauge severity.

In our organization, determining the severity of a customer escalation is pivotal. Recently, a customer reported a software issue causing substantial financial losses. We swiftly assessed the situation, categorizing it as "critical" due to severe financial impact and potential reputation risk. Our support and technical teams collaborated, ensuring open communication with the customer throughout. After resolving the issue, a post-escalation evaluation helped us improve our processes. This underscores our commitment to delivering timely and effective solutions to our customers.

One thing I’ve found helpful in measuring severity is employing a blended approach that combines both quantitative and qualitative data. While certain metrics, such as the number of affected users or potential revenue loss, provide an objective measure, it's the qualitative insights — like customer feedback, sentiment analysis, and historical context — that offer a comprehensive understanding. For instance, using sentiment analysis tools on customer feedback can give a clearer picture of how intensely a customer feels about an issue, thereby adding another layer to severity measurement.

The escalation severity must be determined and clarified by the higher authority in the organization. Measuring severity depends on the business and the provided services and how can lateness of resolution can be dangerous to business and customers. Collecting VOC “ voice of customers “ can be very helpful to come up with a case study and and answer of “ how important my business to customers? How is my current service? What kind of service is better for customers than the current method?”

Escalation management is?the process of setting standard procedures and workflows for escalating and rerouting support tickets. This function is set up to ensure customer issues are resolved by the right individuals with the right skill sets, in the shortest amount of time possible.

I disagree that goodwill compensation needs to be offered as a standard procedure for escalations. I think this can be budgeted for, but should not be the only driver or tracking component for escalations - I think this will automatically associate all escalations as an inherent loss for the business, rather than an improvement opportunity. I also think the levels of escalation vary depending on the organizations operations and service or product type. I agree with the other contributor that there are always edge cases, but I think taking them as feedback opportunities and learning from what fall outside the standard process should be captured and actioned to build processes appropriately.

Actually, I disagree with the idea that categorizing severity is purely a formulaic process. While having clear definitions for each severity level is essential for consistency, there are always edge cases or unique situations that don't fit neatly into predefined boxes. In such cases, leaning on experienced judgment, understanding the broader context, and considering potential ramifications become crucial. It's essential to empower agents with the flexibility to make such nuanced decisions when the situation demands it.

Defining the level of severity is a bit tricky, but can be achieved through studying deeply the type of business I’m providing to customers. The severity in scamming cases in banks sector is way far from a complaint of late delivery in restaurants sectors. The faster act when a case occurs means more loyalty is gained towards the organization. The more you care about resolving customer’s cases the best positive reputation you can build.

Hierarchical escalation. Hierarchical escalation is when an incident is passed to a team or person based on their experience level or seniority within the organization. ... Functional escalation. ... Automatic escalation.

One thing I’ve found helpful when adjusting the severity of an escalation is consistently revisiting the voice of the customer. It's vital to understand that an escalation's perceived severity might change, not just because of internal developments, but also due to evolving customer perceptions and emotions. For instance, an issue that started as a 'medium' severity might evolve into a 'high' or even 'critical' severity if the customer feels their concerns aren't being acknowledged or addressed promptly. On the other hand, showing genuine care, providing timely updates, and setting correct expectations might lower the perceived severity from the customer's end, even if the issue itself hasn't been completely resolved.

We need to remember that while severity elevation will always be welcomed by the customer, reducing the severity level will often trigger hard feelings and objection. hence it is important to set the correct severity as soon as possible, or choose a level of severity to be elevated later on, not reduced.

Business goes through a lot of variables, through time, money, and expansion plans. Some organizations can be satisfied at a certain level of outcome, some others are expanding the type of business or provided services and still maintain high level of care towards their customers. Building a brand needs a continuous development among all departments. Adjusting severity can come through service experience and reports. Setting correct quality attributes can define when severity needs adjustment either to higher priority or lower.

The Escalation Engineer will have a very crucial role with customer -Create a safe space -Create a good environment using empathy -Advise who to procced -Suggest improvments, some times workarounds is not enough, suggest correct resolution paths

Every escalation is also an opportunity to make a strong contact with the customer and build trust. understanding how severe this problem is from the customer point of view is an essential step to allow that.

Escalations are important because they indicate a critical point in the customer experience where additional attention and action are necessary to prevent further dissatisfaction or potential loss of business. They require a higher level of expertise, authority, and resources to address complex or unresolved issues effectively.

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Determining the root causes of an escalation and properly addressing them is critical to the success of an organization. It's not enough to just be fighting fires all the time. Dig in, find the root cause, and improve the organization. Remember - it's not about assigning blame. It's about getting things fixed and always improving.