Handling call escalations is something every contact center deals with, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. When customers feel their issue isn’t being resolved quickly or effectively, they often ask to speak to a senior representative. This can throw a wrench in the works, affecting the flow of customer support and leading to longer wait times and more stress for both customers and agents. And if left unaddressed, escalations can negatively impact the relationship between a company and its customers.
But here’s the good news: with the right tools, processes, and preparation, call escalations can be managed before they become urgent. A proactive approach is key.
Call escalation, sometimes referred to as an escalation call or supervisor escalation occurs when a customer requests a senior representative to intervene and resolve their issue.
Escalations can create a state of urgency, requiring both human and procedural resources to deal with them. This means predetermining and identifying backup staff, using escalation tools, and automating redundant workflows.
Call escalations directly affect critical metrics of a contact center, such as First-Call Resolution (FCR), Average Handle Time (AHT), negative customer sentiment, etc. This challenge needs to be proactively tackled by identifying escalation process gaps, adequately training agents, and regularly updating information resources.
Proactively tackling call escalations requires a comprehensive and holistic focus on de-escalation techniques for customer service agents.
Many contact centers have dedicated escalations departments solely responsible for escalations management.
Escalation managers are professionals who are well-versed in customer service and have the ability to resolve complex issues efficiently. As their core competency lies in problem management, their ability to deal with difficult situations is comparatively better.
Another advantage of a dedicated escalations department is that it helps it helps to avoid call escalations to higher levels that are more focused on strategic and planning tasks.
To handle call escalations effectively, contact centers need a clear and structured approach to determine who should step in when a situation requires intervention. That’s where an Escalation Matrix comes in. This framework provides a roadmap for handling escalations by defining roles, responsibilities, and the chain of command within a contact center.
At its core, an Escalation Matrix answers one critical question: Who should be contacted for emergency de-escalation? Instead of leaving agents scrambling to find the right person, this structured process ensures that every escalation is handled efficiently by the most qualified team member.
A well-designed Escalation Matrix consists of:
Imagine a customer calls a contact center about a billing issue that an agent cannot resolve due to system limitations. According to the Escalation Matrix:
Strategic-level decisions are needed to reduce call escalations by researching the problem areas and understanding patterns. Factors as simple as access to updated information in the internal knowledge base or a poorly coached agent could be the bottleneck.
Escalated calls can be analyzed using Contact Center AI, a technology that uses advanced Natural Language Processing and Speech Recognition technology to analyze 100% of the calls and enable call center agents by automating quality assurance, coaching analytics, and providing performance insights.
The Internal Knowledge Base (IKB) needs continuous updates to give agents quick and easy access to relevant information about processes, products or services. This reduces the need for escalations. The agents ' training and development must be aligned with the updated information in the IKB.
Analyzing call escalations, finding loopholes, and identifying areas of inefficiencies and redundancies are important to reduce call escalations and reinvent the process.
With the right technology, QA teams can deep dive into individual agent performance and accurately find the root cause of escalations. Agents can then be coached accordingly, making the process more efficient, customer-friendly, and cost-effective to save a ton of time.
One company that successfully tackled call escalations using AI-driven solutions is Root Insurance. After implementing Observe.AI, Root Insurance improved its call monitoring and agent coaching processes.
This case study highlights how leveraging AI-driven insights and proactive coaching can make a measurable difference in handling escalations.
Call escalation is a formidable challenge for every contact center. Successful handling of it requires a holistic approach involving frontline agents and higher authority.
Agent training and coaching, a continuously updated knowledge base, and well-planned procedures are important pillars for proactively handling the customer’s issue at the tactical level. In the long run, well-executed quality analysis and the use of AI are the most promising tools for finding loopholes and reducing call escalations.
Overall, controlling escalations is important for every contact center to enhance efficiency, save precious resources, and boost customer satisfaction.
