Customers tend to leave a business mostly because they think that the company does not care about its presence. A business relies on the money of a customer and this makes the customer skeptical whether companies prioritize revenue over customer experience. In fact, stats prove it. 68% of the customers leave a company because they believe that they are not valued. All we do is wait for an ideal process to be put in place that deals with such issues and gives a backseat to the incidents and manages the customer’s concerns well.

Such a management technique is customer escalation management. With intact customer escalation management in the picture, your team gets equipped with tricky customer conversations and navigates through seamlessly. There is more to it. If you wish to know it all, scroll on to discover the rest. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

1. What is Customer Escalation Management?
2. What is the Escalation Management Process Diagram?
3. Benefits of Escalation Management Process

What is Customer Escalation Management?

In simple terms, when a customer reaches out to the customer service rep in search of a solution. Now if this rep is not equipped with an instant answer, he will most likely pass it on to his colleague or to a senior employee of the team. Now, the management of this whole scenario with the right processes and tools is called as customer escalation management. Once we dig into the customer escalation management process diagram, you will have thorough knowledge about the subject. Let us get to it.

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What is the Escalation Management Process Diagram?

Generally, an escalation manager creates the process of this escalation matrix in the following four steps. This includes:

1. Define Decision Categories: The first and foremost job of an escalation manager here is to segregate the concerns and brand them under their categories, such as finance, technical, functional, staffing etc. Next, they ensure that not a lot of concerns are undertaken at the same time, as that would just overburden the process. This relatively holds true when handling a new product development as there is inherently more risk involved.
2. Determine the Escalation Procedure: The basic principle that escalation managers abide by when putting up this escalation procedure is by starting at the lowest level. As some of the decision categories have parallel or cross-functional communications, the escalation manager ensures that the issues do not cross over against one another.
3. Elaborate the Key Contributors: The complexity and size of an escalated issue can vary. Hence, it is in the best interest of the escalation manager to look for dual communication paths, wherein the functional contributors seem alike and merge them accordingly. This not only removes the escalations but also saves time easily. Further, it leads to rapid decision making too.
4. Reviewing with the Management: Finally, it is vital to get the agreement of the entire management team before a solution is all set to be passed. It is pertinent to be signed off by the management. This is the final step in the escalation management process and thus the management has to declare that the escalation has been cleared from their end.

Benefits of Escalation Management Process

1. Enhances Accountability and Accuracy: It is more than necessary to bring in accountability into the team dealing with escalations. Once you have the right customer escalation management intact, you will know where exactly is the issue at a given point of time, accurately. This reduces the number of loopholes in the system and ensures accountability throughout.
2. Reduces Time and Resources too: When you have an escalation manager to look into the escalation management process, there is a fair chance that the escalation is in the right hands and well taken care of. As escalation manager follows the four steps discussed earlier and ensures that the right solution is given to the issue. This helps in saving a ton of time and resources for the company.
3. Lessens the number of Delays: When you are piled up with escalations one on top of the other, it becomes cumbersome to attend to each one of them in given time duration. At the end of the day, you must deliver your products to the market in a stipulated time frame and ensure that your customers have their solutions before they churn out. Putting up a firm escalation management process in place sees that the delays in producing solutions are rectified and reduced.
4. Educates the New Team Members: The process of onboarding and hiring new staff is always on the run. On that note, you also want that the newer staff is well equipped with the right answers and tools from the beginning itself. Thus, having an escalation management process will see that the new members learn quickly and seamlessly and make their decisions as fast as possible.

Parting Thoughts

It is a given that escalations will take place in a company and there is no such brand that does not frequent escalations from time to time. The pivotal aim here is to reduce the number of escalations and give lesser room for that. One of the best ways of ensuring that is via stellar escalation management. Start off by recording every instance of escalation that you see. By doing so, you will be able to learn the causes behind the common or recurring issues and different service patterns that cause friction. Additionally, you may see weaknesses in other departments too that you work with. In the end, what truly matters is the satisfaction of your users.

WRITTEN BYJoseph Henson

Highly accomplished, motivated, and adaptable sales and operations professional with a track record of successful leadership. Known for an empathetic and consultative approach that consistently exceeds growth and revenue goals.

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