Customer escalation management: process, examples, and best practices

Lack of a consistent escalation process

Many businesses lack a clearly defined escalation process for customer service, which causes confusion and delays. Without clear guidelines, your team may struggle to determine when and how to escalate issues, which creates an inconsistent customer experience.

High escalation volumes

A high number of escalations will overwhelm your customer service teams. This then leads to longer response times and lower service quality. This is especially challenging for industries like hospitality and automotive, where quick resolutions are important in maintaining customer trust.

Limited resources or agent empowerment

If your team does not have the authority to resolve certain issues or access the right resources, escalations can drag on unnecessarily. Without proper training and tools, your frontline customer service team may struggle to manage escalations effectively, leading to unhappy customers.

Poor communication between teams

Escalations often require collaboration between multiple departments. However, if communication between teams is slow or disorganized, escalated cases can be delayed, leading to frustrated customers and service bottlenecks. For example, in a car dealership, if a warranty dispute escalates but the service team is unaware of the issue, the resolution process takes a long time and the customer gets more stressed with the more time that passes.

Lack of real-time visibility into escalations

Businesses that rely on manual tracking can often struggle to monitor escalations. Without a centralised system to track cases, customer concerns may get lost or overlooked, increasing response times and leading to unhappy customers. With a customer support platform that has automated escalation tracking you can prevent these types of issues from coming up.

1. Create a clear escalation framework

One of the biggest challenges in customer escalation management is the lack of structure.
You should try to create a clear escalation process for customer service that explains:

• When an issue should be escalated
• Who is responsible at each escalation level
• The expected resolution time for each stage

For example, in a hotel, a minor complaint about room cleanliness may go to housekeeping, while a serious safety concern should be escalated directly to management. Clear guidelines prevent confusion and ensure that escalations are moved to the right person so that they can be resolved more quickly.

2. Empower frontline customer service staff to resolve issues

Not all escalations are necessary. Sometimes, a member of your team lacks the authority or tools to solve a problem that could have been handled without escalation. By providing proper training and allowing frontline staff to make some decisions—such as issuing refunds within set limits— you can reduce unnecessary escalations that cost time, resources and often have a negative impact on customer experience.

For instance, a restaurant server empowered to offer a free dessert for a delayed meal prevents the issue from escalating to the manager.

3. Use automation to manage escalations

Technology can streamline customer service escalation processes by highlighting more urgent issues automatically. Businesses can:

• Set up automated ticketing systems that flag unresolved issues
• Use AI-powered chatbots to handle simple inquiries and escalate complex issues
• Implement real-time alerts when service level agreements (SLAs) are at risk

For example, an automotive company can use automation to detect when a service complaint remains unresolved for too long and escalate it to a supervisor before it turns into a more serious dispute.

4. Train teams to handle escalations effectively

Escalations are often emotional situations where customers are frustrated or dissatisfied. Training teams on de-escalation techniques, active listening, and clear communication can create better customer experiences where they feel heard and valued.

Role-playing exercises, mentorship programs, and customer service scripts can help your team build confidence in managing difficult situations before they require escalation.

5. Develop clear escalation paths and an escalation matrix

Not all escalations follow the same path. You should create a structured customer service escalation process that explains how different issues should be handled across various support channels, such as phone, email, and social media.

An escalation matrix will help your teams to identify the appropriate steps for different types of escalations. This structured approach ensures that urgent issues are handled quickly while preventing minor concerns from unnecessarily reaching senior management.

Key elements of an escalation matrix include:

• Issue categorisation: Identifying whether an escalation is functional (requiring technical expertise) or hierarchical (requiring authority).
• Priority levels: Defining which cases require immediate attention and which can be handled within standard response times.
• Routing guidelines: Outlining which team members or departments should handle each type of escalation.

6. Avoid unnecessary escalations

While escalations are sometimes necessary, over-escalating minor issues can slow down resolutions and frustrate both customers and support teams. Encouraging employees to fully explore all the available solutions before escalating can reduce workload for senior staff.

For instance, a customer enquiring about a simple policy clarification should not have to wait for a manager if a trained agent can give them the information they need. Businesses can reduce unnecessary escalations by:

• Providing comprehensive training on problem-solving techniques
• Allowing agents to offer goodwill gestures within set limits
• Encouraging collaboration among team members to resolve issues at lower levels

7. Monitor and analyse escalations for continuous improvement

Tracking and reviewing escalations will help your business identify recurring issues, training gaps, and potential service improvements. Regular review of escalated cases can reveal:

• The most common reasons for escalations
• Whether certain escalations could have been resolved at a lower level
• Patterns that indicate larger systemic problems, such as product faults or unclear policies

For example, if a retail company notices frequent escalations related to order cancellations, it may need to simplify its refund policy or enhance its self-service options. Businesses can use escalation data to refine processes, update training materials, and improve overall service efficiency.

8. Improve self-service support options

Many escalations occur because customers struggle to find answers on their own. Strengthening self-service options can help reduce the need for direct support while empowering customers to resolve minor issues on their own. Effective self-service tools include:

• A well-organised FAQ page covering common concerns
• A searchable knowledge base with step-by-step guides
• AI chatbots that can answer simple questions and escalate complex issues when necessary

For example, an automotive company can provide an interactive troubleshooting guide for common vehicle problems, helping customers diagnose issues before contacting support. By making self-service easy to use and informative, you can reduce the number of escalations that happen while improving customer experience.

1. Billink: Meeting high customer response time expectations

Billink, a buy now, pay later company, prioritises fast and efficient customer support to maintain trust. Given the urgency of payment-related queries, they needed a streamlined customer service escalation process to handle high volumes of customer interactions while ensuring quick resolutions.

By using Trengo’s automation tools, Billink implemented a flowbot that collects key customer details before routing escalations to the appropriate team. This approach ensures that frontline support can resolve common issues quickly while more complex cases are escalated to specialists without unnecessary delays.

Results:

• 200+ customer queries handled by the flowbot each week
• WhatsApp response times under five minutes
• Live Chat responses in just three minutes

2. Instant Brands: Seamless escalation between teams

Instant Brands, the parent company of well-known kitchenware brands like Pyrex and Instant Pot, relies on seamless collaboration between its marketing and customer service teams to manage escalations effectively.

Since social media is a primary customer service channel for their brand, Instant Brands ensures that support cases from platforms like X (formerly Twitter) are automatically escalated to Salesforce. This allows the customer service team to track and resolve product replacement requests or defect complaints efficiently.