How Automation can Help Customer Service Deal with Ticket Escalation

Nothing drags out a customer support call — or frustrates a customer — more than having to escalate to a higher support tier because the initial responder can’t solve the problem. Fortunately, new automation tools can help identify the appropriate support tier before a customer ever talks to a live representative, ensuring the call is closed quickly and no one’s time is unduly wasted.

The key to predicting the appropriate support level of a customer support request is capturing key data when the customer files the request. If the customer clearly identifies the product in question, and reports a known problem with a known solution, then a Tier 1 support representative can easily handle the support call. If one of those three items is not true, it often falls to a Tier 1 support rep to gather that data and then, only after realizing they can’t handle the issue, escalate to higher support tier.

Automation solutions can help avoid the need for escalation first by improving information capture at the beginning of a support request. When the customer makes a call, sends a message, or completes a request form, an automation system can guide that customer to clearly identify both the product and the problem. With the help of artificial intelligence, this guidance can be conversational, and the automated agent can understand more context so that customers don’t need to repeat themselves or report very narrow keywords in order to get quick service.

Beyond information capture, automation can analyze customer responses to clearly determine if the customer is reporting an issue that both has a known solution and can be solved by a Tier 1 agent. If the solution is unknown, or is simply overly complex, the system can flag a support ticket for pickup by a Tier 2 or higher support representative.

Again, artificial intelligence can add sophistication to this automated analysis, especially in cases where two or more issues are present, or where the customer’s description of the issue is unclear or contradictory.

Given enough practice and effective training data, AI-enhanced support automation can even add a “Tier 0” support level that delivers links to self-serve support articles to customers in cases where their issue has a known, easily implemented solution. (For example, when the customer has simply mis-configured their solution, rather than the solution actually being broken.) Tier 0 solves a customer problem with no intervention from a human support rep.

When tickets are immediately routed to the correct support tier, calls close faster, fewer support reps spend time on the same call, and customers are more satisfied.

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