Customer support BPO · Support operations
Escalation handling
Take an escalated ticket from the first flag to a closed ticket with one owner at every step. The client's team confirms its part through a shared link, and no reply reaches the customer before QA approves it.
- Duration: 1 to 3 days
- How often: For every escalated ticket
- Steps: 9 steps
- AI agents: 2 AI agents
- Approvals: 1 approval
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What changes with this template
Without it
A ticket moves to tier 2 in a chat message, and nobody can say who owns it now.
The fix waits on the client's team while your agents take the follow-up calls.
QA finds the wrong policy in a monthly sample, after the customer has escalated again.
Specialists reread long ticket threads before they can start.
With it
Every escalation has a named owner on each step, and the team sees where it stands.
The client's support lead confirms the fix through a shared link, and the run shows it is blocked until then.
No escalation reply goes out until the QA analyst approves it.
An AI agent summarizes the history, and the specialist checks it before investigating.
The template, step by step
Each step says who does it: someone on your team, an AI agent, or the client through a shared link. An approval keeps every later step locked until it is given.
- Done by your team
- Done by an AI agent
- Done by the client, through a shared link
Starts when
A tier 1 agent flags a ticket that meets the client's escalation criteria. The escalations lead starts a run with the client name and the ticket number.
- 1
Confirm the escalation and assign an owner
Hour 1Escalations lead · Team
Check the ticket against the client's escalation criteria, name the tier 2 specialist who owns it and tell the customer the ticket has been escalated.
Checklist
- Meets the client's escalation criteria
- Customer told the ticket is escalated
- Tier 2 specialist assigned
Fields to fill in
- Client (required)
- Ticket number (required)
- Escalation reason (required)
- Resolution target
- 2
Summarize the ticket history
Hour 1Ticket summarizer · AI agent
The ticket summarizer turns the ticket thread into a timeline: every contact, every promise made to the customer and every fix already tried.
Fields to fill in
- Ticket timeline (required)
- Promises made to the customer
Checked by: The tier 2 specialist checks the timeline against the ticket in step 3.
- 3
Investigate the root cause
Day 1Tier 2 specialist · Team
Check the timeline against the ticket, reproduce the issue and check the account and order details. Email the client's support lead your findings, any correction their team must make and the shared link, and mark the run blocked while you wait on them.
Checklist
- Timeline checked against the ticket
- Issue reproduced
- Account and order details checked
- Client's knowledge base checked
Fields to fill in
- Root cause (required)
- What the client's team must do
- Link to the evidence
- 4
Confirm the correction on the client's side
Days 1 to 2Client support lead · Shared link
The client's support lead makes the correction the specialist asked for by email, or confirms that none is needed, and records it through the shared link.
Checklist
- Correction made in the client's systems
- Customer account shows the change
Fields to fill in
- What was corrected (required)
- Reference number
- 5
Draft the customer reply
Day 2Reply drafter · AI agent
The reply drafter writes the reply from the root cause and the client's confirmation: what went wrong, what was done and what happens next.
Fields to fill in
- Draft reply (required)
Checked by: The tier 2 specialist edits the reply in step 6, and the QA analyst approves it in step 7.
- 6
Edit the reply
Day 2Tier 2 specialist · Team
Read the draft, correct the facts and the tone, and put the final reply in the step.
Checklist
- Facts match the root cause
- Refund or fix dates stated
- Client's macros and tone guide followed
Fields to fill in
- Final reply (required)
- 7
QA reviews the reply and the handling
Hidden from the shared linkDay 2QA analyst · Team
Score the reply and the handling against the client's QA scorecard, and note what to fix if the reply is not ready yet.
Checklist
- Answer is accurate
- Client policy followed
- Tone matches the client's guide
- Root cause recorded
Fields to fill in
- QA score (required)
- QA note
Approval: The send and close-out steps stay locked until the QA analyst approves the reply.
- 8
Send the reply and close the ticket
Day 2Tier 2 specialist · Team
Send the approved reply from the helpdesk, close the ticket and record when it was closed.
Checklist
- Approved reply sent
- Ticket closed in the helpdesk
Fields to fill in
- Ticket closed on (required)
- 9
Log the root cause for the client review
Day 3Client account manager · Team
Record the root cause category and any help article or macro that needs an update, so the client's monthly review shows the pattern.
Checklist
- Root cause category set
- Help article or macro update requested
Fields to fill in
- Root cause category (required)
- Follow-up for the client
Done when
The customer has a QA-approved answer, the ticket is closed, and the root cause is logged for the client's monthly review.
Make it yours. Rename steps, change owners and add checklist items, fields or approvals. The template is a starting point for the way your team works.
The AI agents in this template
An agent only works on its own steps, and a person on your team checks what it did. Anything an agent writes to a connected app waits for approval unless you allow it.
Ticket summarizer
Turns the ticket history into a timeline of contacts, promises and fixes already tried.
What it does
- Reads the ticket details from step 1 and the ticket thread in the helpdesk, when it is connected
- Lists every contact, promise and attempted fix in order
- Writes the timeline into its step
- Completes its step, so the investigation can start
Checked by: The tier 2 specialist checks the timeline against the ticket in step 3.
Reply drafter
Drafts the customer reply from the root cause and the correction the client confirmed.
What it does
- Reads the root cause from step 3 and the correction confirmed in step 4
- Follows the tone rules in its step instructions
- Writes the draft reply into its step
- Completes its step, so the specialist can edit it
Checked by: The tier 2 specialist edits the reply in step 6, and the QA analyst approves it in step 7.
Questions this template answers
Keep one escalation template per client, with that client's criteria, contacts and QA checklist in the steps. In step 1 the escalations lead checks the ticket against that client's criteria before naming an owner.
Give every escalation one named owner from the first hour, and keep its status where the whole team can see it. Step 1 records the ticket number and the assigned tier 2 specialist, and the run shows which step the escalation is waiting on.
Ask for exactly what you need in one place, and make the wait visible. In step 3 the specialist emails the client's support lead the request and marks the run blocked, and in step 4 the support lead confirms the correction through a shared link.
Let AI do the reading and the first draft, and keep the judgment with your specialists. In step 2 an AI agent summarizes the ticket history and in step 5 another drafts the reply, and the specialist checks both in steps 3 and 6.
Make QA approval a condition for sending, not a sample taken weeks later. Step 7 is an approval gate: the send and close-out steps stay locked until the QA analyst approves the reply against the scorecard.
Keep the record on the escalation itself instead of rebuilding it from chat and email. On the shared link the client's support lead sees who completed each step and when, and step 9 logs the root cause for the client's monthly review.
Run this workflow in OKiDO
Set up the steps, owners and approvals once, then start a run for every new case.