How do you prioritize complaints based on urgency and impact?

Managing complaints is an important skill for any customer service representative. It includes dealing with customer dissatisfaction, resolving issues, and building trust. However, sometimes complaints can be complex, urgent, or high impact and require escalation and follow-up. How do you prioritize complaints based on urgency and impact? How do you escalate it to the right person or department? And how do you approach the customer to ensure satisfaction and retention? In this article, we will share some tips and best practices for managing the escalation and follow-up of complaints.

Rate the complaint

The first step is to evaluate the complaint and determine its urgency and impact. Urgency refers to how quickly the complaint needs to be resolved, based on factors such as the customer’s expectations, potential damage to the relationship, or legal consequences. Impact refers to how much the complaint affects the customer, the company, or other parties involved, based on factors such as the severity of the problem, the number of people involved, or the financial consequences. A simple way to prioritize complaints is to use a matrix that divides them into four categories: low urgency-low impact, low urgency-high impact, high urgency-low impact, and high urgency-high impact.

Escalate the complaint

The next step is to escalate the complaint to the appropriate person or department based on an assessment of urgency and impact. Escalation means referring the complaint to someone with more authority, expertise, or resources to handle it. For example, you might escalate a complaint to a supervisor, manager, specialist, or another department. It is important to follow your organization’s escalation policies and procedures and communicate clearly and respectfully with the customer as well as the person or department you are escalating to. Explain why you are escalating the complaint, what you have done so far and what you expect from them.

Take care of the follow-up with the customer

The last step is to take care of the follow-up with the customer after the complaint has been escalated and resolved. Following up means checking in with the customer to make sure they are happy with the outcome, apologizing for any inconvenience or frustration, and thanking them for their patience and feedback. Follow-up also includes asking for the customer’s opinion on how you handled the complaint and if they have any suggestions for improvement. By doing so, you show that you value his experience and are willing to learn from mistakes. Follow-up can be done by phone, email, or other communication channels, depending on your organization’s policies and the customer’s preferences.