--- name: customer-escalation description: Package an escalation for engineering, product, or leadership with full context. Use when a bug needs engineering attention beyond normal support, multiple customers report the same issue, a customer is threatening to churn, or an issue has sat unresolved past its SLA. argument-hint: " [customer name]" --- # /customer-escalation > If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md). Package a support issue into a structured escalation brief for engineering, product, or leadership. Gathers context, structures reproduction steps, assesses business impact, and identifies the right escalation target. ## Usage ``` /customer-escalation [customer name or account] ``` Examples: - `/customer-escalation API returning 500 errors intermittently for Acme Corp` - `/customer-escalation Data export is missing rows — 3 customers reported this week` - `/customer-escalation SSO login loop affecting all Enterprise customers` - `/customer-escalation Customer threatening to churn over missing audit log feature` ## Workflow ### 1. Understand the Issue Parse the input and determine: - **What's broken or needed**: The core technical or product issue - **Who's affected**: Specific customer(s), segment, or all users - **How long**: When did this start? How long has the customer been waiting? - **What's been tried**: Any troubleshooting or workarounds attempted - **Why escalate now**: What makes this need attention beyond normal support Use the "When to Escalate vs. Handle in Support" criteria below to confirm this warrants escalation. ### 2. Gather Context Pull together relevant information from available sources: - **~~support platform**: Related tickets, timeline of communications, previous troubleshooting - **~~CRM** (if connected): Account details, key contacts, previous escalations - **~~chat**: Internal discussions about this issue, similar reports from other customers - **~~project tracker** (if connected): Related bug reports or feature requests, engineering status - **~~knowledge base**: Known issues or workarounds, relevant documentation ### 3. Assess Business Impact Using the impact dimensions below, quantify: - **Breadth**: How many customers/users affected? Growing? - **Depth**: Blocked vs. inconvenienced? - **Duration**: How long has this been going on? - **Revenue**: ARR at risk? Pending deals affected? - **Time pressure**: Hard deadline? ### 4. Determine Escalation Target Using the escalation tiers below, identify the right target: L2 Support, Engineering, Product, Security, or Leadership. ### 5. Structure Reproduction Steps (for bugs) If the issue is a bug, follow the reproduction step best practices below to document clear repro steps with environment details and evidence. ### 6. Generate Escalation Brief ``` ## ESCALATION: [One-line summary] **Severity:** [Critical / High / Medium] **Target team:** [Engineering / Product / Security / Leadership] **Reported by:** [Your name/team] **Date:** [Today's date] ### Impact - **Customers affected:** [Who and how many] - **Workflow impact:** [What they can't do] - **Revenue at risk:** [If applicable] - **Time in queue:** [How long this has been an issue] ### Issue Description [Clear, concise description of the problem — 3-5 sentences] ### What's Been Tried 1. [Troubleshooting step and result] 2. [Troubleshooting step and result] 3. [Troubleshooting step and result] ### Reproduction Steps [If applicable — follow the format below] 1. [Step] 2. [Step] 3. [Step] Expected: [X] Actual: [Y] Environment: [Details] ### Customer Communication - **Last update to customer:** [Date and what was communicated] - **Customer expectation:** [What they're expecting and by when] - **Escalation risk:** [Will they escalate further if not resolved by X?] ### What's Needed - [Specific ask — "investigate root cause", "prioritize fix", "make product decision on X", "approve exception for Y"] - **Deadline:** [When this needs resolution or an update] ### Supporting Context - [Related tickets or links] - [Internal discussion threads] - [Documentation or logs] ``` ### 7. Offer Next Steps After generating the escalation: - "Want me to post this in a ~~chat channel for the target team?" - "Should I update the customer with an interim response?" - "Want me to set a follow-up reminder to check on this?" - "Should I draft a customer-facing update with the current status?" --- ## When to Escalate vs. Handle in Support ### Handle in Support When: - The issue has a documented solution or known workaround - It's a configuration or setup issue you can resolve - The customer needs guidance or training, not a fix - The issue is a known limitation with a documented alternative - Previous similar tickets were resolved at the support level ### Escalate When: - **Technical**: Bug confirmed and needs a code fix, infrastructure investigation needed, data corruption or loss - **Complexity**: Issue is beyond support's ability to diagnose, requires access support doesn't have, involves custom implementation - **Impact**: Multiple customers affected, production system down, data integrity at risk, security concern - **Business**: High-value customer at risk, SLA breach imminent or occurred, customer requesting executive involvement - **Time**: Issue has been open beyond SLA, customer has been waiting unreasonably long, normal support channels aren't progressing - **Pattern**: Same issue reported by 3+ customers, recurring issue that was supposedly fixed, increasing severity over time ## Escalation Tiers ### L1 → L2 (Support Escalation) **From:** Frontline support **To:** Senior support / technical support specialists **When:** Issue requires deeper investigation, specialized product knowledge, or advanced troubleshooting **What to include:** Ticket summary, steps already tried, customer context ### L2 → Engineering **From:** Senior support **To:** Engineering team (relevant product area) **When:** Confirmed bug, infrastructure issue, needs code change, requires system-level investigation **What to include:** Full reproduction steps, environment details, logs or error messages, business impact, customer timeline ### L2 → Product **From:** Senior support **To:** Product management **When:** Feature gap causing customer pain, design decision needed, workflow doesn't match customer expectations, competing customer needs require prioritization **What to include:** Customer use case, business impact, frequency of request, competitive pressure (if known) ### Any → Security **From:** Any support tier **To:** Security team **When:** Potential data exposure, unauthorized access, vulnerability report, compliance concern **What to include:** What was observed, who/what is potentially affected, immediate containment steps taken, urgency assessment **Note:** Security escalations bypass normal tier progression — escalate immediately regardless of your level ### Any → Leadership **From:** Any tier (usually L2 or manager) **To:** Support leadership, executive team **When:** High-revenue customer threatening churn, SLA breach on critical account, cross-functional decision needed, exception to policy required, PR or legal risk **What to include:** Full business context, revenue at risk, what's been tried, specific decision or action needed, deadline ## Business Impact Assessment When escalating, quantify impact where possible: ### Impact Dimensions | Dimension | Questions to Answer | |-----------|-------------------| | **Breadth** | How many customers/users are affected? Is it growing? | | **Depth** | How severely are they impacted? Blocked vs. inconvenienced? | | **Duration** | How long has this been going on? How long until it's critical? | | **Revenue** | What's the ARR at risk? Are there pending deals affected? | | **Reputation** | Could this become public? Is it a reference customer? | | **Contractual** | Are SLAs being breached? Are there contractual obligations? | ### Severity Shorthand - **Critical**: Production down, data at risk, security breach, or multiple high-value customers affected. Needs immediate attention. - **High**: Major functionality broken, key customer blocked, SLA at risk. Needs same-day attention. - **Medium**: Significant issue with workaround, important but not urgent business impact. Needs attention this week. ## Writing Reproduction Steps Good reproduction steps are the single most valuable thing in a bug escalation. Follow these practices: 1. **Start from a clean state**: Describe the starting point (account type, configuration, permissions) 2. **Be specific**: "Click the Export button in the top-right of the Dashboard page" not "try to export" 3. **Include exact values**: Use specific inputs, dates, IDs — not "enter some data" 4. **Note the environment**: Browser, OS, account type, feature flags, plan level 5. **Capture the frequency**: Always reproducible? Intermittent? Only under certain conditions? 6. **Include evidence**: Screenshots, error messages (exact text), network logs, console output 7. **Note what you've ruled out**: "Tested in Chrome and Firefox — same behavior" "Not account-specific — reproduced on test account" ## Follow-up Cadence After Escalation Don't escalate and forget. Maintain ownership of the customer relationship. | Severity | Internal Follow-up | Customer Update | |----------|-------------------|-----------------| | **Critical** | Every 2 hours | Every 2-4 hours (or per SLA) | | **High** | Every 4 hours | Every 4-8 hours | | **Medium** | Daily | Every 1-2 business days | ### Follow-up Actions - Check with the receiving team for progress - Update the customer even if there's no new information ("We're still investigating — here's what we know so far") - Adjust severity if the situation changes (better or worse) - Document all updates in the ticket for audit trail - Close the loop when resolved: confirm with customer, update internal tracking, capture learnings ## De-escalation Not every escalation stays escalated. De-escalate when: - Root cause is found and it's a support-resolvable issue - A workaround is found that unblocks the customer - The issue resolves itself (but still document root cause) - New information changes the severity assessment When de-escalating: - Notify the team you escalated to - Update the ticket with the resolution - Inform the customer of the resolution - Document what was learned for future reference ## Escalation Best Practices 1. Always quantify impact — vague escalations get deprioritized 2. Include reproduction steps for bugs — this is the #1 thing engineering needs 3. Be clear about what you need — "investigate" vs. "fix" vs. "decide" are different asks 4. Set and communicate a deadline — urgency without a deadline is ambiguous 5. Maintain ownership of the customer relationship even after escalating the technical issue 6. Follow up proactively — don't wait for the receiving team to come to you 7. Document everything — the escalation trail is valuable for pattern detection and process improvement --- Attribution added by YourAIKit. It is not part of the upstream file. - Source: https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/tree/main/customer-support/skills/customer-escalation - Credit: Anthropic, Knowledge Work Plugins (customer-support) - Upstream copy: anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins at commit 33d3dea41a341b341d4f5da2e8801ae0c89be2b8, customer-support/skills/customer-escalation/SKILL.md - Copyright: held by the upstream authors credited above - License: Apache-2.0. Full text: https://youraikit.com/licenses/anthropics-knowledge-work-plugins-customer-support/LICENSE - The full upstream license text (LICENSE) follows. License (LICENSE): ```text Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004 http://www.apache.org/licenses/ TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION 1. Definitions. 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