Most companies treat escalations as something to prevent.
If a support ticket reaches Tier 2 or Tier 3, it’s often logged as a failure. The assumption is that the first agent should have solved it, and any handoff signals inefficiency, cost, or breakdown.
But that mindset overlooks something important:
Not all customer issues are simple.
Not all customers want speed over certainty.
And not all agents should be expected to do everything.
Escalation, when done right, isn’t a fallback. It’s a choice. A design decision that recognizes complexity and builds in pathways for smarter resolution. In fact, many of the most trust-building moments in customer service happen during escalations: when the brand shows it knows how to respond to nuance.
Customers don’t just want answers. They want ownership.
The best support experiences often happen when someone says, “Let me take this from here.” It’s the moment a customer feels like the company is fully engaged. That their issue isn’t just being handled but taken seriously.
But that kind of moment doesn’t happen when escalation is treated like a last resort. It happens when escalation is planned for: when it’s built into the workflow, not tacked on when things go off track.
Unfortunately, many BPOs still operate with a containment-first model. Agents are instructed to “hold the ticket,” “deflect the call,” or “try to resolve without escalation.” The goal is to protect the higher-tier team from being overloaded.
The customer doesn’t care about that.
What they care about is getting their issue resolved without repeating themselves three times or being bounced from queue to queue.
The cost of poor escalation design
When escalation paths are unclear or discouraged, several things happen:
Tickets ping-pong between agents. The first agent tries to solve the issue but lacks the access, training, or authority. The customer repeats their story with the next person. And again. Each retelling increases frustration.
Support teams lose credibility. When front-line agents hedge or delay, it signals to the customer that no one really knows what’s going on, or worse, no one is willing to take ownership.
Internal silos widen. Tier 1 and Tier 2 operate in isolation, leading to misaligned handoffs, missing information, and inconsistent decisions.
All of this creates drag. The support interaction becomes slower, more costly, and more damaging to the brand.
What escalation should look like
The difference at Nectar is that we don’t treat escalation as a failure metric. We treat it as a customer signal.
It tells us: this issue matters more. The risk is higher. The frustration is real. And the customer needs a response that reflects that.
Here’s how we approach it:
Tier 1 agents are trained to recognize patterns, not just follow scripts. They know when to escalate. Not because they’ve hit a time limit, but because they sense the limits of their authority or insight.
Tier 2 and 3 support is not buried behind layers. When a customer is escalated, they’re brought into a new level of service, not pushed into a black box. The tone, speed, and ownership improve.
Information travels forward. No customer should ever have to repeat their story. A real escalation carries the context with it.
This isn’t about creating VIP service for escalated tickets. It’s about making sure support design reflects how people behave. The truth is, most customers are reasonable. They escalate when they need to. Not to test the system, but because they’ve reached a point where general help is no longer enough.
Escalation done right builds confidence
There’s a subtle power in being told, “I’ve got this.” It resets the tone. It calms frustration. It signals accountability.
Customers don’t expect perfection. They expect resolution. And resolution often comes from knowing when to pass the baton. Cleanly, quickly, and with care.
When your escalation strategy works, customers walk away feeling like your company is competent, responsive, and serious about solving problems. Not because everything was handled at Tier 1. But because someone knew when to step in, and how to follow through.
That’s not a breakdown. That’s maturity.
