Chapter 13

Providing Excellent Customer Service

In This Chapter

Having cases created directly from e-mail messages

Setting up case rules

Seeing cases from inquiry to resolution

NetSuite has a very solid customer service and support solution to round out the customer relationship management features. Case automation preferences allow you to send the cases from the highest profile (or most difficult) customers to the smoothest talker, or escalate cases that have been open too long or concern certain subjects to experts or managers.

In this chapter, you find out about many of NetSuite’s customer service features. You read about how to set up case rules so that cases can be automatically assigned as well as how to create cases.

To read how to create a knowledge base and how to help customers help them-selves, check out this book’s Web site at www.dummies.com/go/netsuitefd.

To follow the steps in this chapter, you must have a support role, such as Support Manager, Support Administrator, or Support Person. Where noted, you’ll need an Administrator role.

Setting Up Case Routing and Notification

Before you accept customer service cases through NetSuite, consider any rules you want to set up for automatically routing cases to certain employees or groups. When you set up automatic routing rules and assignments, cases that meet your criteria are automatically assigned to the correct employees or teams. Automatic routing is especially useful if most of your cases come in by e-mail or online.

Setting up routing begins with creating case rules, which are the criteria for the cases that will be routed. Then, you set up case territories, which assign the cases that meet those rules to the correct employees. You can then set up e-mail notification for employees to let them know that they have a new case waiting for their response in the queue.

Creating case rules and territories

Case rules are basically saved searches using specific information from the case record. You can create case rules, just to name a few criteria, based on

Number of days open

Customer name

Customer location

Certain keywords in the incoming message

Keep in mind that you can group rules when you create territories and decide whether all the rules (or just any one rule) in the group must be met for the case to be assigned. For example, you may create a rule for a case about returns and another rule for a case from a customer in California. When you create the territory to assign the case, you can decide that a case must be regarding returns and from a customer in California to be assigned to John Smith, your West Coast return manager.

Create a case rule

You need to be a support manager to create a case rule:

1. From the Setup tab menu choose Support⇒Set Up Case Rules⇒New.

The Select a Case Rule Field page appears.

2. Click a link to select the type of information that you want to base your rules on.

The New Case Field Rule page (see Figure 13-1) appears after you choose a link. The fields on each page depend on the type of field you chose for your rule.

3. On the New Case Field Rule page, enter a name for your rule in the Name field; then choose a criteria and select one or more values for the particular field.

For example, if you selected Customer as your field, you can create a rule that gives preference to a particular customer by choosing that customer from the list of customers.

4. Click the Save button.

Figure 13-1: Create criteria for cases that need automated assignment on the Case Field Rule page.

Continue setting rules with different criteria based on all the ways you may assign employees to cases. After you finish creating case rules, you need to assign them to employees using case territories.

Create a case territory

To create a case territory:

1. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Manage Case Territories⇒New.

The New Case Territory page appears, as shown in Figure 13-2.

2. Type a name in the Name field.

3. Type a territory description in the Description field.

4. Select one of the radio buttons:

• Match All Rules

• Match Any Rules

This determines whether the criteria must be met on all rules you add (versus any one of the rules you add) to assign a case to this territory. For example, you may set up rules by customer name and company name and select the Match Any Rules radio button to cover all your bases. This way if the case came in with a customer name of Sam’s Slightly Soggy Sandwiches or with a company name of Sam’s Slightly Soggy Sandwiches, you’d still get the case assigned properly.

5. Choose the Configure Rule Definitions tab.

6. From the Apply Rule drop-down list, select a rule with criteria for cases that should be assigned to a certain person or group.

You select one of the rules you defined earlier.

7. Click the Add button.

Repeat as needed to add more rules.

8. Choose the Support Assignment tab.

9. From the Support Rep drop-down list, choose each person or group that should be assigned to cases that meet the criteria of the attached rules.

Sally Sue Smith is the preferred sales rep for all support cases coming from Sam’s Slightly Soggy Sandwiches problems.

Employees or groups must have the Support Rep or Support Group check box selected on the record to be chosen here. If you select more than one support person or group, cases that come in with this criteria are assigned one by one down the list, round-robin style.

10. Click the Add button.

11. Click the Save button.

Figure 13-2: Combine rules with support reps on the Case Territory page.

Continue setting up territories for each set of criteria and person or group that needs to be assigned to cases. New cases are automatically assigned based on your criteria and groupings. Existing cases aren’t affected.

Reassign existing cases

If you have outstanding cases that need to be reassigned because of employee or group changes, use the Territory Reassignment tool.

To reassign existing cases:

1. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Territory Reassignment.

A mass update page appears.

2. Choose the Criteria tab.

3. From the Filter drop-down list, choose cases that need to be reassigned.

For example, if an employee leaves the company or goes on vacation, you’ll reassign her cases. In this case, you’d select Assigned To from the Filter drop-down list.

A pop-up window with possible values appears.

4. Enter or select the information you want, and click the Set button.

5. Click the Preview button.

Now you can see which cases are affected.

6. Deselect the check box next to any cases that shouldn’t be reassigned.

7. Click the Save button.

Stilled-checked cases from this list are updated to the new assignment.

Setting up notifications for support reps and customers

Better customer service comes with talking to your customers. You can automate this process to some degree with e-mail notifications. NetSuite allows you to send automatic e-mail notifications via custom templates with the following actions:

Confirm with the customer when a customer creates a case in the Customer Center.

Notify the customer of different scenarios, including when a support rep creates a case internally for the customer. (Figure 13-3 shows a sample of this e-mail.)

Notify the main support e-mail address when a case is created from the Customer Center.

Confirm with the customer when a case is created using e-mail case capture (a feature that allows you to handle e-mails sent to an address like support@yourcompany.com).

Confirm that cases are created for every case e-mail received.

Confirm that cases have been created for everyone who received a CC of a case e-mail.

Notify support reps when they’re assigned to a case.

Notify support reps when a case they’re assigned to is updated.

Notify employees who have cases escalated to them when the escalated case is updated.

Figure 13-3: You can notify customers when a support rep creates a case.

You can set up these notifications on the Support Preferences page:

1. From the Setup tab menu choose Support⇒Support Preferences.

2. Choose the Notification tab.

You can set up automatic e-mail notification for case creation, inbound customer case capture (your support e-mail address), assignment, updates, escalation, and closure.

3. Select the check boxes for those who should get the e-mail in each of these cases.

4. From the drop-down list, select templates for e-mail notifications.

Here is where you determine which templates are used in which situation.

5. Click Save.

You can edit notification templates by choosing Setup⇒Company⇒System Email Templates.

You can click any field to get a full description of the setting.

Allowing Customers to Submit Cases Online

If you want to offer customers the opportunity to submit questions and problems via the Web, you have two options. We encourage you to use them both:

Allow customers to submit cases through the Customer Center. The Customer Center allows customers to log in to view past cases and submit new ones. The Customer Center is controlled by the Customer Access feature and discussed in detail in the next section, “Accepting cases through the Customer Center.”

Create an online form that’s linked to your Web site. You can link to an online form whether or not you use a Web site built in NetSuite. Using an online form does not require a customer to be logged in — anyone who visits your site can click your link and fill out the form. Even better, the information is saved from the form in a Lead record if the site visitor has never registered with you before.

Accepting cases through the Customer Center

Customers can submit cases through the Customer Center when you enable both the Customer Support and Service and Customer Access features. Administrators should enable the features from the Setup tab menu by choosing Company⇒Enable Features.

On the CRM tab, select the Customer Support and Service check box.

On the Web Presence tab, select the Customer Access check box.

By default, the case-entry form that customers use in the Customer Center (shown in Figure 13-4) is a slightly modified version of the case form you see in your very own NetSuite account when you contact NetSuite for support.

Before giving customers access to the Customer Center, or shortly after you enable the Customer Service and Support feature, customize the case form with any changes you want to make. For example, you may not want customers to see the Copy Employees field or have access to Escalation information.

You may also want to add fields to this form to capture all the details and be more effective at resolving the case. For information on customizing forms, see Chapter 25.

Figure 13-4: You can customize the default external case form.

Use an online form for cases submitted through the Customer Center

You can use an online case form for cases submitted through the Customer Center. If you choose to do this, skip ahead to the “Accepting cases through your Web site” section to create your online form.

1. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Support Preferences.

2. Choose the External tab.

3. Select the name of the online form in the Default Customer Center Case Form drop-down list.

Add fields to forms

Here’s how to create fields you want to add to this form:

1. From the Setup tab menu choose Customization⇒CRM Fields⇒New.

The Custom CRM Field page appears.

2. In the Label field, type the name of the new field.

3. From the Type drop-down list, select what type of field this should be.

• List/Record: If customers will choose from a drop-down list. Form here, you must decide what type of list customers will select from.

• Long Text: If this will be a large text-entry field.

4. Select the Store Value check box unless this field will be display only.

5. On the Applies To tab, select the Case check box.

6. On the Display tab, choose from the drop-down lists:

• Insert Before

• Tab

• Display Type

This setting decides how and where this field should be displayed.

7. (Optional) On the Validation & Defaulting tab, choose the Mandatory or Check Spelling check boxes.

8. (Optional) Enter values in the Maximum Length and Default Values fields.

9. Choose from the Source List and Source From drop-down lists.

This sets your preferences for pulling information from other fields and records.

10. On the Access tab, choose the Role tab.

11. Choose Customer Center from the drop-down list.

12. Click the Add button.

13. Click the Save button.

Add or remove Customer Center form fields

Here’s how to add or remove fields on this form:

1. From the Setup menu tab choose Customization⇒Entry Forms.

The Custom Entry Forms page appears.

2. Click the Customize link.

It shows up next to the Standard External Case Form link.

3. Type a name for your custom form in the Name field.

Your custom form is saved as a new form, and this name helps you identify it.

4. Leave the following fields set to their default settings:

• Enable Field Editing on Lists — Selected: This allows the form to be edited.

• Store Form with Record — Deselected: Normally this check box is selected, but you don’t want this used internally for external forms; you just want the data from the form.

• Form Is Preferred — Selected: This selection makes this form the default in the Customer Center.

5. On the Tabs tab, select the check boxes next to the tabs you want shown on the form.

For example, if you haven’t created any custom fields to show on this form, clear the Custom check box to hide that tab.

6. (Optional) Edit the name of a tab by typing the name in the Label field.

7. On the Fields tab, select the Show check box next to each field that should show on the form.

If you prefer, you can also do these things:

• Select the Mandatory check box to make a field mandatory for submittal.

• Choose how a field displays via the Display Type drop-down list.

• Change the label by replacing the text in the Label field.

We recommend the following changes as an example for customizing the external case form:

• Custom Form: Deselect the Show check box.

• Contact: Select the Mandatory check box.

• Email: From the Display Type drop-down list; select Normal.

• Phone: From the Display Type drop-down list; select Normal.

• Origin: Deselect the Show check box.

Select the Show check box next to each custom field that should show on your customized entry form.

8. (Optional) On the Lists tab, select the Show check box.

On the Interactions tab, we recommend you select only the Show check box for Messages.

9. (Optional) On the General tab, select the Show check box next to Files.

That allows customers to attach files (such as images). You can’t add files to a case until the case is saved.

If you choose to show the Files list, you may want to add a custom Help field using the previous set of steps, which explains how to save the case and then open it to add files.

If you need to add custom behavior to this form, do so on the Custom Code tab. More information on custom code is in Chapter 23.

10. On the Roles tab, select the Customer Center check box.

11. Click the Save button.

If you select the Form Is Preferred check box, this form is automatically used in the Customer Center, and you’re ready for the barrage of questions (never problems, of course) about your products or services.

If you don’t make the form preferred, or if you have trouble getting the form to show in the Customer Center, set the form as the default for the Customer Center on the Support Preferences page:

1. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Support Preferences.

2. On the External tab, select your form in the Default Customer Center Case Form drop-down list.

Accepting cases through your Web site

If you want customers to submit cases through your Web site, you can create an online form that includes the information most important for creating a case. When customers submit this form, a case record in NetSuite is automatically created.

You can make a Web site case form one of three ways:

Create an HTML form on your own by using CRMSDK tags and then uploading it to NetSuite.

Create a form from scratch by using a text editor within NetSuite.

Create a form by customizing the default template in NetSuite.

Create an online case form

To create an online case form:

1. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Online Case Forms⇒New.

The Select Type page appears.

2. Choose the link for type of form you want to create:

• Default Form Template: Create forms based on NetSuite’s default template.

• Custom HTML Template: Use forms you’ve already created in HTML or forms you want to create in HTML within NetSuite with a code editor and field selector.

3. Enter a title for the form in the Title field.

This title appears at the top of the page when it’s online.

4. If you’re using the default template, enter a message for your form in the Message field.

This message shows at the top of your form and can include up to 500 HTML characters.

You can also enter a longer message on the Detail Message tab. The detailed message, which shows at the bottom of the form, can include up to 4,000 HTML characters.

5. If you’re using a custom HTML template, choose from one of the following:

• Select the template you want to use in the Template drop-down list. This assumes it’s already uploaded to the File Cabinet.

• If you haven’t created a template, choose New from the Template drop-down list. On the Template tab, choose the Online Form Template page and select the Text Editor radio button. In the HTML Source Code field, paste or type the HTML and use the Field Type and Insert Field drop-down lists to add the tags for fields from customer and case records to your form. Click the Save button when you finish.

6. Select the Enable Online check box.

This allows you to link to this form online.

7. On the Select Fields tab, select a field from the Title drop-down list.

8. Enter the title and size in the Title and Width fields.

9. Click the Add button for each field that you want customers to fill out when submitting a case.

Select the Mandatory check box to make it necessary for customers to fill in the field before they submit the form.

The basics are now created, and you have an online form that looks similar to the one in Figure 13-5.

10. If you’re finished, click the Save button.

Note: If you want to set preferences for how cases are submitted by this form, continue to the following step list.

Figure 13-5: A standard online case form.

Set up workflow for your form

To set up workflow for your form:

1. On the Set Up Workflow tab, select the Create Customers as Companies check box (if most of your customers are companies, not individuals).

This preference is only used if someone who doesn’t yet have a record in your account creates a case using this form.

2. From the Set Case Origin drop-down list, choose what should show as the origin on cases submitted with this form.

You can add selections by choosing the Setup tab menu and selecting Support⇒Case Origin Types⇒New.

3. Select a template from the Template drop-down list.

This option is for e-mail that should be sent to customers when they submit a case.

4. To send an e-mail automatically to customers who select this case, select new from the Send Auto-Reply Email.

Select New to upload a new template.

5. Type the subject for this auto-reply e-mail in the Subject field.

6. Select the Send Email Notification check box to have an e-mail automatically sent to the support rep being assigned to the case.

In the CC field, you can copy any e-mail addresses on the support rep’s notification e-mail.

7. Choose an option from the Handle Duplicate Records drop-down list.

This determines how to update records when a customer submits a case with information that’s different from what you have on record.

8. If you’re finished setting up your form, click the Save button.

Note: To set appearance settings, such as the color theme and font, continue to the following step list.

Change form appearance

To set up the appearance of your form:

1. On the Set Up Appearance tab, choose the Number of Columns Shown field.

Many of these settings are straightforward, but if you get stumped on a field, you can always click it to get more information.

2. Choose a theme from the Color Theme field.

For example, you can use a theme that matches your Web site or logo.

If none of these color themes are suitable, create a new color theme by choosing Setup⇒Web Site.

3. From the Font drop-down list, select the type to use for fields and text on your form.

Unfortunately, you can’t add fonts to this list. The only way to use a custom font on a form is to create a custom HTML template for your form.

4. (Optional) Select the Unlayered Sections check box.

Choose this if you want customers to scroll down to fill in more fields. This avoids you having to organize fields on tabs.

5. From the Button Alignment drop-down list, choose the Submit button alignment:

• Line up on the right

• Line up on the left

• Center of the page

6. In the Form Logo drop-down list, select an image from your File Cabinet to show at the top of this form.

Preferably, you’ll choose your company’s logo.

To upload a new file, select New.

7. Click the Save button.

Edit form properties

An External tab, where you can edit the properties of the form, is automatically added to the record when you save an online case form.

To edit a form, follow these steps:

1. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Online Case Forms.

2. Click the Edit link next to the form you want to change.

You see a new External tab.

3. On the External tab, find the Internal Form URL and the Publishable Form URL for linking to your form.

• The Internal Form URL can link to this form from the Customer Center or link to internal support cases from your own account. For more information about internal case handling, see Bonus Chapter 7 at www.dummies.com/go/netsuitefd.

• The Publishable Form URL can link to this form from your Web site, whether you use a NetSuite Web site or not.

Accepting cases by e-mail

The Email Case Capture feature in NetSuite basically sets up an e-mail address where you can forward case e-mail to be formatted into your NetSuite account’s case form. Enabling the feature and setting up your e-mail account as required allows you to have customers send questions and problems to a specific e-mail address, such as support@yourcompany.com. E-mail going to this address is then automatically converted into cases.

Information is pulled from these parts of an e-mail to fill in the following fields in the case record:

Subject: Subject of the e-mail

Date Created: Date the e-mail is received by NetSuite

Company: Company name with an e-mail matching the From e-mail address. If more than one company matches, the Anonymous Customer placeholder is used.

Contact: Contact name with matching e-mail address

Email: From e-mail address

Message from Customer: Text of the e-mail message

Status: Set to Not Started by default

Origin: Set to Email by default

Priority: Set to Medium by default

Assigned To: Set using your case rules and territories

If you’ve set up rules and territories to assign cases to support reps, the cases are assigned as soon as they’re converted. The case is then saved in the regular Cases list and saved on the customer’s record whose e-mail address matches the From address. If the From address doesn’t match a record in your account, the case is associated with the Customer record selected as your Anonymous Customer Placeholder at Setup⇒Support⇒Support Preferences on the Inbound Email tab.

E-mail messages larger than 10MB aren’t accepted as cases, and no more than 10 e-mails are accepted every two minutes.

How you set up e-mail case capture depends on the type of e-mail server you use. NetSuite Help provides steps for Microsoft Exchange. Here are the basic steps you need to take:

1. If you haven’t already, create a Contact record for your support e-mail address, such as support@yourcompany.com.

2. From the Setup tab menu, choose Support⇒Support Preferences.

The Support Preferences page appears.

3. Click the Inbound Email tab; select and copy the e-mail address you see after NetSuite Address.

4. Create another contact record for the NetSuite address where you will forward this e-mail.

5. Paste in the e-mail address you copied from your NetSuite account.

6. Reopen the contact record for your support e-mail address and set forwarding options for the contact you set up for the NetSuite address.

7. In your e-mail account, use forwarding rules to automatically forward customer messages (sent to support@yourcompany.com) to the NetSuite Address you copied.

Getting a Handle on Customer Inquiries

Customer questions and problems can come into your account in a variety of ways. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you track them all in your account. If you take a case by phone or e-mail, be sure to log it in a case, even if this takes some customer and employee re-education.

Keeping your cases in NetSuite helps you do these things:

See patterns for questions or problems across all customers.

See what a specific customer has called in about.

Quickly solve newer issues by seeing how past issues were resolved.

Because case information is stored on the customer record, sales reps can also quickly gauge how satisfied customers are by their case record and what additional solutions may raise satisfaction.

Creating a case

Cases can come at your support staff from a variety of directions, such as e-mail, online form submittal, Customer Center submittal, phone calls, and in-person conversations. If you have all your ducks in a row — as far as setting up a case form for the Customer Center, creating an online form, and accepting cases via e-mail — support reps should only have to create case records in two of those scenarios — phone calls and in-person conversations.

To create a case record:

1. From the Cases tab menu, choose Customer Service⇒Cases⇒New.

The Case page appears.

2. Type the subject of the case in the Subject field.

Name this very brief description something that helps you recognize which case this is. In fact, you may need to edit the subjects that your customers have entered, as they often like to enter subjects that read, “URGENT!” or “Help Needed Now!”

3. Type the customer name in the Company field.

This associates the case with the customer and adds the case to the customer’s record for future reference. This also allows you to select contacts attached to the customer record in the Contact field, which automatically fills in the Email and Phone fields.

4. If you didn’t select a contact with e-mail address and phone number, enter the e-mail address and phone number for the customer contact who should be contacted about this case in the Email and Phone fields.

5. Select a contact for the company that’s submitting the case.

This automatically fills in the e-mail address and phone number. If you don’t have a contact record created for this person, click the Add button next to the field to quickly create one or just enter the e-mail address and phone number manually.

6. Select other information as needed from these drop-down lists:

• Case Issue

• Status

• Priority

• Origin

• Type

You can add selections to these fields by choosing Setup⇒Support.

7. On the Interactions tab, in the Message field, enter the problem or question.

8. If you already have a response to the customer, enter it in the Reply field.

• To send this response to the customer, select the Send to Customer check box.

• To note the response you’ve given over the phone or to make another note about the case (such as a message left), deselect the Send to Customer check box and select the Internal Only check box. Selecting the Internal Only check box keeps the response off the customer’s view of the case in the Customer Center.

• To send a private message about the case to another employee, select an employee in the Copy Employees field is also a good way.

You can default all case records to either select the Send to Customer or the Internal Only check box by choosing Setup⇒Support⇒Support Preferences.

9. Click the Save button.

All e-mail messages are sent when you save the case record.

When you save a case, it’s saved to the Cases list where support reps can keep track of open cases and manage the communication with customers, as needed, until each case is closed.

Managing the case queue

A support rep’s biggest nightmare and best friend is the Cases list, which you can view from the Cases tab menu by choosing Customer Service⇒Cases. It can be a big nightmare if it’s full of unhappy customers, but it can be a best friend if it helps organize and sort the cases so that nothing slips through the cracks.

Assign cases

If your case rules and territories don’t catch all the cases that come in, or if you haven’t set the rules just yet, the first order of business is to get unassigned cases into the right hands. Consider these links:

Grab: If a support rep sees a case that she thinks she can handle, she can simply click the Grab link, as shown in Figure 13-6, to open the case and automatically assign the case to herself. This is better than clicking the Edit link because it keeps everyone else from trying to answer the case at the same time.

Edit: If you’re not quite sure whether you want to grab a case and you need to see more details, click the Edit link next to a case and manually choose the right support rep for the job in the Assigned To field. If you need to continue working on the case, however, be sure to save the case and reopen it for editing so that others working in the list can see that it’s been assigned.

Figure 13-6: Clicking the Grab link from the Cases list automatically assigns the case to you.

Only support reps can grab cases or be selected in the Assigned To field. Admin-istrators can designate an employee as a support rep on the Human Resources tab of the employee record, found by choosing Lists⇒Employees⇒Employees.

Efficient queue management

Some quick tips for efficiently managing the case queue include:

Use the Stage drop-down list to filter which cases you see; for example, select Open to see only open cases, or choose Not Closed to see both open and escalated cases.

If you have lots of cases coming in regularly, you can

• Create groups marked as support groups.

• Use rules and territories to automatically assign cases to specialty groups.

• Use the Assigned To drop-down list on the Cases list to view only cases for your group.

Use the Awaiting Support Reply drop-down list to show only cases that you need to respond to and to filter all cases that are still open but waiting on more input from customers.

Click column headings to sort the list using different criteria (such as by last message date or priority).

Create a custom view for the Cases list by clicking the Customize View button.

Set preferences

You can also set a few very useful preferences for managing your Cases list and case workflow. You can set the following preferences on the General tab of the Support Preferences page on (from the Setup tab, under menu, choose Support⇒Support Preferences and choose the General tab):

To re-open closed cases when a customer adds a new message, select the Messages Reopen Closed Cases check box on the General tab, in the Preferences section. This closes a case when you believe you’ve answered a customer’s question and but allows the customer to write back.

To lock closed cases and prevent them from being re-opened, select the Lock Closed Cases After Lockout Period check box on the General tab, in the Case Lockout section. Then enter the number of days a case can remain available for re-opening before it’s locked in the Period (Days) field. This prevents customers from responding to an old case with a new problem.

To set defaults for case statuses, select statuses on the General tab, in the Defaults section when cases are new, assigned, re-opened, escalated, and closed. You can create and rename statuses from the Setup tab menu by choosing Support⇒Case Statuses.

When you’re working in the case queue, keep in mind how customer support reports work. Likewise, if you’re using reports to gauge success, keep in mind your standard case workflow. For example, if you leave cases open until the customer has confirmed the resolution, your Open Case Analysis reports will have a much longer average time for open cases than if you closed the case with your response, before receiving the customer confirmation.

View Customer Service reports by choosing Reports⇒Customers Service. These reports are excellent tools for keeping an eagle-eye view of how cases are moving along and how efficient the customer service team is.

Escalating cases

When you don’t know the answer, it’s nice to have a safety net. It’s also handy to have someone higher up take the heat (and provide some professional smooth talking) and support you if something has gone terribly awry and needs fixing immediately. The ability to escalate not only takes pressure off a support rep who’s already done all he can, but it makes the customer feel as though the problem or request is being taken very seriously, even if there’s no current resolution.

By default, cases can be escalated to any employee with a record in your account. However, Administrators can limit escalations to support reps from the Setup tab menu by choosing Support⇒Support Preferences. On the General tab, select the Escalate to Support Reps Only check box.

To escalate a case:

1. Choose Lists⇒Support⇒Cases.

2. Click the Edit link next to the case to escalate.

The Case record appears.

3. In the Status drop-down list, change the case record to Escalated.

4. Click the Escalate tab.

5. In the Escalation Message field, add a brief description of the problem and what you need help with.

Select the person receiving should handle the escalated case from having to review all past messages and help her know why you are calling on her specifically.

6. On the Escalate To tab, under Escalate, choose the employee who will handle this case.

7. Click the Add button.

Be sure that an e-mail address fills in for this employee, or she may not be notified that a case has been escalated to her.

8. Click the Save button.

This case is now escalated, and your message is sent to the person the case has been escalated to. The case remains assigned to the original support rep, however, who can make sure the case is resolved.

You can set up escalation rules and territories to escalate cases automatically when they meet certain criteria, just as you can for case assignments. You may want to escalate cases because it’s been a certain amount of time since the case was created or modified, for example.

You set up rules about escalation by choosing Setup⇒Support⇒Set Up Escalation Rules⇒New. Then, set up rules for escalating cases following the same steps as in the earlier section, “Creating a case.” Choose Setup⇒Support⇒Manage Escalation Assignment⇒New to set up assignments following the same steps as setting up territories in the earlier section, “Creating case rules and territories.”