Escalation Matrix for Critical Support with Crisis Playbooks
Defines a multi-level escalation matrix with objective criteria, structured communication, and playbooks for crisis support situations such as systemic failures and high-impact incidents.
Create an escalation and crisis management structure for support that ensures critical incidents are handled with speed, transparent communication, and no improvisation—from N1 agent to CEO, with clear protocols for each crisis type.
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Prompt objective
Create an escalation and crisis management structure for support that ensures critical incidents are handled with speed, transparent communication, and no improvisation—from N1 agent to CEO, with clear protocols for each crisis type.
Real use case
PagSimples, a payment fintech serving 45,000 active merchants, experienced 4 hours of downtime on a Thursday at 6 PM during peak business hours. Without a crisis playbook, support collapsed: 1,200 tickets in 40 minutes, 3 on-duty agents without authority to communicate anything, and the CEO only learned about the crisis 2 hours later via social media.
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Prompt
Create an escalation matrix and crisis management playbooks for [COMPANY NAME], which has [NUMBER] customers and [NUMBER] support agents distributed across [NUMBER] shifts.\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**Incident Types Catalogued:**\\\\\\\\n1. Total or partial product/service outage\\\\\\\\n2. Data breach or security incident\\\\\\\\n3. Mass payment failure or incorrect billing\\\\\\\\n4. Social media reputation crisis\\\\\\\\n5. Natural disaster or infrastructure unavailability\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**Part 1 — Escalation Matrix (4 levels):**\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n| Level | Role | Responsible | When to Escalate |\\\\\\\\n|-------|------|-------------|------------------|\\\\\\\\n| N1 | Support Agent | [JOB TITLE] | Impact < [NUMBER] customers, resolvable in < [TIMEFRAME] |\\\\\\\\n| N2 | Specialist / Support Lead | [JOB TITLE] | Impact [X-Y] customers or technical complexity |\\\\\\\\n| N3 | CS Manager / CTO | [JOB TITLE] | Impact > [NUMBER] customers or reputational risk |\\\\\\\\n| N4 | CEO / Communications | [JOB TITLE] | Impact > [NUMBER] customers, media involvement, or regulatory risk |\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**Objective escalation criteria (not subjective):**\\\\\\\\n- Ticket volume in 15 minutes > [NUMBER]: escalate to N2\\\\\\\\n- Critical feature ([FEATURE]) unavailable > [TIMEFRAME]: escalate to N2\\\\\\\\n- Incorrect financial data affecting > [NUMBER] customers: escalate directly to N3\\\\\\\\n- Viral negative post with > [NUMBER] interactions: escalate to N3/N4\\\\\\\\n- Any suspected data breach: escalate directly to N4 + legal\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**Part 2 — Crisis Playbook: Product Failure**\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**D+0 (first 15 minutes):**\\\\\\\\n- N1: Stop responding individually → Activate crisis mode in [Zendesk/Intercom]\\\\\\\\n- N1: Send standardized alert to N2 via [Slack/WhatsApp]:\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\n 🚨 N2 ALERT - [TIME]\\\\\\\\n Issue: [BRIEF DESCRIPTION]\\\\\\\\n Estimated impact: [NUMBER] customers\\\\\\\\n Affected channels: [LIST]\\\\\\\\n Ticket volume: [N]/15min (normal: [N])\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\n- N2: Create war room (permanent video room)\\\\\\\\n- N2: Confirm actual scope with technical team\\\\\\\\n- N2: Activate status page ([statuspage.io/Atlassian])\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**D+15 to D+60 (containment):**\\\\\\\\n- Proactive communication via [WhatsApp/email] to affected customers:\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\n Dear customers,\\\\\\\\n We have identified an instability in [FEATURE] \\\\\\\\n that may be affecting your operations.\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\n Status: Technical team working on resolution.\\\\\\\\n Expected restoration: [TIME] (we will update every 30 minutes)\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\n For updates: [STATUS PAGE URL]\\\\\\\\n Priority support protocol: #CRISIS-[DATE]\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\n- N1: Switch to crisis mode script (do not promise timelines not confirmed by N3)\\\\\\\\n- N2: Update status page every 30 minutes without fail\\\\\\\\n- N3: Decide whether to activate Plan B (redundancy, rollback, manual workaround)\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**D+60+ (resolution):**\\\\\\\\n- Mandatory post-mortem within [DEADLINE] days:\\\\\\\\n - Incident timeline\\\\\\\\n - Confirmed root cause\\\\\\\\n - Quantified impact (customers, revenue, reputation)\\\\\\\\n - 3 actions to prevent recurrence with owner and deadline\\\\\\\\n- Resolution communication with apology and defined compensation\\\\\\\\n- Review of open tickets during crisis to ensure resolution\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**Part 3 — Reputation Crisis Playbook (Social Media):**\\\\\\\\n- Monitoring: [Brand24/Mention/Google Alerts] — alert when [COMPANY NAME] mentioned negatively with > [NUMBER] engagements\\\\\\\\n- Public vs. private response criteria:\\\\\\\\n - < [NUMBER] likes: respond privately, do not escalate\\\\\\\\n - [X] to [Y] likes: respond publicly, N2 approves text\\\\\\\\n - > [Y] likes / journalists involved: N4 + PR agency\\\\\\\\n- Initial public response template (do not admit fault before investigating):\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\n Hello [NAME], thank you for reaching out. \\\\\\\\n We have contacted you privately to understand and resolve your situation.\\\\\\\\n [RESPONSIBLE NAME] - [JOB TITLE]\\\\\\\\n \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\`\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\n**Part 4 — Training and Simulation:**\\\\\\\\n- Quarterly simulation (\\\\\\\\
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