The Escalation Inbox feature allows the texters on your account to escalate conversations they aren’t equipped to handle. Escalation Inboxes allow admins to create designated inboxes for specific situations (e.g., "Spanish Speaking," "Voter Protection," "Violent," etc.). When texters encounter replies they cannot answer, they can immediately escalate those conversations, removing them from their reply queue.

This allows texters to process replies more efficiently while ensuring conversations receive proper attention from qualified team members.

Creating an Escalation Inbox
Escalation inboxes can only be created by a user at an admin level or higher. Begin by navigating to the left-hand menu and click on Inboxes, then click on the + Add an Escalation Inbox button.

A pop-up window will appear allowing you to name the inbox (e.g., "Spanish Speaking") and assign one or more inbox owners. Click on the blue Add Escalation button to complete the escalation inbox setup. Admins can also set batch sizes and assignment durations for inbox owners who claim escalated threads from this window. 

Escalating From Threads
Any user with access to the Threads page (organization owners, admins, and supervolunteers) can escalate and de-escalate conversations from the Threads view.

Texters will see an Escalate button beneath the Send button for each conversation. Click Escalate to select the appropriate inbox for the escalation. The conversation remains visible in threads with a status notification. The conversation is then removed from the campaign replies queue and becomes viewable only to inbox owners and users with threads access.
 

After selecting the relevant inbox and clicking Escalate This Conversation, the thread moves from the texter's reply queue to the corresponding escalation inbox. The texter is then advanced to the next conversation in their queue. 

Users can also de-escalate conversations from the threads view by clicking the De-Escalate button. De-escalating moves the conversation from its escalation inbox back to the original campaign inbox.

Inbox Owner View
Inbox owners are assigned when creating an escalation inbox on the Inboxes page. An owner must already have an account within your organization and appear on the People page. The owner can be any user level. 

Inbox owners can access their escalation inboxes through the texter landing page. This can be done either by logging in as a texter or by switching to texter view by clicking on Switch to Texter link at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Escalation inboxes appear at the top of the page, above the regular campaign inboxes. 

To open an Escalation Inbox, click on the arrow on the right-hand side. 

All the escalated conversations are sorted by campaign. In the screenshot below, you will see the Spanish Speaking inbox has four available escalations and they are organized by the three respective campaigns they came from. The owner can then claim escalations and reply to those threads. An inbox can have multiple inbox owners claiming escalations at the same time. 

Filtering for Escalations from Threads
Anyone with access to the Threads page (organization owners, admins, and supervolunteers) can filter for escalations in the Threads page by clicking the Escalations link underneath Filter by Tag.  

Clicking this link will open a window where admins can view the total number of threads and threads that need a response in each escalation inbox and select which escalations they want to filter for.

Moving Escalations Between Inboxes
If your organization has more than one escalation inbox set up, an inbox owner can move escalations between inboxes. Once a thread has been escalated, a Move Escalation button will appear. 

Click this button to select a different inbox. The thread is then removed from that inbox and that owner's reply queue.

Editing and Removing Inboxes
From the Inboxes page, an inbox can be edited or deleted. To edit an inbox, click the pencil icon under Actions. A window will appear where you can modify the inbox name, owners, and settings. 

To delete an inbox, click the trash icon under Actions. A window will appear asking for confirmation. Once deleted it will be removed from the Escalation Reason options, and any threads in this escalation inbox will be de-escalated and moved back to their previous campaigns.

How can Escalation Inboxes help your organization?

1. Enhanced Efficiency and Focused Workflow: By allowing texters to quickly escalate conversations that they are unable to handle (e.g., due to language barriers or specialized issues), Escalation Inboxes ensure that texters can stay focused on the conversations they are equipped to manage. This results in a more efficient workflow, as texters spend less time trying to handle complex queries and can move on to the next conversation in their queue.

2. Specialized Attention for Critical Issues: When conversations are escalated to specific inboxes (like "Voter Protection" or "Violent"), they can receive the appropriate attention from team members with the necessary expertise or experience. This helps ensure that urgent or sensitive matters are handled promptly and correctly, improving the overall quality of the responses and maintaining the integrity of your campaign.

3. Improved Campaign Coordination: Escalation Inboxes enable better coordination within your campaign by allowing inbox owners to manage and respond to specialized conversations without interrupting the general flow of communications. With inbox owners able to claim and handle escalated threads, the process becomes more organized and collaborative, ensuring that specialized issues don't fall through the cracks.

4. Flexible and Scalable Management: With the ability to filter escalations, move conversations between inboxes, and even edit or remove inboxes as necessary, the feature provides campaign admins with flexibility. It allows for the dynamic handling of evolving needs, whether adding new escalation categories, reallocating workload, or adjusting priorities based on real-time campaign developments. This scalability helps maintain smooth operations even as your campaign needs change.