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Part 3 of 7 · Feedback follow-up router series ~5 min read

How urgency gets decided

Routing on the score alone is nearly right and fails in the cases that matter most. People give a seven and describe something serious; people give a two because the packaging was ugly. The score is a good default and a bad decision.

Key takeaways

  • The score sets the default band; the comment can escalate but rarely de-escalates.
  • Four patterns escalate regardless of score: safety, legal, data, and a threat to leave.
  • Low score with no comment is followed up, and the ask is one specific question.
  • Routing is to a person, never to a shared inbox.
  • A repeat complainer is routed to somebody more senior, not filtered out.

Score first, comment second

How a survey response's urgency is decidedA vertical chain of five steps entered by a box labelled A response, carrying a score and a comment. Step one asks whether there is anything serious in it, covering safety, legal, data and a threat to leave; if so it exits to Escalate now, whatever the score. Step two asks whether the score is low, below a line you set; if so it exits to Route within the hour with context. Step three asks whether it is a middling score with a specific complaint; if so it exits to Route today, less urgent but still routed. Step four asks whether it is a high score with a comment; if so it exits to Worth reading in the weekly digest. Step five is a score and nothing else, which is counted rather than routed. A note says the first branch runs before the score is even looked at, and that ordering is the point.AWS ACCOUNTA responsescore and commentAnything serious in it?safety, legal, data,leavingEscalate nowwhatever the scoreyesLow score?below the line you setRoute within the hourwith contextyesMiddling with a comment?a specific complaintRoute todayless urgent, still routedyesHigh score with a comment?Worth readingthe weekly digestyesA score and nothing elsecounted, not routedThe first branch runs before the score is even looked at. That ordering is the point.
Fig 1. How urgency is decided. Checking for serious content before looking at the score is what catches the response that is polite about something that is not.
  • App integration
  • Management
  • Analytics
  • Front-end & mobile
  • People

The four that escalate regardless

PatternExampleGoes to
Safety“the fitting came loose and could have hurt somebody”Immediately, and to a manager
Legal“I have spoken to a solicitor”Immediately, and to the owner
Data“you sent me somebody else’s invoice”Immediately, and to whoever handles data
Leaving“we will be going elsewhere”Within the hour, to whoever owns the account

All four appear at every score. Somebody who is generally happy with a business will score it eight and mention in passing that a fitting came loose, and a router that reads the eight and files it as a promoter has missed the only response that week that genuinely mattered.

The low score with no comment

The most under-used response in any survey. A two with no explanation is a person who was annoyed enough to score and not annoyed enough to write, and the conventional handling is to count them and move on.

They are worth following up specifically, and the ask matters: not “can you tell us more” but one specific question derived from the order. “I can see this was delivered two days later than we said — was that it?” converts at a much higher rate because it costs the recipient a yes rather than an essay.

Who it goes to

How a routed survey response reaches a specific personA horizontal row of five boxes. A named person: never a shared inbox. Who owns the account: if there is one. Or who is on today: taken from a rota. Repeat complainer: routed to somebody more senior rather than filtered out. Acknowledged: or it re-routes after sixty minutes. A note says a shared inbox is a place responses go to wait for somebody else to handle them.ROUTING TO A PERSONA named personnever a shared inboxWho owns the accountif there is oneOr who is on todayfrom a rotaRepeat complainermore senior, not filteredAcknowledgedor it re-routes in 60 minutesA shared inbox is a place responses go to wait for somebody else to handle them.
Fig 2. Who a routed response reaches. Named people with an acknowledgement timeout is what makes the hour real rather than aspirational.

The acknowledgement timeout is what makes the hour a real commitment. A response sent to a named person who does not tap acknowledge within sixty minutes re-routes to the next person on the rota, which means the hour holds even when somebody is driving.

The repeat complainer

Somebody on their fourth low score in six months is the case where every instinct is wrong. Filtering them out is the obvious move and it is how a business loses a customer who has been telling them something for six months.

So a repeat pattern routes upward rather than being suppressed, with the history attached, and the framing is explicit: this is the fourth time, here are the previous three, and they are still buying from us. That is a conversation somebody senior should have, and it is a different conversation from the individual complaint.

Next: the context that makes a fast reply a good one.

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