Escalation Policy
Configure when and how Raya hands conversations to human teammates using prompt-based escalation policies and pre-built templates.
What Is the Escalation Policy?
The Escalation Policy tells Raya when to hand a conversation to a human teammate. Instead of rigid topic-matching rules, you write a natural language prompt that describes your escalation criteria — or choose from pre-built templates. Raya follows these instructions across all channels (chat, email, WhatsApp, social). Each channel (Chat, Email, Phone) has its own separate escalation policy, so you can customize the behavior per channel.
How It Works
Raya evaluates every incoming message against your escalation policy prompt. Here is the flow:
- 1
Analyze the conversation
Raya reads the customer's message in the context of the full conversation — she considers the topic, sentiment, and intent using natural language understanding.
- 2
Evaluate against your policy
Raya checks whether the conversation matches the criteria described in your escalation policy prompt. For example, if your policy says "escalate billing disputes over $500," Raya identifies when that situation arises.
- 3
Escalate when matched
When Raya determines a conversation should be escalated, she creates a support ticket, forwards the conversation to the designated team, and informs the customer. The ticket includes the full conversation history and Raya's assessment.
Pre-Built Templates
Instead of writing your escalation policy from scratch, choose from pre-built templates. Each template covers a common support scenario and includes priority levels, trigger conditions, and customer communication guidelines. You can use a template as-is or customize it to match your workflow.
| Template | Category | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| General Support | Support | Default escalation for questions Raya cannot answer |
| Technical / Product Issues | Technical | Bug reports, outages, platform errors |
| Billing & Refunds | Finance | Payment disputes, refund requests, invoice questions |
| VIP / Enterprise Support | VIP | High-value accounts requiring priority handling |
| Complaints & Escalation Requests | Complaints | Customer complaints, requests to speak to a manager |
| Privacy & Security | Compliance | Data deletion requests, account access reports, GDPR |
Writing a Custom Policy
You can write your own escalation policy in plain language. Describe the situations where Raya should escalate, the priority levels to assign, and how she should communicate with the customer. Here is what a good policy includes:\n\n- Trigger conditions: What situations should cause an escalation (e.g., "customer has been waiting more than 48 hours," "legal threat mentioned")\n- Priority levels: How to categorize urgency (P0 for critical, P1 for high, P2 for standard)\n- Customer communication: What Raya should tell the customer when escalating\n- Ticket details: What information to include in the escalation ticket (conversation context, customer identifiers)
Per-Channel Configuration
Each channel has its own escalation policy. Navigate to your teammate's settings and select the channel (Chat, Email, or Phone) to configure its escalation policy separately. This lets you apply different escalation criteria for different channels — for example, stricter escalation for phone calls and more flexible rules for chat.
Help Desk Ticket Sync
When Raya escalates, the ticket automatically syncs to your connected help desk (Freshdesk, Zendesk, or Intercom). Priority levels from the escalation policy map to your help desk's priority system. For setup instructions, see the Help Desk Integrations article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a template and customize it?
What happens if no escalation criteria are met?
Can Raya escalate a conversation to Adam for sales follow-up?
Related Articles
Ready to try Raya?
Start free — no credit card required.