--- name: customer-inquiry-classifier description: "Classifies inbound customer support inquiries by topic, urgency tier, and required expertise level, then assigns a routing destination and priority score with escalation flags. Use when triaging support tickets, building a routing taxonomy, categorizing a backlog of inquiries, or setting up prioritization rules for a benefits or HR support queue." argument-hint: "[inquiry-text] [team-context]" allowed-tools: ["Read"] --- # Customer Inquiry Classifier ## Purpose Turn raw inbound support inquiries into structured, routable classifications — tagged by topic, urgency, and required expertise — so tickets reach the right handler on the first pass and time-sensitive requests never sit in a general queue. Eliminates manual triage guesswork and inconsistent routing across agents. ## When to Use Invoke this skill when the user asks to: - Classify or triage a batch of inbound support tickets or emails - Route retirement, benefits, or HR inquiries to the correct team or specialist - Prioritize a support backlog by urgency and complexity - Flag inquiries that require escalation, compliance review, or licensed-specialist handling - Build or standardize a support routing taxonomy for a CX team - Identify which inquiries can be self-served or auto-responded vs. handled by a person ## Inputs Required Before starting, collect: - **Inquiry content**: The text of one or more inquiries (email body, chat log, ticket description, or voicemail transcript) - **Support team structure**: Which teams, tiers, or specialists exist as routing destinations (e.g., Tier 1, benefits specialist, retirement/rollover desk, compliance) - **Topic domain**: Retirement, health benefits, general HR, payroll, or a mix - **Urgency signals to honor**: Any account-specific triggers that make an inquiry high-priority (e.g., deadline-bound distributions, life events, complaints) - **Escalation rules**: What must automatically escalate (regulatory complaints, legal threats, fraud indicators) - **Volume**: Single inquiry or batch (and if batch, how many) - **Output preference**: Single classification card vs. a batch routing table If team structure or escalation rules are missing, apply a standard three-tier model (Self-serve → Tier 1 agent → Specialist/Escalation) and flag the assumption. ## Instructions ### Step 1: Extract the Core Request For each inquiry, isolate what the customer actually needs — not just what they wrote. Strip pleasantries and identify: - **Primary intent** (the one action or answer they want) - **Secondary intents** (any additional asks buried in the message) - **Stated deadline or time reference** ("before the 15th," "my last day is Friday") - **Emotional tone** (neutral, frustrated, distressed, threatening) ### Step 2: Assign a Topic Category Classify into one primary topic and, if applicable, one sub-topic. Use this domain taxonomy (adapt to the provided domain): - **Account Access & Admin**: logins, password resets, statements, address/beneficiary updates - **Contributions & Elections**: enrollment, contribution changes, deferral rates, plan elections - **Distributions & Withdrawals**: rollovers, hardship withdrawals, loans, RMDs, terminations - **Investment & Fund Questions**: allocation changes, fund performance, fee questions - **Life & Employment Events**: new hire, termination, retirement, leave, death/beneficiary claims - **Billing & Payroll**: deductions, corrections, reimbursements - **Complaints & Disputes**: service failures, error resolution, regulatory complaints - **General Information**: policy clarification, "how does X work" questions ### Step 3: Score Urgency (Tier 1–4) Assign an urgency tier using both time-sensitivity and impact: - **Tier 1 — Critical (act same day)**: deadline within 48 hours, financial harm in progress, fraud, regulatory complaint, or acute distress - **Tier 2 — High (act within 1 business day)**: deadline within 5 business days, life event with a filing window, blocked from a required action - **Tier 3 — Standard (act within 3 business days)**: routine change requests with no immediate deadline - **Tier 4 — Low (act within 5 business days or self-serve)**: general information, non-blocking questions State the specific signal that drove the tier — never assign a tier without naming the reason. ### Step 4: Determine Required Expertise Match the inquiry to the minimum handler capable of resolving it: - **Self-serve**: answerable by a knowledge-base article or automated reply - **Tier 1 agent**: standard account actions, no judgment or regulatory exposure - **Specialist**: requires domain expertise (rollover mechanics, RMD calculations, plan-specific rules) - **Compliance/Escalation**: regulatory complaint, legal language, fraud, or anything requiring documented review ### Step 5: Set Routing Destination and Priority Combine topic + urgency + expertise into a single routing decision: - Name the **destination** (map to the team structure provided) - Assign a **priority score** (Urgency Tier is primary sort; expertise breaks ties) - Raise any **escalation flags** triggered by the escalation rules or Step 1 tone signals - Note whether a **suggested first response** (acknowledgment, deadline confirmation) should fire immediately ### Step 6: Summarize the Classification Produce the classification card (single) or routing table (batch) per the output format below. ## Output Format - **Structure**: For a single inquiry, one classification card. For a batch, a routing table with one row per inquiry plus a summary of tier counts and any escalations. - **Length**: ~120–180 words per classification card; batch table scales to inquiry count, followed by a 3–4 line summary - **Format**: Structured card (labeled fields) for singles; table for batches - **Sections**: Extracted Request → Topic → Urgency Tier (+ reason) → Required Expertise → Routing Destination → Priority Score → Escalation Flags → Suggested Immediate Action - **Tone**: Operational and decisive — a triage lead making routing calls, not hedging. Every field resolves to a concrete value. ## Quality Checklist Before delivering output, verify: - [ ] Every inquiry has a topic, urgency tier, expertise level, and routing destination — no field left blank - [ ] Each urgency tier names the specific signal that justified it (deadline, distress, fraud, etc.) - [ ] Routing destinations map to the team structure provided — no invented teams - [ ] Every inquiry matching an escalation rule carries an escalation flag - [ ] Secondary intents buried in multi-part inquiries are captured, not dropped - [ ] For batches, the summary reports the count per urgency tier and lists all escalations ## Notes - When tone signals distress or a complaint, upgrade urgency by one tier even if the topic seems routine — emotional escalation predicts churn and formal complaints. - Deadline-bound distributions (RMDs, hardship windows, termination rollovers) are the most common source of missed SLAs in benefits queues — treat any stated date as a hard trigger. - If an inquiry is genuinely ambiguous between two topics, classify to the higher-expertise destination; over-routing costs less than a misrouted specialist ticket bouncing back. - For recurring batch classification, note repeated topics with high volume — these are candidates for self-serve content or automated responses. --- ## How to use this skill This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top. **Installing in Claude Code:** - `~/.claude/skills//SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects) - `/.claude/skills//SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills) Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register. **Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:** 1. 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