A high deflection rate can look great in a dashboard while trust quietly erodes.
When customers don’t trust the AI, they:
ask for a human sooner
repeat themselves more often
generate messier escalations that take longer to resolve
Resolution is the north star. Deflection is only valuable when it produces outcomes: fewer recontacts, higher CSAT, and cleaner handoffs for humans.
Three non-negotiables for high-trust deflection
Escalation isn’t failure. It’s a safety mechanism that protects trust.
What it looks like in practice
Pluno escalates with a clean summary of the situation
Includes full conversation context
Captures required fields before handoff
Routes into Zendesk so agents don’t start from zero
Deflection tools fail when you can’t stay in control.
Pluno gives you AI Workflows: configurable automation rules written in natural language so you can tune:
what the AI should answer vs. escalate
which topics are “risky” and require stricter handling
how to behave when the user is frustrated or repeating themselves
“Fast wrong” is worse than “slightly slower right.”
Pluno searches across the knowledge your support team actually uses:
historical resolutions
help center / knowledge base
internal docs (where your real processes live)
external docs you rely on
