How to Write a Customer Service Charter

In business, something worth doing well is worth documenting. That is why you want to fully communicate all aspects of what customer service means to your business, your employees and your customers. A customer service charter is a written policy that communicates your business's commitment to doing business with others.

Successful business leaders understand the importance of a service charter in building a loyal customer base. When writing a charter, you want to define the purpose, scope and standards of your business's commitment to customer service so that both your employees and customers know what to expect.

State Your Purpose

Good customer service is something you make, and what you make of it is your purpose. State it in clear and simple terms such as, "We make it right, every call, every time." Write your standards as customer service expectations, suggests Entrepreneur. When you are writing your charter come up with details and stories that demonstrate the purpose.

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While you probably won't publish these in the actual charter, it helps you and your employees to understand what the purpose of your customer service is. The details will help you craft an employee document and stories help new hires understand the policy in action before they meet the customers.

Define the Scope

A comprehensive customer experience charter defines your full range of customer interaction. For example, if you are a brick-and-mortar business, then you most likely deal with customers in person. However, customers call and email, too. Another type of interaction is less business related, but powerful nonetheless, and that is social media. When you write your charter, include how you will respond to customer interaction on Yelp or Facebook. Although you or your communications manager might be the only ones to respond online, it's still important to communicate your intended actions with all employees.

Spell Out Standards

Your standards are your commitments to doing business with each customer, including the level of care that you intend to provide. For instance, a service charter for hospitals might outline patients' rights to confidentiality, emergency medical treatment and non-discriminatory provision of healthcare services. Other standards in business include how customers are greeted in person or on the phone, how promptly a customer's concern is resolved or how a request is met.

A service charter's standards may also define sourcing of product. If you are a natural food grocer, for example, your charter may spell out that you only carry products free of preservatives 90 percent of the time. Be exact, but reasonable. You might want to source 100 percent organic, for example, but availability might make that impossible.

Implement the Charter

When you are drafting your customer service charter, keep in mind how you plan to implement it. Some charters are one to pages long and used internally, published in the employee handbook and taught to new hires during orientation. Other charters are a brief paragraph summarized on a company's website to communicate directly with customers.

Employee training comes first. Once the charter is drafted, implement training before posting it on your website or at customer service. You want to give your employees consistent training and feedback so that the customer service charter is upheld by all employees. TechTarget emphasizes the importance of holding employees accountable for abiding by the company's customer service charter.

References

• Entrepreneur: Customer Service
• TechTarget: Customer Service Charter