6 Reasons You Need an SLA for Customer Service

To have a successful business, you have to satisfy customers’ expectations. Which means that first, you have to make it clear what your customers can expect of you. In this blog, I am going to explain why a formal SLA for customer service is necessary to your company’s customer support operations.

What is SLA?

SLA is an acronym for service-level agreement. It is an agreement between a company and its customers on what products or services the company will provide them and the quality they can expect.

It’s a contract with a particular set of customer service standards concerning support, as well as what happens when those standards are not met.

A service-level agreement can also be used internally in a company, such as between departments. With such an agreement, everyone knows what to expect, what is expected of them, and how to remedy the situation if those expectations fall short.

Components of SLAs

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are the foundation of effective service delivery in businesses, helping define expectations and maintain high service quality. Below are some of the key components commonly found in SLAs.

Agreement overview

The agreement overview includes details such as the groups involved, dates, and the general terms of the contract. As outlined in the ISO/IEC 20000-10:2018 standard, this section can include services and agreed performance.

Service terms

The service terms are details of the services to be provided by and for whom, when, and under what circumstances. They can also include the details for services that won’t be provided.

They set the responsibilities for all involved parties. These services also include details like security measures all signatories of the contract must take.

Performance measurements

With the terms of service set, there needs to be an agreed-upon way to measure whether or not the parties involved are meeting those terms. Usually, this can include specific customer service metrics and consensus on how and where they will be tracked and reported.

Consequences

Now that the expectations for and of all parties are written out, the consequences of not meeting those expectations need to be detailed. This might include compensation and discounts.

There also need to be plans for exceptions laid out for unforeseeable circumstances that may prevent one side or the other from meeting their obligations.

Review and termination

Agreements for review and termination specify how and when your agreement will be modified, if necessary, as well as how the agreement may be terminated.

The latter includes natural expiration and situations in which early termination is acceptable, as well as the processes for both.

Reasons you need an SLA in customer service

An SLA lays a solid foundation for your growing business. The following are the most important reasons why you need one in your customer service system.

1. Clarify expectations

SLAs help in defining clear expectations for performance and relationships in quantifiable and reliable terms. Additionally, they help keep all parties accountable for delivering on their contracts, so there are no surprises.

2. Define customer service needs

A good service agreement defines your client’s customer service and support requirements. Your teams can better understand the customer’s expectations and priorities, thus helping you to plan effectively when problems arise.

3. Track performance goals

SLAs define and track performance standards with metrics based on your current level and goals. Agents know where they stand and what level of performance is expected of them.

Team leads can set realistic goals and communicate more accurate timelines to customers when issues arise. An SLA specifies the frequency and types of customer service reports tracked.

4. Outline solutions for underperformance

SLAs include penalties for unmet expectations and provide structured solutions when either party falls short, clearly outlining dispute resolution processes.

As research by Verint reveals 70% of customers would switch to a competitor after a poor experience, making effective dispute resolution essential for customer retention.

5. Build trust

An SLA is your company’s commitment to accountability. It gives your clients peace of mind and builds customer trust. They have faith in your dependability because the signed agreement specifies the penalties for breaking your (and their) ends of the deal. This is crucial since 46% of consumers strongly agree that it is important to trust the businesses they interact with.

By clearly defining your obligations to your clients, you can engender confidence among both current and potential clients and demonstrate your dedication to meeting their customer needs.

6. Create new business opportunities

All clients need a good relationship with companies with which they do business. In most cases, clients switch companies if their needs are unmet and they do not get enough personal attention.

These agreements can be powerful tools for eliminating bad feelings in your customers caused by ambiguity in the service and attention they can expect.

By sticking with your agreement terms and creating transparency in your client relationships, you build a reputation for accountability and reliability in the market.

Leverage SLA for customer service to grow your business

In SLA is a tool you can use to help deliver the best customer experience. By adhering to a well-defined SLA, your company’s reputation becomes stellar, which attracts more customers, thus helping your business to grow.

Check out BoldDesk to see how you can use an SLA customer service in your support processes. You can also try a 15-day free trial on BoldDesk.com. For more information, contact BoldDesk support.

We hope this article was insightful. Do you have any additional comments? We’d love your thoughts! Share your comments and suggestions below.

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