What is an SLA and why do you need it for your business?

The digital marketplace continues to expand every day as more and more consumers and businesses go online. If you’re not yet as savvy in navigating through this virtual realm, you need E-commerce Automation to get your business moving, whether it is building your online presence, crafting your Customer SLA, or even improving your delivery lead time.

Service-Level Agreements or SLAs contain the terms and level of service that a supplier will be rendering to their client. For businesses, having a Customer SLA matters because it highlights what customers can expect from you.

A Customer SLA also serves as protection for both you and your customer. It helps you establish clear and measurable standards to help manage their expectations on your responsibilities to them, like consistent updates or ensured quality of products, and services available to them, like customer support for any inquiries. This also allows you to detail processes should there be any unfulfilled services or unmet obligations.

Ultimately, a Customer SLA aims to provide peace of mind for both you and your customers. It highlights your commitment to them because it shows your transparency and accountability in various points of their purchase journey.

Still wrapping your head around it? Here are some tips that may help you craft your Customer SLA:

Keep it short and be specific

Always consider the feasibility of your terms, especially if you’re the service provider. Be specific with what you want your customer to know about your business and service to avoid any misinterpretation or misunderstanding. Keep it short and focus on the details that matter most to building a good relationship with them.

Indicate achievable standards

To better manage expectations, your Customer SLA must include standards you can achieve and commit to. This may include customer support process, working schedule, location-based delivery lead time, quality of products, purchase limits, and other things that you believe would be important for your customer to know.

Be accountable for unfulfilled services

While it’s ideal for every transaction to go smoothly, you still need to consider instances that lead to unfulfilled services. Provide an escalation process and identify contingencies and solutions for service recovery that you are open to doing, and include them in your Customer SLA.

Make your Customer SLA time-bound

Usually, your Customer SLA should only cover up until your customer receives their orders. However, you also have the option to include a clause wherein you are amenable should there be any problems with the products, but only until a certain period of time.

Guarantee commitment and best effort for success

At the end of the day, a Customer SLA is an agreement between parties. It can help guarantee your commitment to your customer and highlight your best efforts in completing transactions. Remember that there are a lot of factors affecting service delivery, so it is just as important to be realistic with your agreements.

Developing your own Customer SLA may be intimidating, but what you need to keep in mind is that this will help build a sound and smooth relationship between you and your customers. This can also benefit your business in the long run because it increases your credibility and reliability as a merchant. As a result, you have a better purchase journey which can even increase the chances of having repeat customers.

Now that you know all about Customer SLA, are you curious about how to improve your service delivery? One way is to partner with Payo!

Through E-Commerce Automation, Payo is able to collaborate with businesses in creating an efficient customer experience. Cutting down delivery lead time, reducing RTS rates, finding the best couriers for you — these are just some of the many things Payo can help businesses with, especially when it comes to achieving continued success and maintaining customer satisfaction. 

You can sign up with Payo today or send us a message at [email protected]. We are more than happy to assist you!