Customer Charter — Almohannad Alsbeai

What It Is — Definition of the Charter

A customer charter is a document that defines the minimum levels of service the issuing entity commits to providing its customers. Through this document, customer expectations are shaped — it explains the services they will receive from the entity, how they will receive them, and the expected time frame for obtaining the services mentioned.

What It Does — Benefits of the Charter

First: According to many sources, the main benefit of this document is setting the boundaries of expectations, so that the customer knows what to expect from the entity, and the employee working at the entity knows what is expected of them.

Second: Defining the key customer service objectives and how the entity will monitor and measure them to ensure they are achieved.

Third: Defining the main customer rights and how the entity will ensure they are honored.

Fourth: Defining customers’ responsibilities toward the entity and what is expected of them.

When the Charter Is Issued

When the entity intending to issue the charter has reached a high level of commitment in delivering service with quality, speed, and smoothness, and the organizational culture has become centered on the customer and their needs, the entity issues a customer service charter as a challenge to itself — to maintain the service levels being provided and to continuously strive to develop its services. The charter then becomes a competitive advantage that reinforces customer trust and helps gain a larger market share than competitors, provided the promises within it are honored.

In short, issuing a customer service charter may be the first step toward distinguished service delivery. The charter is not usually issued without an action plan in place to measure service levels from multiple sources, to make sure none of the promises stated within it are broken.

How the Charter Is Prepared

Preparing this document is not a one-person job. Many stakeholders are involved in drafting, reviewing, evaluating, and amending it — including frontline employees and customers themselves. As for the content’s format, it can be text-based, audio, visual, or all of these combined. It’s important that the content be concise and easy to understand, that it avoid technical terms, and that it avoid references to laws or other materials outside the charter’s content.

What the Charter Includes

There is no fixed rule for what the charter must contain. Generally, however, it should include what defines the company, its identity, and how to contact it. It can also include the vision and mission, what services the company provides, how it provides them, where it provides them, and the expected duration for delivering each service — detailed by available service channels. It’s also important to clarify the customer’s rights and responsibilities. Some charters also include the complaint mechanism, how complaints are followed up, and the expected response time.

At the end of the article, I’ve listed several examples of official charters for review and reference. Below is an example from the UK’s easyJet — the simplest charter I came across during my research on the topic.

How the Charter Is Published

For the publication mechanism, you should consider both internal publication among employees and external publication to customers through several marketing channels — the choice of which depends on media-consumption habits in the area where the charter will be published. In general, though, it’s important that access be easy and through multiple channels, with the company’s official website at the top of the list.

Ethical Commitment or Legal Commitment?

This document does not impose any legal obligation on the entity issuing it — and some entities state this explicitly in the charter. However, the charter does entail an ethical commitment that requires the company to deliver on the promises it stated. Otherwise, by failing to do so, it will tarnish its institutional reputation and lose its customers’ trust.

What Happens After the Charter Is Published

As mentioned earlier, service levels are monitored using several sources — including indicators from operational systems and Voice of Customer (VoC) programs of all types — to make sure the promises stated in this charter are being kept. An updated version of the charter is issued as the company’s ability to improve service progresses to more distinguished levels. Some sources mention that an updated version is issued every three years, but that’s not a fixed rule, because the pace of evolution in some industries is very fast and may require updated versions every year or even less.

The Relationship Between the Customer Charter and Customer Experience

In this era, competition over satisfying the customer and providing them with a distinguished experience is the cornerstone of success for any entity. Since the customer charter helps set expectations, stable expectations among customers help maintain and raise satisfaction levels. Compare this to companies whose satisfaction levels decline despite maintaining performance levels — that’s because their customers’ expectations are rising, and as long as there is no framework defining a ceiling for those expectations, they will continue to rise. While the first edition of a customer charter includes minimum service levels, in advanced companies we later find competition over delivering the best experiences and adopting the best global standards and practices, then embedding that within the charter.

Examples of Official Charters for Reference

Closing

This article is no more than an introduction to the topic — it doesn’t substitute for consulting additional sources or experts. The cover image carries an embedded message expressing how the charter resembles the oath taken in some professions, like medicine and law.

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