Customer Experience
Customer Service Charters : Keeping The Brand Promise ?
By Carolyne Gathuru
A brand promise has loosely been expressed as the commitment made by brands to customers indicating what to expect when using its products or services and the anticipated experience when doing so . These brand promises are often communicated to recipients by way of published customer service charters normally placed in high visibility areas - mostly in receptions or uploaded to websites .
By making these public promises , brands are essentially providing a means by which their customers can hold them to account to deliver on the promises made . These service charters are common fare in both public and private sector , as well as the not for profit , development centered world . By having public awareness of the commitments institutions are making , and the product and service levels to expect from them , the audit process for service excellence takes on a significant shift to the customer to measure every delivery against expressed targets and also against customer expectations .
In public sector , the Public Service
Performance Management Unit is charged with the responsibility to facilitate institutionalization of efficient and effective performance management through performance contracting . It has outlined the key pillars of a customer service charter as “ A Service Charter is a Public Statement or ‘ Contract ’ that defines and declares what an organization is , the organization ’ s mandate , the services the organization provides , details of any user charges , what standards of services should be expected by the consumers and how the consumers of the service may seek redress if they are dissatisfied with the service ( s ) provided ”. This can confidently be touted as a very comprehensive definition to serve as a guide for institutions as they not only develop , but publish , maintain and audit their customer promises . And indeed , the same essence can be used by both the private and not for profit sectors to also take heed and all have them , irrespective of the organization size or mandate .
Of interest would be the need for these to be titled appropriately to indicate and outline the ‘ service ’ levels being promised and the institutions ’ commitments . There
The major stakeholder in the customer service charter process is the customer for whom this initiative has been put in place . It then follows that for successful delivery , the voice of the customer must be sought continuously , and comparative analysis conducted based on the outcome of the feedback process versus the charter promises .
exist quite a number of variations of these including ‘ Service Delivery Statements ’ ‘ Customer Service Promises ’, ‘ Customer Service Expectations ’ and the traditional ‘ Customer Service Charters ’. What ’ s in a name the argument goes , and that in Shakespearean terms a rose by whatever name would still smell sweet .
Where customer service charters are concerned though , it is of essence to ensure that the nomenclature ‘ service ’ is in place to denote that the burden of delivery lies with the service provider and not the customer in any way . And whereas there has been a global shift from a focus entirely on customer service to the more holistic customer experience , the onus to deliver delightful service to elicit great customer experiences remains with the providing institution . Service charters can only remain thus , with ‘ service ’ prominently featuring in the titlelage and not the more modern route of possibly showing up as ‘ experience ’ charters .
Whatever fancy name is applied to the brand promises depicted as service charters , they represent a contractual obligation by which the institution that has these in public sight , is bound to its customers by having set and communicated these promises .
On the outside and for optical intents and purposes , it all sounds very nice and dandy , very well put together and all roses and dandelions , right ? Performance contracting in place , service delivery charters created , timelines placed and communicated , well framed and on display , and beautiful promises declared in the open with witnesses all round .
Well , where the rubber meets the road , and where all things come to a head is the nexus between ‘ saying ’ and ‘ doing ’. It is
66 MAL62 / 24 ISSUE