Customer Communication Standards

Purpose

This article outlines the minimum communication and documentation standards that must be followed when handling customer enquiries, complaints and delivery-related issues.

Core standards

All communication with customers must be:

• Accurate
• Clear
• Respectful
• Personalised
• Consistent
• Properly documented
• Based on verified information

Introduce yourself during the first interaction and use the customer’s preferred name where available.

Verification before communication

Before giving a definite update, verify the information through an approved source, such as:

• The Zippy Admin Portal
• The approved operational tracker
• Operations
• The Hub Coordinator
• The assigned Delivery Partner

Do not tell a customer that a package has been picked up, is being delivered, has arrived at a location or has been completed unless the status has been confirmed.

Never provide an unverified estimated delivery time.

Where an accurate ETA is unavailable, tell the customer the specific time by which another update will be provided.

Ownership of tickets

All Freshdesk tickets remain owned by the Customer Experience team.

Operations, Finance, Product/Tech, Hubs and Management may provide information, carry out an action or approve a resolution, but Customer Experience remains responsible for:

• Following up internally
• Updating the customer
• Recording the information received
• Monitoring the issue until resolution
• Confirming that the customer has been informed
• Resolving or closing the Freshdesk ticket

Passing an issue to another team does not mean that the customer case has been closed.

Customer commitments

Do not promise any of the following without confirmation or approval:

• A specific delivery time
• A refund
• Compensation
• A price waiver
• A redelivery arrangement
• A package rerouting
• A management decision

Documentation

Record the following on the Freshdesk ticket where applicable:

• Order ID
• Customer role
• Current verified order status
• Verified package location
• Internal support team contacted
• Action requested
• Internal follow-up status
• Customer update provided
• Next update commitment
• Final resolution

Closing a ticket

A ticket may be resolved only when:

• The required action has been completed
• The final outcome has been recorded
• The customer has been updated
• No outstanding internal follow-up remains