Support Policy Template

Support policy: [Company or product name]

Owner: [role responsible for this policy]. Last reviewed: [date]. Next review: [date].

How to use this template. Replace every [square-bracket] placeholder, and delete any section that does not apply rather than leaving it half-filled. The Support Triage playbook answers customers only from what this document says. Anything still in square brackets is treated as "policy not stated", so tickets that depend on it are escalated instead of answered. Write rules the way you want them applied, with numbers and named roles, and review it whenever prices, plans or processes change: an out-of-date policy produces confident, wrong replies.

01Channels and hours

Out of hours: [what customers are told, and whether anyone is on call for P1].

02Priority levels and response targets

The definitions below are the playbook's defaults. Edit them to fit your service; when this section is filled in, the playbook uses your version.

Wording agents may use with customers about response times: [exact phrase, for example "We aim to reply within one working day"]. Internal-only targets that must never be quoted to customers: [list, or "none"].

03Categories and owners

04What a first reply may and may not do

A first reply (drafted by the playbook or written by a first-line agent) may:

• [for example answer how-to questions from the help centre]
• [for example share the status page during an incident]
• [for example resend an invoice to the verified account email]

These always need a named person to decide. This is a sensible default; edit it with care:

• Refunds, credits, discounts and goodwill gestures
• Plan changes, cancellations with a financial effect, and billing exceptions
• Account ownership changes, multi-factor authentication resets and account unlocks
• Requests to access, export, correct or delete personal data
• Anything about a security incident or vulnerability
• Statements about legal liability, contract terms or regulatory compliance
• Dates for unreleased features or fixes

05Refunds and billing

• Refund eligibility: [for example within N days of first payment; annual plans pro rata; none after renewal]
• Who approves: [role] up to [amount]; above that, [role]
• Duplicate or incorrect charges: [process, and how long funds take to return]
• Failed payments: [grace period, and what access the customer keeps meanwhile]
• Chargebacks and disputes: [who handles them; first replies do not discuss them]
• Invoices and tax: [how customers change billing details; VAT or sales tax handling]
• Currencies: [currencies supported]

06Cancellations and downgrades

• How a customer cancels: [self-serve path, or by request]
• When it takes effect: [end of billing period, or immediately]
• What happens to their data: [retention period after cancellation, export options]
• Retention offers: [offers allowed and who may make them, or "none"]

07Account access and identity verification

• How we verify identity before discussing an account: [for example a reply from the account email address plus a recent invoice number]
• We never ask for passwords, one-time codes, full card numbers or full government ID numbers.
• What we may tell an unverified contact: [for example general product information only; we do not confirm whether an account exists]
• Lost access to email or multi-factor authentication: [process, and who approves]
• Team accounts: [who may request changes, for example the workspace owner or an admin only]

08Security reports and incidents

• Where vulnerability reports go: [security contact or disclosure page]
• Approved first reply to a security report: [holding text]
• During an incident: [status page, who approves customer messages, approved wording]
• Suspected account compromise: [immediate steps and escalation route]

09Privacy and data requests

• Requests covered: [access, correction, deletion, export, objection]
• Who handles them: [role, for example the privacy lead or Data Protection Officer]
• Deadlines that apply to you: [statutory deadlines for the jurisdictions you serve]
• Identity check required: [method]
• Sensitive data sent in tickets: [how it is redacted, and by whom]

10Known issues and workarounds

11Tone and wording

• Voice: [for example plain and warm, first names, no exclamation marks]
• Apologies: [when we apologise, and when we do not]
• Phrases we use: [list]
• Phrases we avoid: [for example "unfortunately" as an opener, internal jargon, anything that blames the customer]
• Sign-off: [format]
• Languages we reply in: [list, and what to do with other languages]

12Things we never say

• [for example dates for unreleased features]
• [for example admissions of fault or liability without legal review]
• [for example comparisons with named competitors]
• [for example anything about another customer's account]

13Escalation contacts

List roles and team channels here, not personal phone numbers or private email addresses.

14Change log

1# Support policy: [Company or product name]2 3Owner: [role responsible for this policy]. Last reviewed: [date]. Next review: [date].4 5**How to use this template.** Replace every [square-bracket] placeholder, and delete any section that does not apply rather than leaving it half-filled. The Support Triage playbook answers customers only from what this document says. Anything still in square brackets is treated as "policy not stated", so tickets that depend on it are escalated instead of answered. Write rules the way you want them applied, with numbers and named roles, and review it whenever prices, plans or processes change: an out-of-date policy produces confident, wrong replies.6 7## 1. Channels and hours8 9| Channel | Address or link | Hours (with time zone) | Languages |10|---|---|---|---|11| Email | [support address] | [for example Mon to Fri, 09:00 to 17:30 UK time] | [languages] |12| Live chat | [where it appears] | [hours] | [languages] |13| Social | [handles monitored] | [hours] | [languages] |14 15Out of hours: [what customers are told, and whether anyone is on call for P1].16 17## 2. Priority levels and response targets18