A customer support SLA template you can copy

A customer support SLA template needs five parts: priority levels, first-response targets, resolution targets, business hours, and rules for escalation and pausing the clock. Below is a complete one for a team that takes calls, WhatsApp and email. Copy it, change the numbers to match your staffing, and share it with your team before you promise anything to customers.

The targets are starting points we wrote, not industry standards. Set them from what your team can actually hit today, then tighten them. A target you miss every week teaches everyone to ignore it.

What is an SLA in customer support?

An SLA, or service level agreement, is a written commitment on how quickly a support team will respond and resolve. “Service level” also has a narrower meaning on the phones: the share of calls answered within a set time, such as 80% in 20 seconds. The template below covers both.

There are two kinds of SLA. An internal SLA is a standard the team holds itself to. An external SLA is promised to customers, often inside a contract. The template below works as an internal SLA as it stands. If you put any of it into a customer contract, have a lawyer review the wording first. This page is a working template, not legal advice.

Step 1: define priority levels

Priority tells your team which ticket to pick up first. Use four levels and define each by customer impact, not by how loudly the customer writes.

Step 2: set first-response and resolution targets

First response is the time to the first real reply, and resolution is the time to the ticket being solved. Measure both in business hours unless the priority is P1. Calls are handled differently, because a caller expects an answer now, so they get a call service level instead of a reply time.

For calls, set two targets that apply to every priority: 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds, and no more than 5% of callers hanging up before an agent answers. A call that is not answered gets a callback within 2 business hours. Calls that need follow-up become a ticket with the same priority rules as above.

Step 3: write down business hours and holidays

Business hours are when the clock for “business hours” targets runs. State your open days and hours, your time zone and the holidays you close. Outside those hours the clock stops, except for P1.

• Support hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00, and Saturday 9:00 to 13:00, East Africa Time. (Replace with yours.)
• Closed: public holidays. List the dates for the year at the top of the document.
• Messages received out of hours start the clock at the next opening time, except P1.
• An out-of-hours auto-reply on WhatsApp and email states your opening hours and the P1 contact route.

Step 4: define escalation

Escalation is what happens when a target is about to be missed or has been missed. Write who gets told, how, and when, so nobody has to decide on the spot.

1. At 75% of the target time: the supervisor reminds the ticket owner. For targets counted in days, the morning check catches these.
2. At 100% of the target time (breach): the supervisor takes the ticket or reassigns it, and messages the customer with a new time.
3. P1 not acknowledged in 15 minutes: the supervisor calls the on-duty agent, then the support manager at 30 minutes.
4. Any ticket open past twice its resolution target: the support manager reviews it that day and records the cause.
5. Customer asks for a manager: pass the ticket with a summary so the customer does not repeat themselves.

Step 5: write the pause rules

A pause rule says when the resolution clock stops because the ball is in the customer’s court. Without one, tickets breach through no fault of the team, and the numbers lose credibility. Keep the list short.

• The clock pauses when we are waiting for information or action only the customer can give, and we have asked in writing.
• The clock restarts the moment the customer replies.
• The clock does not pause while we wait on our own colleagues or another team.
• If the customer does not reply after 3 business days, we send one reminder, and after a further 2 business days we resolve the ticket and tell them they can reply to reopen it.
• The first-response clock never pauses.

The template to copy

Paste this into a shared document, replace the bracketed items and put the date at the top. Review it every quarter.

1. Purpose. This document sets how fast [Company] replies to and resolves customer requests, so customers and staff know what to expect. Version [1.0], effective [date], owner [name].
2. Channels covered. Phone calls to [number], WhatsApp on [number], email to [address].
3. Support hours. [Days and hours], [time zone]. Closed on [holiday list]. P1 issues are handled at any hour on [route].
4. Priorities. P1 Critical, P2 High, P3 Normal, P4 Low, as defined in the priority table. The agent sets priority when the ticket opens, and a supervisor may change it.
5. First response. P1: [15] minutes on WhatsApp and [30] minutes on email, any hour. P2: [1] hour on WhatsApp, [2] hours on email. P3: [4] hours on WhatsApp, [8] hours on email. P4: [1] business day. An automatic acknowledgement does not count.
6. Calls. [80]% answered within [20] seconds. No more than [5]% abandoned. Unanswered calls are returned within [2] business hours.
7. Updates. P1 every [1] hour, P2 every [4] hours, P3 every business day until resolved.
8. Resolution targets. P1 [4] hours, P2 [1] business day, P3 [3] business days, P4 [5] business days.
9. Pause rules. The resolution clock pauses while we wait for the customer, as set out in the pause rules. The first-response clock never pauses.
10. Escalation. At 75% of target the supervisor reminds the owner. At 100% the supervisor takes over and tells the customer a new time. P1 not acknowledged in 15 minutes goes to the support manager at 30 minutes.
11. Measures. We report weekly: share of first responses inside target, share of tickets resolved inside target, call service level, abandoned call rate and CSAT.
12. Exclusions. Targets do not apply to events outside our control, such as network outages at a carrier. We tell customers when this happens.
13. Review. The support manager reviews targets every quarter against results and updates the version number.

How do you track an SLA in SautiDesk?

SautiDesk does not run ticket SLA timers. There are no response or resolution clocks on tickets, no breach alerts, and no business-hours or pause rules for tickets, so your team applies the rules above by checking reports. The phone service level is built in: you set the target percentage, the answer time, the abandon limit and the longest wait in Settings, and the Service level report shows whether each day met them.

On SautiDesk Pro, the Tickets report lists tickets with their first reply time, age and status, and the Reply times by channel report shows the median and slowest first reply for SMS, WhatsApp and email. Read the age column each morning and start with anything past 75% of its target. The supervisor morning check is a ten-minute routine for this. Basic does not include reports; see pricing.

Pair the SLA with the other numbers in customer service KPIs. Response time alone can be met by sending fast, useless replies, so track CSAT beside it. To check the phone target is staffable, work it through how many agents you need.