Support Playbook

Team / product: [Support team or product name] Owner of this playbook: [Name / role responsible for keeping it current] Version: [e.g., 1.0] Last reviewed: [Date]

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1. Support scope and channels

State what this team supports and how customers can reach it.

• We support: [Products, plans, or customer segments this team covers.]
• We do not support: [What is out of scope, and where to send those requests instead.]
• Hours: [Days and times the team is staffed, and the time zone.]

Channel	Use it for	Staffed hours	Target first response
[Email / help desk]	[Type of issue]	[Hours]	[e.g., 4 business hours]
[Live chat]	[Type of issue]	[Hours]	[e.g., 2 minutes]
[Phone]	[Type of issue]	[Hours]	[e.g., immediate]

2. Priorities and SLAs

Define how you rank tickets and what you promise for each level.

Priority	Definition	First-response target	Resolution target
Urgent (P1)	[Customer fully blocked / data at risk]	[Time]	[Time]
High (P2)	[Major issue with painful workaround]	[Time]	[Time]
Normal (P3)	[Everyday question or minor bug]	[Time]	[Time]
Low (P4)	[Cosmetic issue or feature request]	[Time]	[Time]

[Note: set targets you can consistently meet, and review them monthly against what actually happened.]

3. Triage steps

What every agent does with a new ticket, in order.

1. [Read the full request before replying; confirm what the customer is actually asking.]
2. [Assign a priority using the table in section 2, based on impact rather than tone.]
3. [Tag or categorise the issue so it can be routed and reported on.]
4. [Decide who handles it — resolve at your tier, or route per the escalation matrix in section 5.]
5. [Send a first response that acknowledges the issue and states the next step, within the SLA.]

4. Canned-response guidelines

How to use saved replies without sounding robotic.

• [Personalise the greeting and confirm you understood this customer's specific situation.]
• [Edit out anything in the template that does not apply before sending.]
• [Lead with the answer or next step; keep apologies brief and sincere.]
• [Always close with the solution or a concrete next step and timing.]

Template name	When to use it	Owner
[e.g., Password reset]	[Situation]	[Role]
[e.g., Bug acknowledged]	[Situation]	[Role]
[e.g., Refund issued]	[Situation]	[Role]

5. Escalation matrix

Who a ticket goes to when the current handler cannot resolve it.

Situation	Escalate to	How / how fast
[Issue too complex for current tier]	[Tier 2 / specialist]	[Channel and timing]
[Suspected bug needing a code change]	[Engineering]	[Channel and timing]
[Unhappy customer / commitment at risk]	[Team lead / manager]	[Channel and timing]
[Outage or security incident]	[On-call / incident owner]	[Channel and timing]

[Note: name who owns the ticket at each step, and always tell the customer when an escalation happens.]

6. Tools

The systems the team relies on and what each is for.

Tool	Used for	Where to get access
[Help desk]	[Tickets and replies]	[How to request access]
[Knowledge base]	[Self-service articles]	[How to request access]
[Status page]	[Outage communication]	[How to request access]

7. Metrics

What the team tracks and how often it is reviewed.

Metric	Target	Reviewed
First-response time	[Target]	[Cadence]
Resolution time (by priority)	[Target]	[Cadence]
CSAT	[Target]	[Cadence]
Backlog / open tickets	[Target]	[Cadence]