What do you do when a customer makes unreasonable demands of your business or wants a service you do not provide? You can protect yourself and your business by having well defined Terms of Service, also called Terms of Use, something every business owner needs in their business.
Terms of Use in your Business
These are guidelines for operations
Let customers know what to expect when doing business with you
Protects you from legal liability when enforcing a policy or in the cast of customer legal action
Can and should include:
1. A Privacy policy – this is required by some countries and institutions and is required by most state and federal law
Should state how you handle customer data and that you do not sell or share it
3. Download policy – states how customers may download your digital products, that they can only save it to their personal computer or digital media devices, they cannot share or post it, no sharing with others, and not using it in their own programs or business
4. Refund policy – when and how you offer refunds
You are not obligated to offer any refund for any reason
Must have a well defined refund policy – do not offer 100% refunds
If you do not offer refunds you must state it here and on every sales page
5. Your Guarantee - be very careful in offering a guarantee of results or services as you cannot guarantee results. Also be careful how you offer a guarantee in conjunction with a refund
6. Hours of operation – state what your business operating hours are, be sure to include your time zone too, for example: 9AM to 5PM US Eastern Time
7. Service level agreement – when you’ll respond to emails and communications, how you will handle customer support issues and other interactions with your customers
8. Disclaimer of results – state how testimonials are not typical results, be clear that you are not guaranteeing results
If you are offering coaching for mental or emotional issues, you must state that it is not a substitute for professional mental health services
If offering coaching for health or wellness, you must state that it is not a substitute for professional medical treatment
Your terms of user or terms of service are an important part of your business legal documents and they should be posted where customers can see them and agree to them, where appropriate, so they have a clear understanding of what they can expect from you and your business and it protects you from unreasonable customer expectations and provides a clear definition of your services.