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Communicating the benefits of membership to your internal and external stakeholders

A key factor when it comes to making the most out of your membership is communicating with a range of different stakeholders within your organisation.  

This is why we have put together this handy toolkit to get you started. Below you can find some handy resources, guidelines, and assets to support both internal and external communications activities, as well as some templates and messaging you can use to communicate through various channels.  

If you have any questions or require further support with communications, please get in touch via your CDD or CDM, or contact us via the button below.

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Communications Resources

The Institute of Customer Service is the professional body for customer service. We provide tools and services to support continuous customer service improvement and a framework for our members to share and learn from each other. We are independent – setting standards so that our customers can improve their customers’ experiences and their business performance.  

At the Institute, we raise the profile of the impact of customer service on business performance, including with, and on behalf of our energy sector members. The Institute also administers accreditation schemes (ServiceMark) and produces the bi-annual UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) – the independent, objective benchmark of customer satisfaction on a consistent set of measures covering over 250 organisations and organisation types across 13 sectors. 

Why did your organisation join – a one line response:  

Our organisation joined The Institute of Customer Service as part of our commitment to continuously improve our service and put our customers at the heart of everything we do. 

We have branding guidelines to ensure The Institute’s brand message is clear, coherent and consistent whenever we interact with our audiences. Check out our brand guidelines to gain access to:

The Institute’s membership, campaign and awards logos
Campaign assets examples
Tone of voice guidelines
Some examples of the imagery used when promoting The Institute

Our downloadable template pack has specially been crafted to guide you through seamless communications across various channels – feel free to tailor the templates to suit your brand’s personality and communication style.

Please note: when communicating about The Institute of Customer Service, please share any draft communications with your CDD and CDM in advance to ensure consistency and clarity of messaging.

Please allow the following timelines for review of comms:  

  • Two working days for press release review, blog post review, or social media post review 
  • Three working days for drafting a quote from our CEO 
  • Five working days to review bulk content, e.g., a presentation or communications pack   

Once we’ve celebrated becoming members, and outside of key milestones, how do we keep our membership with The Institute top of mind for our organisation, and in particular our leadership team? 

First and foremost, your CDD and CDM are your most important points of contact and will work with you to create a tailored engagement plan that works for you. Below are a couple of starting points:

Business strategy and goals: Membership activities should not be standalone but should be weaved into your organisation’s overall business strategy and goals.
Utilising all assets: The Institute’s brand guidelines include a wealth of valuable assets and is updated regularly. Your CDD and CDM will also work with you on any additional assets you would like produced, whether It’s joint branded assets for social media or a quote from our CEO for your website or media engagement.
Engaging on social media: The Institute of Customer Service has a very active presence on Linkedin and X with regular engaging campaigns running – like our National Customer Service Week campaign each October. We will also work with your social teams and will engage with your own customer-focused campaigns if flagged with us in advance.
Engaging with The Institute campaigns: Outside of directly working with your organisation, The Institute runs several regular campaigns that your employees can engage with – from our twice-yearly UK Customer Satisfaction Index to our advocating for frontline workers with Service with Respect, there is always something to engage with throughout the year.
External communications: Aside from announcing key milestones and research, messaging around your membership with The Institute should be weaved into all customer-focused communications.
Member resources

Below are some quick shortcuts to the resources available to you as a member of the Institute of Customer Service.  

The value of our resources lies in how bespoke and tailored they are to your business needs. Please reach out to your CDD here if you would like any further information on these products.  

 

Events

From our Annual Conference and UK Customer Satisfaction Awards to regular thought-provoking webinars, The Institute offers a host of in-person and online events suitable for employees across your organisation.  

See all events
Research & Insight

We regularly publish Breakthrough Research reports on key topics as well as our twice-yearly UKCSI. Our Business Benchmarking allows you to benchmark your service levels based on UKCSI questions, and our Insight Consultancy provides tailored insights supporting your business objectives.

See all research
Thought leadership

Access a wealth of resources and invaluable insights to stay ahead in the dynamic landscape of customer service – from cutting-edge ideas to innovative strategies and emerging trends in customer service, including our popular CEO Blogs & Statements.

See all thought leadership
Training & Development

Our Academy provides additional services to our members, including end-to-end delivery to support your recruitment, development and retention. Improve the service skills, confidence and capability of your people at all levels –  from the frontline, to managers and team leaders. 

Academy Training
Standards & Accreditations

The Institute’s rigorous accreditation programmes (ServiceMark and TrainingMark), are designed to recognise and validate an organisation’s achievement in customer service and commitment to upholding those standards. Demonstrate the high quality of your customer service today.

Standards and Accreditations
Campaigns & Initiatives

Alongside working with its member bodies to improve individual customer service, The Institute undertakes a significant amount of activity to promote great service as a force for good – from media and Government engagement, through to changing the law to better protect frontline staff.   

Inspiring a Service Nation
Communicating membership to your teams

So you’ve taken the step to become a member of The Institute of Customer Service, and want to let everyone know the great news. What next? To best share the benefits of membership with your organisation, we recommend:

Announcing your membership across all key communications channels, with a call to action directing staff to where they can find further information and assets.
Identifying a central location for all employees to access info, guidelines, and templates – e.g. a dedicated page on your company Intranet.
Creating a communications plan and calendar for regular updates to staff on how key projects/activities are progressing.
Appointing internal ambassadors for key projects with The Institute (e.g. qualifications, bespoke research) who can drive internal and external communication and engagement.

Your employees are busy, and won’t always be reading every communication in detail, so ensuring that you utilise every channel available to you to communicate key membership updates is vital.

LinkedIn: this is increasingly becoming one of the most important channels to engage your own employees as well as promote any communications externally.
Intranet: If your organisation has an internal message board or Intranet, a dedicated page for The Institute of Customer Service membership detailing all benefits is advised, as well as posting of key milestones (e.g. Business Benchmarking).
Email/Newsletters: If your company has regular newsletters to staff, a section on membership with The Institute is an easy way to keep your updates regular – as well as email updates on key milestones or activities.
Face to face meetings /Town Halls: All-company gatherings are a great way to not only deliver updates, but keep staff engaged and get valuable feedback on what employees across your organisation are getting out of membership.
External website/communications: Membership with the Institute is a valuable asset to your business.
Customer communications: regular marketing communications with your customers should include details on membership.
Relevance in your organisation

Who is The Institute’s membership relevant to across your organisation? Who will this add value for? The answer is: everybody!  

The benefits, products, and services available through your membership with The Institute can add value to every aspect of your organisation. Some examples of different areas of the business, and why membership is relevant, include:  

Customers Icon
Your customers

While not strictly internal communications, membership with the Institute demonstrates to your customers that you are committed to investing in service at all levels of your business – so they should not be left out when it comes to communications planning.

Sales Icon
Sales

Whether it’s external sales or account management, membership with The Institute will help create opportunities for your sales team, making them a key stakeholder for internal communications.

Insights Team
Insights Team

The Institute undertakes frequent research around the state of service in the UK, including a twice yearly customer satisfaction index (UKCSI), and can work with your insights team to better understand the data we gather. We can also work with your teams to create bespoke research projects – talk to your CDD to find out more.  

Comms & Marketing
Communications and Marketing

This team will want to be shouting the benefits of membership from the rafters, whether that’s through media engagement, social media campaigns or advertising and digital marketing.

Professional Development
HR, Learning & Development

Membership with The Institute is an important addition to any employee engagement strategy – particularly with products like ServCheck that involve reviewing and assessing employee feedback. It is also an important addition to recruitment campaigns.

Your Customer Experience Team
Your Customer Experience Team

This team should be getting regular updates on how you are utilising membership to improve customer experience. Their feedback and engagement will be invaluable, so make sure you are keeping them across the how, and more importantly, the why of membership activities.

Leadership Icon
Executive Leadership / C-Suite

Your organisation’s leadership team is one of the most important stakeholders to membership – they will want to hear about all the great value-adds from membership, and will be particularly interested in The Institute’s thought leadership and government engagement activities, and how they can get involved.

How can you get in touch?

Your Client Development Director and Client Delivery Manager are your key contacts and can support with all queries. You can get in touch with them via your member dashboard.

Your member dashboard is a one-stop-shop for your membership with The Institute. On it, you have one-click access to your support team, portals for any ongoing survey activity such as Business Benchmarking, ServCheck and ServiceMark, and to all the other services and content accessible through your membership – such as research, insights and public relations support.  

If you have any issues logging into your member dashboard, you can also reach out using our contact form and a member of our team will work with you to resolve this.  

The below contact form is also a useful link to communicate with all staff in your business, as not everyone will have access to the member dashboard:

Get in touch with us today


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