---
summary: "Required elements for valid customer updates: what happened, what is being done, who owns next step, and when customer will hear back. Vague status phrases are not acceptable."
usage_mode: auto
sort_order: 0
tags:
  - policy
  - customer-success
refs:
  - orbit-how-we-work
  - sales-ops-cs-handoff-process
---

## Customer Update Communication Standard

**Source:** Notion - People & Operating Norms, last edited 2026-05-07

---

## Policy

Every customer update must contain four elements. An update that omits any of these is incomplete and must not be sent.

| # | Required Element | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **What happened** | "The approval routing failed for the renewal PO because the department budget split was not configured." |
| 2 | **What is being done** | "We are reconfiguring the budget split and re-routing the approval to the correct approver." |
| 3 | **Who owns the next step** | "[Name] on our CS team owns this and is working it now." |
| 4 | **When the customer will hear back** | "You will have an update by 3pm today." |

## Named Anti-Pattern

- **Do not send:** "We are looking into it."
- This phrase is only acceptable when the actual blocker is genuinely unknown. If the blocker is known, name it.
- Vague status phrases without a named owner and a time commitment are not acceptable customer updates.

## When This Applies

- Any written update to a customer during an active issue, escalation, or implementation delay.
- Applies to email, Slack, and any other written channel.
- Verbal updates in calls should follow the same structure; a written summary must follow the call.

---

See also: [[orbit-how-we-work]], [[sales-ops-cs-handoff-process]]
