How to Write a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Template & Examples

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are the backbone of reliable customer service. They help service providers manage customer expectations, define service boundaries, and clearly state when the provider is not responsible for outages or performance issues.

In simple words, an SLA prevents confusion before problems happen.

That’s why delivering a clear and practical Service Level Agreement is essential for maintaining trust and delivering consistent value.

What is a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a formal agreement between a service provider and a customer that defines the services to be delivered and the expected levels of performance, availability, quality, and responsibilities.

It’s a kind of rulebook that clearly explains:

• What service will be provided
• How well the service should perform
• Who is responsible for what
• How quickly will support respond
• What happens if service levels are not met

Ultimately, it helps customers to avoid poor or unclear service as well as providers from unrealistic expectations. Keeping this in mind, SLAs come in different types depending on the use case.

Types of Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

There are three main types of SLAs: 

1. Customer Service Level Agreement
2. Internal Service Level Agreement
3. Multilevel Service Level Agreement

Beginners should always identify which one they need before writing anything. Choosing the wrong type creates confusion and makes the SLA ineffective.

Customer Service Level Agreement (External)

A Customer Service Level Agreement defines the service commitments between a business and its paying customers. It is typically embedded in the commercial contract and sets clear expectations on availability, responsiveness, and accountability.

Common use cases:

• SaaS: Defines application availability, support response times, and data protection standards.
• Hosting & Cloud: Guarantees uptime, incident response, and support coverage.
• Agencies: Specifies delivery timelines, revision cycles, and communication cadence.
• Support Services: Sets response and resolution targets across defined support channels.

In practice, customer-level SLAs translate service promises into measurable obligations by aligning expectations, enabling enforcement, and protecting trust.

Internal Service Level Agreement

An internal Service Level Agreement defines service commitments between teams within the same organization or company. But it’s not visible to customers. Its primary purpose is to reduce friction, clarify ownership, and enforce accountability across departments.

Common use cases:

• Marketing delivers 200 qualified leads per month: Leads must meet agreed criteria (e.g., industry, budget, company size) before being passed to sales.
• Sales follow-up within 24 hours: Every qualified lead is contacted within one business day to prevent revenue leakage from delayed response.

Multilevel Service Level Agreement

This involves more than two teams or services. A multilevel SLA creates a chain of commitments where each team depends on others to meet their obligations. If one team fails, the entire chain breaks, so accountability is distributed across multiple parties.

Common use cases:

• Sales closes deals: The sales team commits to closing a certain number of contracts per month and properly documenting customer requirements during the sales process.
• Support handles onboarding: Once a deal closes, the support team commits to onboarding the new customer within a specific timeframe, setting up their account, and training them on the product.
• Engineering fixes bugs: When customers report issues during onboarding or normal use, the engineering team commits to investigating and resolving bugs within defined timeframes based on severity.

Each team has defined responsibilities.

If sales close deals but provide poor documentation, support cannot onboard customers properly. Alternatively, if support onboards customers poorly, those customers will likely report more issues and place a greater burden on engineering. 

Each team’s performance affects the others, so the multilevel SLA defines interconnected commitments.

As you already understand, various types of SLAs. Now, let’s learn to create a suitable one for your own business.

How to create a Service Level Agreement (Beginner-friendly)

There’s no single SLA template that works for everyone. Some SLAs are one page. Others are more detailed. What matters is that both sides clearly understand what’s included, what’s not, and how success is measured.

1. Define services covered

Describe the services included in this agreement. Be specific about what is covered and what is not covered. Include service tiers if you offer multiple levels.

Example:

2. Commit factual service hours

State when services are available and when support staff are working. An SLA should reflect reality. Don’t promise 100% uptime and instant resolution. As complex issues take time to diagnose and fix.

You can use historical data and list only the services you actually provide. 

Example:

3. Keep priority levels simple

Define what qualifies as each priority level. Usually, four priority levels are enough for most businesses.

• Critical: Full outages, security breaches, data loss.
• High: Major functionality issues affecting many users.
• Medium: Partial issues with workarounds available.
• Low: Cosmetic issues, questions, or feature requests.

Fewer levels keep teams focused on solving problems.

4. Clarify customer responsibilities

List what customers must do for the SLA to remain valid.

Example:

• Report issues promptly using the support ticket system at [URL]
• Provide complete information, including error messages and steps to reproduce issues
• Maintain current contact information
• Pay invoices within stated terms
• Keep login credentials secure

5. Service credits (Important)

Define compensation when SLA is breached.

Example:

6. Set exceptions and boundaries

Include specific circumstances when SLA commitments do not apply. So, your team and your customers don’t get horrified surprises. 

Example: 

This SLA does not apply during:

Also, define scope limits. If you offer bug fixes, say feature development isn’t included. If support is only available via email, state that clearly. Boundaries prevent scope creep and keep delivery sustainable.

7. Escalation process (customer support sectors)

Explain how unresolved issues move up the support hierarchy.

Example:

• Level 1: Support tickets are initially handled by our support team
• Level 2: Issues unresolved after [time period] or requiring specialized expertise are escalated to senior technical staff
• Level 3: Issues still unresolved or requiring policy decisions are escalated to management

8. Define SLA review time

Specify how often the SLA will be reviewed and updated.

Example:

Now, look at how all these steps will look together.

Basic SLA template and structure

You can copy this and fill in your specific information.

This template provides all essential elements while remaining simple enough for beginners to understand and implement. Fill in the bracketed sections with your specific details, and adjust the structure as needed for your particular service type.

Final thoughts

A Service Level Agreement is a legal document that clarifies the relationship between customers and employees. That’s why using complex legal language, technical jargon, and vague commitments makes your SLA suspicious. 

If they cannot understand what you are promising, they assume you are hiding unfavorable terms or leaving yourself too many loopholes. Simple, clear language builds trust by demonstrating transparency.