ISO 10002 explained: customer satisfaction and complaints

ISO 10002:2018 is the international guideline that helps organisations handle complaints about their products and services, from planning and design through to operation and improvement. For quality, customer service and compliance teams, ISO 10002 training is the practical route to turning those guidelines into a complaints process people can actually use.

What does ISO 10002:2018 cover?

The standard’s full title is Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations. It was published on 16 July 2018 as the third edition, developed by ISO/TC 176/SC 3, and it sits within the ISO 9001 family of standards.

Item	Detail
Reference	ISO 10002:2018
Title	Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations
Edition	3
Published	16 July 2018
Committee	ISO/TC 176/SC 3
Family	Part of the ISO 9001 family of standards

It is a guidance document rather than a list of requirements. It gives guidelines for the process of complaints handling related to products and services within an organization, including planning, design, development, operation, maintenance and improvement, and the process it describes is suitable for use as one of the processes of an overall quality management system.

Throughout the document, the terms “product” and “service” refer to the outputs of an organization that are intended for, or required by, a customer. The document is intended for use by any organization regardless of its type or size, or the products and services it provides, and for organizations in all sectors. Annex B provides guidance specifically for small businesses.

Who needs ISO 10002 training?

Because the standard is written for any organization, it is not limited to large firms, particular sectors or particular types of product and service. A small business working through Annex B and a multi-site organisation building a formal complaints function are both within its intended audience.

Top management has a defined role in the standard, so the people who approve budgets and resources belong in the conversation, not only the staff who receive complaints. In practice, ISO 10002 training is most relevant to quality managers, customer service leads, compliance officers, information security and IT managers, and the executives who sponsor the complaints process.

Since the document offers guidelines, many organisations use it to strengthen the quality management system they already have rather than treating it as a separate exercise. Training is usually the starting point, because the value comes from people understanding how a complaint travels through the organisation and who acts on it at each stage.

How to put the guidelines into practice

The standard addresses a defined set of aspects of complaints handling. Read as an action list, they look like this.

1. Create a customer-focused environment that is open to feedback, including complaints. People need to believe a complaint will be taken seriously before they will raise one.
2. Secure top management involvement and commitment through adequate acquisition and deployment of resources, including personnel training. Without resources and trained personnel, a complaints process quickly becomes a form nobody follows.
3. Recognise and address the needs and expectations of complainants. Each complainant wants their issue understood and dealt with, and the process should reflect that.
4. Provide complainants with an open, effective and easy-to-use complaints process. Accessibility is part of the design, not an afterthought.
5. Analyse and evaluate complaints in order to improve the quality of products and services, including customer service. Complaints data is improvement input, not just a record of dissatisfaction.
6. Resolve the complaints received and enhance the organisation’s ability to improve its products and services, including customer service. Resolution and improvement belong to the same loop.

Keeping this work as one element of an overall quality management system helps it stay connected to the improvement activity the organisation already runs. Small businesses can scale the approach using the guidance in Annex B rather than building something larger than they need.

Frequently asked questions

What is ISO 10002?

ISO 10002:2018 is an international guideline for complaints handling, published on 16 July 2018 as the third edition and developed by ISO/TC 176/SC 3. Its full title is Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations. It sets out how to plan, design, develop, operate, maintain and improve a complaints-handling process related to products and services.

Who needs ISO 10002 training or certification?

Any organization can use the standard, regardless of type, size, sector or the products and services it provides, and Annex B is written specifically for small businesses. Training is most useful for quality, customer service, compliance and IT managers, together with top management, whose involvement and commitment the standard addresses directly. Because the document provides guidelines rather than requirements, most organisations apply it within an overall quality management system rather than as a standalone scheme.

What are the benefits of ISO 10002?

The standard aims to enhance customer satisfaction by creating a customer-focused environment that is open to feedback, including complaints, and by resolving the complaints received. It helps an organisation analyse and evaluate complaints in order to improve the quality of its products and services, including customer service. It also supports recognising and addressing the needs and expectations of complainants, and giving them an open, effective and easy-to-use complaints process.

ITMAD works with organisations worldwide on certification and training for management system standards. Its ISO 10002 training helps quality, customer service and compliance teams apply the complaints-handling guidelines in their own context, and its certification services cover the wider family of standards to which ISO 10002 belongs. Contact ITMAD to discuss how your complaints process fits your management system.