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The contract between you and your customers is one of the
cornerstones of your business. All too often, ISPs put them together without
much thought?or awareness of the possible consequences.
Every ISP has one?whether they call it an 'Acceptable Use Policy,' 'Terms of
Service,' a 'User Agreement,' or something else. It's the legal document that
serves as the contract between you and your customer. And lots of ISPs undercut
themselves by making mistakes with their AUPs and how they implement them. I am
not a lawyer, so I'm not qualified to comment of the actual content of an AUP,
but there's much more to a good, working AUP than legal correctness. Here are
five common pitfalls you should avoid:
1. Legalese
More and more contracts
today are being written in plain English. Yours should be too. If your find your
AUP hard to read, your customer probably gave up and never even tried. Give your
AUP to a non-technical friend and see if s/he can understand it. If s/he can't,
rewrite it.
2. Add-On-itis
Some ISPs create
separate billing policies, abuse and spam definitions, or break out other
sections of their polices into separate documents. While one can make an
argument for this, in general I think it's a bad idea. One three-page document
is preferable to three one-page documents. The more places people have to go for
information the more likely they'll either get confused or not read them all.
Perhaps worse, you leave yourself open to creating loopholes or conflicting
policies.
3. No Legal Input
A significant number
of ISPs put together their original AUP by cutting and pasting sections from
other ISP's AUPs, then changing the company name. (Yes, I did too). Then as they
grow, expand their service offerings, and add new sections, they either write
their own or again 'borrow' from others. How many of those ISPs had a lawyer
review their AUP to make sure it's legally accurate and defensible? It usually
costs just a few hundred dollars to get a lawyer to review your AUP for holes
and flaws. This is not a place to cut corners. As the commercial says, "Just do
it". It's worth it.
4. Hard to Find
This is a very common
failing with ISPs. While preparing for this article, I went to about 20
different ISPs and web host's sites to look at their AUPs. It took me,
typically, 3 to 6 clicks to get to the AUP on these web sites, not including the
extra clicks spent following blind alleys or going in circles. Your AUP is too
important to hide in a corner of your "Support" section, or worse, only be
displayed when someone goes to sign up for an account online. Also, consider
making a PDF or text-only version that customers can easily download.
5. No Follow Through
I know of one
company that stipulated in its AUP that no account would be cancelled until 2
days after a certified letter was sent to the customer informing notifying them
of the impending cancellation. Then they went ahead and cancelled some spammer's
accounts without sending the notice. One of the spammers got his lawyer to
complain that the AUP had been violated, and after checking with their lawyers
in turn, the ISP had to turn the account back on until the cancellation was done
the 'right' way. The moral of the story: the AUP binds you as much as it does
your customers. If you set out a policy, you have to follow it. If a policy
isn't working, don't ignore it?change the AUP instead.
Final Thoughts
All too often, AUPs are
treated as an afterthought or a necessary evil. If you're lucky, you'll never
get into a situation where you need to fall back on your AUP in a customer
problem (or worse, a lawsuit), but don't make the mistake of thinking it won't
happen to you. It doesn't take all that much time or money to do your AUP right.
If you have any doubts about your AUP, make the time to re-read it and see
whether it needs work.
Securing a Small Business Loan by Mark E. Battersby
5 Stupid Things ISPs Do to Screw Up Their AUPs by Rachel Luxemburg
Management 101: Creating Structures by Jason Zigmont
Protect Your ISP With A Strong AUP by Christopher Knight
Self-Rental, a Tax Strategy by Mark E. Battersby
Tax-Saving Tax Strategies by Mark E. Battersby
Extremely Affordable Worker Magnets by Mark E. Battersby
Reward Yourself With Fringe Benefits by Mark E. Battersby
Turn Your ISPs Business Losses into Tax Benefits by Mark E. Battersby
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