How to write an outage update that people will trust

When your site or service goes down, the first thing customers want to know is not why. It is whether you know and whether anyone is dealing with it. A clear, honest update in the first few minutes builds trust. Silence, or a vague message, erodes it. This guide covers what to say, where to say it and the mistakes to avoid.

Say something quickly

You do not need the cause to send a first message. You need three things: that you are aware, what is affected and when you will update next. Waiting until you understand everything usually means waiting too long.

First message, example: “We are aware that some customers cannot sign in. We are investigating and will post another update within 30 minutes.”

What every update should contain

  • What is affected. Be specific: sign-in, checkout, the mobile app, a region.
  • What is not affected. This stops people worrying about things that are fine.
  • What you are doing. One sentence is enough.
  • When you will update next. Then keep to it, even if the update is “no change”.
  • What customers can do meanwhile, if anything.

Where to post it

Use a place that does not depend on the thing that is broken. If your status page lives on the same servers as your site, it will vanish when you need it most. Good options are a status page hosted with a separate provider, a social account customers already follow and an email to affected customers. Mention the status address in your site footer and support replies ahead of time, so people know where to look.

A simple structure for the whole incident

  1. Investigating. You know there is a problem and are looking into it.
  2. Identified. You know the cause and are working on a fix.
  3. Monitoring. A fix is in and you are watching to make sure it holds.
  4. Resolved. Everything is back to normal.

These four states are a widely used convention and customers recognise them. Use the same words each time.

Tone

  • Plain words. Say “some people cannot log in”, not “we are experiencing degraded authentication throughput”.
  • Own it. A short, sincere apology is better than excuses or blaming a supplier.
  • Do not over-promise. “We expect this to be fixed within the hour” becomes a problem if it is not. Commit to when you will next update rather than when it will be fixed.
  • Do not guess about the cause. If you are unsure, say you are investigating.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Saying nothing and hoping nobody notices.
  • Describing a serious outage as “minor” or “a brief issue” while customers can see otherwise.
  • Using different words for the same problem across channels.
  • Posting a fix as complete before it is confirmed.
  • Blaming individuals. Describe the system, not the person.

After it is fixed

Once things are stable, post a short summary: what happened, when it started and ended, what was affected and what you are changing to prevent a repeat. You do not need to share every technical detail, but a truthful, specific account earns more trust than a polished one. Inside your team, hold a review focused on how the system allowed the failure, not on who made the mistake.

Templates

Investigating: “We are investigating reports that [what] is not working for some customers. Next update by [time].”

Identified: “We have identified the cause of the [what] problem and are working on a fix. [What customers can do.] Next update by [time].”

Monitoring: “A fix has been applied and [what] is working again. We are monitoring to be sure it holds.”

Resolved: “This incident is resolved. [What happened, in a sentence or two.] We are sorry for the disruption and will [what you are changing].”

Know before they tell you

The best update is the one you send before customers write in. That needs monitoring that checks your site from outside and alerts you the moment it fails. A free account here lets you watch your sites and receive an email when one goes down and when it comes back. Our guide to monitoring your own website covers the rest.

Check a website now

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Last updated 2 November 2026. Written by the siteupdown.com team. Spotted a mistake?

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