Communicating a service outage

The idea

Describe affected services and confirmed impact, distinguish unknowns, and specify when the next update will arrive.

Examples

• The booking service is currently unavailable to customers.
• Existing reservations are still visible to our support team.
• We are investigating the cause and cannot yet estimate a restoration time.
• Customers can contact the desk by phone in the meantime.
• We will provide another update at three o'clock, even if the situation is unchanged.
• We apologise for the disruption and will share confirmed information as it becomes available.

Watch out

Do not promise a restoration time when it has not been confirmed.

Try it yourself

1. The payment page is currently ___. (unavailable / completed)

   Show answer or example answer

   unavailable

   unavailable tells customers the page cannot currently be used.

2. We are investigating and will provide an ___ at noon. (update / invoice)

   Show answer or example answer

   update

   update names the next communication about the incident.

3. We cannot yet ___ when service will return. (confirm / confirms)

   Show answer or example answer

   confirm

   confirm follows the modal and expresses what is not yet known.

Use it today

Draft an update about an unavailable service and give a time for the next message.