Copy-paste incident communication templates for every stage of an outage: status page updates, customer emails, social posts, in-app banners and internal messages. Fill in the [brackets] and publish.
The four stages of incident communication
| Stage | What it means | What to say |
|---|---|---|
| Investigating | You know something is wrong, not why | What's affected and when you'll update next |
| Identified | You know the cause | The cause in plain words and what you're doing |
| Monitoring | A fix is in place | That service is recovering and you're watching it |
| Resolved | Service is back to normal | When it recovered, and what happens next |
Post the first update within about 10 minutes of confirming an issue, then every 30–60 minutes until it's resolved — even if there's nothing new.
Status page incident templates
Investigating
Status page · investigating
Title: [Service] [unavailable / degraded / errors for some users]
We're investigating reports that [what users notice, e.g. some users can't log in]. We'll post an update within [30] minutes.
Identified
Status page · identified
We've identified the cause: [plain-language cause, e.g. a configuration change to our authentication service]. We're [rolling it back / deploying a fix] now. Next update within [30] minutes.
Monitoring
Status page · monitoring
A fix has been applied and [service] is recovering. We're monitoring to make sure the issue doesn't return. [Optional: some users may need to refresh or log in again.]
Resolved
Status page · resolved
This incident has been resolved. [Service] has been working normally since [time UTC]. [Optional: We'll share a summary of what happened and what we're changing within [X] days.] Thanks for your patience.
Degraded performance
Status page · degraded
[Service] is responding more slowly than usual. Everything still works, but [pages / API requests] may take longer to load. We're investigating and will update within [30] minutes.
Third-party outage
Status page · third-party
[Feature, e.g. payments] isn't working because our provider, [provider], is having an outage. We're in contact with them and following their status page. We'll update you as soon as it's restored.
Customer email templates
Major incident email
Email · during a major incident
Subject: [Product] incident: [service] [unavailable / degraded]
Hi [name],
Since [start time UTC], [what users notice]. Our team is working on it now.
[What you know so far, in one sentence.]
Live updates: [status page URL]
We're sorry for the disruption and will email again when it's resolved.
[Team name]
Incident resolved email
Email · resolved
Subject: Resolved: [service] incident on [date]
Hi [name],
The issue affecting [service] between [start] and [end] UTC is resolved.
What happened: [one or two plain sentences].
What we're doing: [the change that prevents it happening again].
[If relevant: Any data / requests during this window were / were not affected.]
Thanks for your patience, and sorry for the trouble.
[Team name]
Social, in-app and internal templates
Social · X or LinkedIn
We're aware of an issue affecting [service] and are working on a fix. Follow live updates at [status page URL].
In-app banner
We're having trouble with [service] right now. Some features may not work. Updates: [status page URL]
Internal · Slack or Teams
🔴 Incident: [service] [impact]. Started [time]. Incident lead: [name]. Customer-facing updates on [status page URL] every [30] min. Support macro: [link]. War room: [link].
Incident communication best practices
- Lead with impact. Customers care what they can't do, not which server failed.
- Be specific. Name the service and who's affected. Vague updates create more support tickets.
- Always give a next-update time. And keep it, even if there's no news.
- No blame, no guesses. Share the cause once you know it, without naming people or vendors in anger.
- Close the loop. Post a resolved update, and a postmortem for major incidents.
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