How to tell a client their website is down, with message templates

How you communicate during an outage matters almost as much as how fast you fix it. A client who hears early, clearly and calmly stays a client. A client who finds out on their own and then waits in silence does not.

This guide gives you the principles and message templates you can copy.

What principles make a downtime message work?

1. Be first. Tell them before they tell you. Monitoring is what makes this possible.
2. Say what is affected. The whole site, one page, the contact form, email.
3. Say what you are doing. A single sentence is enough.
4. Promise the next update, not the fix. "I will update you by 15:00" is a promise you can keep.
5. Keep blame and jargon out until it is resolved.
6. Write for someone who is not technical and reading on a phone.

What is the first message?

Use this as soon as you have confirmed the problem.

Subject: [Site name] is currently down

Hi [Name],

I have confirmed that [site name] is not loading since about [time].
I am looking into the cause now and will update you by [time].

You do not need to do anything. If customers ask, you can tell them it is
being worked on.

[Your name]

What about progress updates?

Send one at the time you promised, even if nothing has changed.

Subject: Update: [Site name] outage

Hi [Name],

Update at [time]: [what you found, in one sentence, for example
"the hosting provider is reporting a problem on their side"].
Next step: [what happens next].
I will write again by [time].

[Your name]

An update that says "no change yet, still working on it, next update at 16:00" is still worth sending.

What is the message when it is fixed?

Subject: Resolved: [Site name] is back online

Hi [Name],

[Site name] has been back online since [time]. It was down for about
[duration].

Cause: [one plain sentence].
What I have changed: [what prevents a repeat].

I will keep watching it closely today. A short summary for your records is
below if you need it.

[Your name]

What if the problem is an expired certificate or domain?

Say so plainly and say what you changed. Clients accept a mistake with a visible fix much better than a vague explanation. See what to do when an SSL certificate expires for the fix and the prevention steps.

What should I avoid saying?

• Blaming the host or the client before you know the cause.
• Technical detail the client cannot act on.
• Promising a fix time you cannot control.
• Silence. A short update with nothing new is better than none.

What if the client finds out first?

Reply quickly: thank them, confirm you are looking, and tell them when you will report back. After the fix, add what you changed so you hear about the next one first. Our guide on setting up uptime monitoring for client websites covers the setup that makes that possible.

Where Datumboard fits

Datumboard shows which of your client sites is failing at the top of one list, next to the latest deploy and any expiring certificate, so you know what to say. It is in early access, and you can join the list below.