How to Tell Customers Your Website Is Down (With Copy-Paste Messages)

When your website is down, the technical problem is only half the damage. The other half is customers who cannot reach you, do not know why, and quietly decide you are unreliable. A short, honest message sent early costs you five minutes and prevents a pile of duplicate emails, calls and abandoned orders.

This guide gives you a simple plan, in order, for telling people. It assumes you do not have a communications team, and that the place you would normally post an update (your own website) is the thing that is broken. For longer wording templates for an incident with several updates, see status page communication templates. This page focuses on the first hour and on the channels that still work when your site does not.

Step 1: Confirm and write down the facts

Before you say anything publicly, spend two minutes making sure you are accurate. Saying "we are down" when the problem is one customer's Wi-Fi creates its own confusion.

1. Check your site from outside your network with the वेबसाइट हेल्थ चेक or the HTTP स्टेटस चेकर.
2. If only some people are affected, use Down From Where to see where it fails.
3. Write down three facts: what is broken (whole site, checkout, login, one page), when it started, and what customers can still do (call, email, order by phone).

If you are still working out the cause, follow the first 15 minutes checklist in another window. You do not need to know the cause to send the first message.

Step 2: Pick the channels that still work

Your website, and perhaps your business email if it shares the same hosting, may be down. List where customers already reach you, and choose at least two channels that are independent of your website:

• Social media profiles. Fast to update and easy to find. A pinned post or a story works well.
• Email to your customer list. Use your newsletter or email service (which is usually separate from your website host). Reserve this for longer outages or for customers with open orders.
• Phone voicemail greeting. Often forgotten. If customers call when the site fails, a 15-second greeting saves you answering the same question repeatedly.
• Messaging apps and chat. If you take orders on WhatsApp or a chat tool, update your status message or broadcast list.
• Google Business Profile or a map listing. Visitors who find you there may see a website link that fails. If your profile allows posts or updates, a short post is worth it.
• A status page hosted elsewhere. A page that lives on separate infrastructure can keep working while your site is down. Our status page feature is part of the free uptime monitoring, and the guide to setting up a free status page shows how.
• Your payment or marketplace pages. If you sell on a marketplace or through a payment link, your listing there may be the working front door.

Step 3: Send the first message within 15 minutes

The first message should be short. It answers four questions: what is affected, what to do instead, when you will update again, and how to reach you.

Do not wait until you know the cause. Do not promise a fix time; promise the next update time. "Back within the hour" turns into a broken promise if the fix takes two. "Next update at 3:30 PM" is something you control.

Social media or chat post

Our website is currently down and we are working on it. Orders and
bookings by phone/WhatsApp are working as normal: [number]. We will post
an update by [time, time zone]. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Email to customers with open orders

Subject: A short note about our website

Hi [first name],

Our website is currently unavailable, so you may not be able to view or
change your order [number]. Your order is safe and nothing is lost.

If you need something urgently, reply to this email or call [number].
We will update you by [time, time zone].

[Your name], [Business]

Only say "nothing is lost" if you have checked that it is true. If you are unsure, say "we are checking that all orders are intact."

Phone voicemail greeting

Thanks for calling [Business]. Our website is currently down. You can
still place an order or book with us by phone, or email [address]. We
expect to give an update on social media by [time]. Please leave a
message and we will call you back.

Auto-reply on email

Thanks for your message. Our website is currently unavailable and we are
working to restore it. If you were trying to order or book, please
reply with the details and we will handle it manually.

Step 4: Give a fallback so people can still buy or book

A message that explains the problem is good. A message that also gives a workable alternative is better, because it lets the sale or booking go ahead.

• Phone or WhatsApp orders for a product business: take name, items, address and payment by a method you trust.
• A simple form hosted elsewhere (for example a form on a free form service) for bookings.
• A manual invoice or payment link for customers who are ready to pay.
• A callback list for support questions.

Keep a note of anything taken manually and enter it into your normal system once it is back, so nothing is missed or duplicated.

Step 5: Update on a schedule, even if nothing changed

If you said you would update at 3:30 PM, post at 3:30 PM, even if the update is "still working on it, next update at 4:30 PM." Silence reads as neglect. Keep each update to two or three sentences, and use the same wording style:

• What is affected
• What you know (only what you are sure of)
• What you are doing
• When the next update is

Avoid technical jargon such as "database connection pool exhaustion." Say "a problem with our hosting." Avoid blame, and do not name a provider as the cause unless you have confirmed it and they have acknowledged it.

Step 6: Close the loop when it is fixed

When the site is back, check it from outside (not just from your own browser, which may show a cached page) with the वेबसाइट हेल्थ चेक. Then:

1. Post a final message: when it was fixed and that things are working.
2. If anyone's order or booking was affected, contact those people directly.
3. Briefly say what you are doing to prevent a repeat, only if you actually are. "We have added monitoring" is credible; vague promises are not.
4. Write a short internal note of the timeline. The postmortem guide has a template.

Update: our website is back online as of [time, time zone]. Thank you
for your patience. If you still see a problem, try refreshing, or
contact us at [email/phone] and we will help.

Set it up before the next outage

You can make the next outage far less stressful with 30 minutes of preparation.

• Add a free monitor in the uptime monitor. The free plan gives you 3 monitors, checks every 5 minutes, and alerts by email, webhook, Slack or Discord, so you hear about the outage before your customers do. Follow set up free uptime alerts.
• Turn on a public status page and link to it from your social profiles. A status widget can show current status on other pages you control.
• Save the message templates above in a notes app.
• Write down who is allowed to post updates, so there is no confusion on a busy day.

When to call your host or developer

Messaging customers is your job; fixing the fault is theirs. Contact your host or developer when:

• You do not know the cause and the outage has lasted more than 15 minutes.
• You need a time estimate to give customers. Ask for an honest range and whether it needs a restore from backup.
• Customer data, payments or orders may be affected, since that may need extra communication or legal notice.
• You suspect a hack or defaced pages. Do not post about it as a "hack" until it is confirmed, but do ask for help immediately.
• Your email is down along with your site, which means you need an alternate address for customers.

अगले कदम

• Status page communication templates for multi-stage incident wording
• Set up a free status page for your small business
• Website down? The first 15 minutes checklist
• Website downtime and SEO
• अपटाइम मॉनिटर

सामान्य प्रश्न

Should I tell customers if the outage is only 10 minutes?

For a brief blip, a message is usually unnecessary. If the outage passes 15 to 30 minutes, or hits checkout or bookings, say something. When in doubt, a one-line post costs you nothing.

Do I need to explain the technical cause?

No. Customers want to know what is affected, what they can do, and when you will update. A plain phrase such as "a problem with our hosting" is enough.

What if my email is down too?

Use social media, a voicemail greeting and a spare email address from a free provider, and put it in your post. Tell your host that email is affected too, since web and email sometimes share a server.

Should I offer compensation?

That is a business decision. If customers paid for something time-sensitive, a short credit or apology can help. Avoid promising anything before you know the scale of the impact.

यह पेज सामान्य जानकारी है, जिसे हमारी संपादकीय टीम ने लिखा है और दस्तावेज़ीकरण बदलने पर अपडेट किया जाता है। सर्वर और प्रदाता अलग-अलग होते हैं, इसलिए बदलाव पहले सुरक्षित तरीके से जाँचें। देखें: संपादकीय नीति और अस्वीकरण.