Service Disruption Notification

When to use this

During an incident, every message is a chance to lose trust. This template is fact-led, specific, and avoids the corporate hedges that make customers angrier.

Subject: Service disruption — [Service name] — [Status: ongoing / resolved]

Dear [Customer name / generic salutation],

We are writing to let you know about a disruption to [Service name].

## What happened
[One paragraph. Plain English. No "experiencing intermittent issues" — say what's actually broken.]

## What it affects
- [Specific function affected]
- [Customer segment affected, if not all]
- [Geographic scope, if relevant]

## When it started
[Time and date, with time zone.]

## Current status
[Investigating / mitigating / resolved.]

## What we're doing about it
- [Action 1]
- [Action 2]

## When you'll have full service back
[Specific time if known. "We expect full service by [time]" or "We will update you again by [time]" if no resolution yet.]

## What you should do in the meantime
- [Workaround if any]
- [Or "no action needed on your side"]

## Who to contact
- For questions during this incident: [Email / phone / status page link]
- For post-incident questions: [Standard contact]

We'll send a full post-incident write-up within [N] working days of resolution.

We're sorry for the disruption.

[Sender, role]