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On-Call: Customer Communication Templates

Copy, fill in the bold fields, and send. Use the language guidelines at the bottom.

Template 1 — Initial Notification (scope is known)​

Subject: Investigating issue impacting [feature / workflow / customer name]

Hi [Customer Name],

We are currently investigating an issue affecting [brief description of feature, workflow, or service].

What we know right now:

  • Started: [time, if known]
  • Impact: [what is failing / delayed / degraded]
  • Scope: [single skill / single workflow / broader impact, if known]

Our engineering team is actively investigating. We will provide the next update by [time and timezone], or sooner if we have a material update.

Template 2 — Initial Notification (scope is still unclear)​

Subject: Investigating potential issue impacting [feature / workflow / customer name]

Hi [Customer Name],

We are investigating a potential issue affecting [service / workflow]. We are still validating scope and impact, but the engineering team is actively engaged.

We will provide the next update by [time and timezone].

💡 Note: Use this when you need to notify quickly but don't yet have full details.

Template 3 — Ongoing Investigation Update​

Subject: Update: Ongoing investigation for [issue name]

Hi [Customer Name],

We are continuing to investigate the issue affecting [service / workflow].

Current status (pick one):

  • We have identified [a likely cause / a contributing factor / an affected component].
  • We are currently [testing a fix / applying mitigation / monitoring recovery].
  • We have identified a temporary workaround that will allow you to [expected result].
    • [workaround step 1]
    • [workaround step 2]

Current impact:

  • [brief impact statement]

We will provide the next update by [time and timezone], or sooner if we have a material update.

💡 Note: Only offer the workaround option if severity is Critical and no long-term fix is imminent.

Template 4 — Issue Resolved​

Subject: Resolved: [issue name]

Hi [Customer Name],

The issue affecting [service / workflow] has been resolved as of [time and timezone].

The issue was due to [brief root cause summary].

Recovery actions (pick one):

  • No action needed from your side at this time.
  • Action required — please retry or rerun the following:
    • [workflow / skill 1]
    • [workflow / skill 2]
  • No action required — our team is re-running the impacted jobs/processes for you.
    • [queued jobs / delayed alerts / missed syncs] are being processed
    • Estimated completion: [time, if known]
    • We will confirm once this recovery work is complete.

The system is operating normally. We are continuing to monitor to confirm stability.

Template 5 — Full Closure​

Subject: Closed: [issue name]

Hi [Customer Name],

This issue is now fully resolved.

Final status:

  • Service restoration confirmed at [time and timezone]
  • All impacted jobs/events/processes have been [re-run / retried / completed]
  • No further action is required on your side

We will review the incident internally and prepare an RCA within the next business day.

Language Guidelines​

✅ Use this language❌ Avoid this language
We are investigatingThis should be fixed
We have identifiedWe think it's okay now
We are applying mitigationIt might be caused by…
The issue has been resolvedTry again and let us know
You can now retryWe have identified some weird behavior
No action is required on your side