Get the Word Out
Now that your team understands what's going on, it's time to keep your customers updated.
Get out there early
Start talking with customers as early as possible. Even if you don’t fully understand what’s going on, explain that you’re looking into things.
The sooner you start being open about what’s happening, the sooner the pressure imposed by angry customers will begin to lighten, allowing your team the breathing space they need to get on with fixing the problem.
Put any marketing on hold
Imagine the frustration felt by a customer if your automated marketing and promotional content is still going out the door while you’re supposed to be dealing with a crisis. Stick your Buffer and MailChimp campaigns on pause while the heat is on.
The only thing you should be talking to customers about is the incident at hand.
Keep the updates coming regularly
Nobody likes being kept in the dark; try and keep updates coming on a regular basis, and try finding something constructive to talk about each time to show that progress is being made.
The regularity of content will likely vary depending on the scale of the event. If you’re likely to be down all day then every 15 minutes is probably a little excessive and tiresome; but if you’re only likely to be down for 30 minutes or an hour, updates every 10 to 15 minutes would be fine.
Write once, post everywhere
If you followed our earlier advice, you should have a status page or dedicated blog for these kinds of events. Tell the story in this one central location but use all of the tools at your disposal to put the word out in front of people.
Take to social media, post it on Reddit, and email your customers; don’t wait for them to come asking for the information, be proactive in getting the word out.
Take Aways
- Be proactive in broadcasting your message.
- Get things out sooner rather than later.
- Pause those self-promotional communications.
- Keep updates coming regularly.
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