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Best Practices for Status Pages

+------------------------------------------------+
|               openstatus Status Page           |
+------------------------------------------------+
| Service Name      | Status | Uptime            |
+-------------------+--------+-------------------+
| Web Server        | ✅ OK       | 99.9%        |
| Database          | ✅ OK       | 99.8%        |
| API Gateway       | ⚠️ Degraded | 99.5%        |
| Monitoring        | ✅ OK       | 100%         |
| Payment Processing| ✅ OK       | 99.7%        |
+-------------------+--------+-------------------+
| Incidents:                                     |
|                                                |
|   - Degraded performance on API Gateway due    |
|     to high traffic. Our team is investigating.|
+------------------------------------------------+

Status pages are essential tools for communicating service health and incidents to users. They build trust by providing transparency and should be a core component of any software company’s communication strategy. Following a set of best practices ensures your status page is effective and helpful.

Best Practices for a Status Page

Section titled “Best Practices for a Status Page”

Maintain Transparency and Honesty

Section titled “Maintain Transparency and Honesty”

A status page’s primary goal is to be a single source of truth. Be upfront about issues, even minor ones. Hiding problems erodes user trust and can lead to more support requests.

  • Communicate Clearly: Use simple, non-technical language. Users shouldn’t need a dictionary to understand what’s happening.

  • Be Timely: Update the page as soon as an incident is confirmed and provide regular updates throughout the resolution process.

Automate Where Possible

Section titled “Automate Where Possible”

Manual updates during an outage are prone to error and can be slow. Automating your status page can provide more accurate and timely information.

  • Integrate Monitoring Tools: Connect your internal monitoring and alerting systems to your status page. When a metric crosses a threshold (e.g., high error rate), the status page can automatically be updated.

  • Use an API: we provide APIs that allow you to programmatically update component statuses and post new incidents.

Provide Detailed Incident Communication

Section titled “Provide Detailed Incident Communication”

When an incident occurs, provide a detailed and structured narrative.

  • Start with the “What”: State the problem clearly and concisely.

  • Follow with the “Why”: Briefly explain the root cause, if known.

  • Conclude with the “How” and “When”: Explain the steps being taken to resolve the issue and provide an estimated time to resolution.

Example Incident Update:

  • Investigating: “We’re currently investigating an issue affecting user logins.”

  • Identified: “We’ve identified the root cause as a database connection issue and are working on a fix.”

  • Monitoring: “A fix has been deployed, and we’re monitoring the system’s performance.”

  • Resolved: “The issue has been resolved, and all services are now operational.”

Make it Easily Accessible

Section titled “Make it Easily Accessible”

Your status page should be easy to find.

  • Prominent Link: Place a link to your status page in your application’s footer, on your website, and in your support documentation.

  • Custom Domain: Use a simple, memorable URL like status.yourcompany.com.

Following these practices turns your status page from a passive communication tool into an active driver of customer trust and confidence.