When a provider's email fails, you cannot fix it, but you can know quickly from its status page, keep a second way for customers to reach you, and tell them where to go until it returns.

Sunday, without email

On Sunday, from late morning into the afternoon on the West Coast, a networking problem in Google's cloud disrupted YouTube, Gmail and G Suite for several hours across parts of North America.

For affected businesses on G Suite, inboxes would not load and messages would not send. Shared calendars and documents stalled. Apps from other companies that run on Google's cloud had trouble too.

By late afternoon most of it was working again.

For the businesses that work on Sundays, it was an afternoon of not knowing what was wrong.

Us or them

The first hour of an outage at a small business tends to go the same way. Somebody restarts the router, then the computer, then calls the internet provider, then resets a password.

None of it helps, because the problem is not in the building.

Every outage starts with one question: is this ours or the provider's? The faster it is answered, the sooner somebody stops fixing the wrong thing and starts telling customers.

The answer also decides who to call. A problem in the building goes to whoever looks after your computers; a problem at the provider goes on the notice board, and waits.

What you can control

The fifth is the one almost nobody has. Hosts, registrars and email providers send their warnings to the business's main address, so news of a problem can sit in the very inbox that will not open.

Bookmark the status page

Google publishes a G Suite Status Dashboard showing each service in green, orange or red, with notes as an incident develops. Microsoft shows service health for Office 365 in its admin screens. Hosts and registrars usually have status pages too.

Bookmark them on the phones of whoever handles email, not only on the office computer.

A second check takes seconds: try the service on a phone using mobile data rather than the office connection. If it fails on both, the problem is not yours.

Mail is built to wait

Most email sent to you during an outage is not lost. The sending server tries to deliver it, fails, and tries again at intervals, usually for days before giving up.

So when service returns, the backlog arrives in a burst, with timestamps from hours earlier. Reply to the oldest first, because those customers have waited longest.

Contact forms are the exception worth checking. A form that only sends an email can fail quietly, while one that also saves each entry on the website keeps a copy that no outage elsewhere can touch.

A second way in

Customers need a route to you that does not depend on one provider having a good day.

For most businesses that is the phone: a number on every page of the website and on the Google listing, and a voicemail greeting that gives a mobile number for anything urgent.

The website itself is the other. It usually sits with a different company from your email, so it stays up when email does not, and it can carry a notice saying what to do instead.

A worked example

An event rental company supplying tents, tables and chairs does much of its business at weekends. Sunday is return day, and customers email to change pickup times.

On Sunday the office could not open G Suite. The manager spent the first hour on the router and the internet provider, while pickup changes sat unanswered and the office voicemail said only to leave a message.

When mail came back later that afternoon, the messages arrived together, the oldest at the bottom. They were answered from the bottom up.

Afterwards the company made a handful of small changes. The G Suite status page was bookmarked on two phones, and a two-line notice was written and saved, ready for the website and the Google listing.

The voicemail greeting now gives a weekend mobile number. The quote form saves each entry on the website as well as emailing it, and hosting notices go to a second address with a different provider.

Telling customers

A short notice does most of the work: email is delayed today, so for anything urgent call this number. It goes on the website's home page, the Google listing and, if it is working, the Facebook page.

During Facebook's own outage in March, the reverse applied, and the website was the place still working. Whichever service fails, the notice belongs on the ones that have not.

Write the notice now, while nothing is wrong, and take it down as soon as service returns.

What you cannot control

When it starts, how long it lasts and what caused it are all out of your hands. So are customers whose own email runs on the same provider, and any YouTube videos embedded on your site during those hours.

Nor can you choose which part of the internet breaks. Sunday's problem sat inside one company's network, well beyond anything a small business could reach.

Every large email provider has bad days, Microsoft's included. Moving providers after one outage trades a known record for an unknown one, and is rarely the right response to a single afternoon.

The counter-case

For many businesses, Sunday's outage cost nothing at all.

A business closed at weekends, or one whose customers phone rather than email, may not have noticed. For them the plan is smaller: a bookmarked status page and a phone number on every page.

The businesses that need more are those whose work arrives by email in real time, such as bookings, dispatch or same-day orders. For them, a written fallback is worth an hour of planning.

Either way the principle is the same: know quickly, keep a second route open, and tell customers where to go.

Before the next one

  1. Bookmark your email provider's status page.
  2. Bookmark your host's status page too.
  3. Show your phone number on every page.
  4. Save form entries on the website itself.
  5. Write the outage notice now, not during one.
  6. Send account warnings to a second address.
  7. Reply oldest first when mail returns.

Step five saves the most time on the day. Writing a calm two-line notice during an outage, on a phone, with customers waiting, takes far longer than it should.

Watching your own website in the same way is covered in knowing when your site is down.

Frequently asked questions

What happened to Gmail on Sunday?

A networking problem in Google's cloud disrupted YouTube, Gmail and G Suite for several hours across parts of North America, from late morning into the afternoon on the West Coast.

Was email sent during the outage lost?

Mostly not. Sending servers keep retrying, usually for days, so delayed messages arrive in a burst once service returns. Forms that only send email are the exception.

How do I know if it is my problem?

Check the provider's status page, bookmarked on your phone, and try the service on mobile data. If it fails there too, the problem is not yours.

What second route should customers have?

A phone number on every page and on your Google listing, a voicemail greeting with an urgent number, and the website itself, usually hosted apart from your email.

What should the outage notice say?

Two lines: email is delayed today, and for anything urgent call this number. Put it on the website, the Google listing and any social page still working.

Should we switch email providers after an outage?

Rarely. Every large provider has bad days, and moving after one afternoon trades a known record for an unknown one. Plan for the next outage instead.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Email down and nobody knew why?

We will set up the status bookmarks, a ready notice and a second contact route before the next one.

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