Gladly does everything possible to prevent and avoid platform issues and outages, but on the rare occasions they occur, below are suggested actions you can take to reduce Customer impact. This begins with ensuring you’re subscribed to receive outage or maintenance updates through the Status Page.
Subscribe to Gladly Status Page #
Ensure you’re subscribed to receive platform updates from Gladly’s Status Page 
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While you can get notified by email, SMS, and other channels, we suggest subscribing to receive updates via email, as email provides updates whenever the Status Page is updated.
The recommended actions depend on the severity and duration of a platform issue or outage, and the suggestions below are for extreme cases where communication is impossible.
Voice performance issues #
In the event of a Voice performance issue, the recommended action depends on how Customers are affected. Keep in mind that some problems may not always originate from Gladly. For example, VPN issues within your company network preventing inbound/outbound calls in Gladly, local internet or ISP issues, telecom carrier issues, and other situations outside of Gladly’s control.
Customers unable to call in #
There are three possible scenarios when it comes to Voice-related system issues:
- Customers cannot contact you at all due to Voice errors.
- Customers can enter your IVR and select options but cannot reach Agents.
- Agents unable to make outbound calls.
Customers can’t call in due to errors #
If the Voice issue prevents Customers from entering your IVR, it’s best to wait for it to be resolved. Subscribe to Gladly Status Page if the issue originates from Gladly, or wait for an update from your team if the problem is related to your network outside Gladly’s control.
Customers can call in but are unable to reach Agents #
If a Voice issue affects the ability of Customers to reach your Agents, it’s best to turn off your phones temporarily and strive to inform your Customers of the issue. Do this by immediately routing all inbound calls to voicemail by implementing a Voicemail only IVR.
- As an Administrator, go to Settings > IVR.
- Click Create New IVR.
- Enter “Voicemail Only” as the IVR name.
- Click Start Building.
- Click Voicemail Only under Select a template.
- Under Message, the default selection is Text to Speech with the message below:
- The message Customers will hear is: “Thanks for contacting us! We are currently not taking phone calls, but you can leave us a voicemail, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Please leave a voicemail with your name, number and reason for calling and we’ll get back to you soon! — You can enter a different message if necessary.
- Tip – You can edit this text to customize the message.
- Another option is to upload a voice recording instead (download the sample file below) by clicking Text to Speech and clicking Recording to upload the recording. The recording Customers will us: “Hi, thanks for reaching out to us. Our phone system is currently unavailable. You can leave us a voicemail or, if you prefer, contact us via email. We look forward to connecting with you.”
- The message Customers will hear is: “Thanks for contacting us! We are currently not taking phone calls, but you can leave us a voicemail, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Please leave a voicemail with your name, number and reason for calling and we’ll get back to you soon! — You can enter a different message if necessary.
- Click Publish.
- Enter “new voicemail only message” to note your changes.
- Tip – This can be any note to inform you why this IVR was made.
- Go back to the Settings page and click Voice.
- Hover over a phone number(s) customers call and click
. - Take note (i.e., write it down) of the name of the current Initial IVR selected.
- Note – DO NOT change the Queue IVR.
- Under Initial IVR, select “Voicemail Only.”
- IMPORTANT – Do this for every phone number where you want Customers to hear the message.
- Click Save. Customers calling will now hear your message. Callers who do leave a voicemail will route to your default Voice Inbox.
.Once the issue is resolved, go back to step 9–13 to select save the Initial IVR previously configured.
Agents unable to make outbound calls #
If Customers can call and reach Agents but Agents can’t make outbound calls, it’s best to wait until the issue is resolved or attempt to reach out to the Customer through another Channel, like email or SMS, if available.
Chat #
Customers unable to chat in #
If Customers cannot chat from Glad App, or maybe Customers can start a chat, but there’s an issue that’s causing long delays in Agents receiving chat requests, we suggest turning off Glad App on your website by marking the day as Closed to stop chats from coming in temporarily and display information on alternative Channel(s) Customers can use to contact you.
- As an Administrator, go to Settings > Glad App.
- Find the affected Glad App, click, then select Configure.
- Scroll down to the Glad App Hours section and click the Closed box next to the affected day.
- Scroll down to the Chat Unavailable section. Take note of the message (e.g., paste it on a notepad), then edit your message to ask Customers to try again later or provide another way (e.g., email address or phone number) to contact you.
- Click Save.
, then select Configure.
Once the issue is resolved, go back to step 3 and uncheck the Closed box next to the day you temporarily closed. Then, go to step 4, edit the message to its previous state, and click Save.
Unable to send outbound chat #
If chat suddenly stops working and Agents cannot reply, or maybe there’s an issue that’s causing long delays in Customers receiving chat replies, we suggest using email to contact the Customer or even calling the Customer to inform them of the issue and to continue helping them until the issue is resolved.
SMS #
Customers unable to SMS in #
A Customer may be able to SMS during SMS-related issues, but the message may not properly reach Gladly or an Inbox. It’s best to let the outage pass for SMS outages since SMS could be an asynchronous Channel with a slightly longer SLA than Voice.
Agents unable to reply to SMSes #
It’s recommended that the issue be let pass or that Customers be contacted through another Channel (e.g., Voice) until it is resolved.
Social Messaging #
The course of action depends on whether the issue is caused by the platform, like Facebook Messenger.
Customers unable to message in #
If Customers cannot message in because they cannot start a message from the messaging platform, it is best to wait until the issue is resolved, especially if it originates from the social platform itself. Monitor the Gladly Status Page for updates.
If Customers are unable to message through the social platform and agents are not receiving messages, we recommend waiting for the issue to be resolved and then following up with messages later.
Email #
Email issues are very rare. However, if one does occur, it is best to wait for it to be resolved. Email is an asynchronous channel with SLAs ranging from a few hours to many days, so email issues are likely to be resolved before a reply is required. Your Customers may not even realize there was an issue, to begin with. You can also call (if you know their phone number) while the email issue is ongoing.
