Subscriber Notifications
Allow your users to subscribe to status page updates and receive email notifications when incidents occur or maintenance is scheduled.
Subscriber notifications let your users opt in to receive email updates about your service status. When an incident occurs or maintenance is scheduled, subscribers are notified automatically — reducing support load and building trust.
How It Works
The Subscriber Flow
- A user visits your public status page
- They click Subscribe to Updates
- They enter their email address
- They receive a confirmation email (double opt-in)
- They click the confirmation link
- They're now subscribed and will receive updates
Double Opt-In
Pingara uses double opt-in to ensure:
- Email addresses are valid
- The subscriber actually wants notifications
- Compliance with anti-spam regulations (CAN-SPAM, GDPR)
What Subscribers Receive
Incident Notifications
Subscribers are notified at key points in the incident lifecycle:
| Event | Email Sent | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Incident Created | Yes | Service name, error type, start time |
| Status Updated | Yes | New status (Identified, Monitoring) and notes |
| Incident Resolved | Yes | Resolution summary, duration, affected services |
Example — Incident Created email:
Subject: ⚠️ Incident: API experiencing issues
We're currently investigating an issue with our API service.
Status: Investigating
Started: January 15, 2024 at 2:32 PM UTC
Affected: API
We'll provide updates as we learn more.
View status page: https://status.pingara.com/acme-corp
Example — Incident Resolved email:
Subject: ✅ Resolved: API is back to normal
The incident affecting our API service has been resolved.
Duration: 12 minutes
Resolved: January 15, 2024 at 2:44 PM UTC
Thank you for your patience.
View status page: https://status.pingara.com/acme-corp
Maintenance Notifications
When you schedule maintenance, subscribers receive advance notice:
| Event | Email Sent | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance Scheduled | Yes | When you create the maintenance window |
| Maintenance Starting | Yes | At the scheduled start time |
| Maintenance Completed | Yes | When maintenance ends |
Example — Maintenance Scheduled email:
Subject: 🔧 Scheduled Maintenance: Database Migration
We've scheduled maintenance for the following services:
Services: API, Website
Scheduled: January 20, 2024, 2:00 AM - 4:00 AM UTC
Expected Duration: 2 hours
During this time, some services may be temporarily unavailable.
View details: https://status.pingara.com/acme-corp
Enabling Subscriber Notifications
Step 1: Enable on Your Status Page
- Go to Status Pages → [Your Page] → Settings
- Toggle Allow Subscribers to enabled
- Save
A "Subscribe to Updates" button will appear on your public status page.
Step 2: Customize (Optional)
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Confirmation message | Text shown after subscription (e.g., "Check your email to confirm") |
| Email sender name | The "From" name in notification emails |
Managing Subscribers
Viewing Subscribers
Go to Status Pages → [Your Page] → Subscribers to see:
- Email address
- Subscription date
- Confirmation status (pending or confirmed)
- Last notification sent
Removing Subscribers
Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time via the Unsubscribe link in every notification email. You can also manually remove a subscriber from the management page.
Subscriber Limits
| Plan | Subscribers per Status Page |
|---|---|
| Free | 100 subscribers |
| Pro | Unlimited subscribers |
Notification Delivery
Email Delivery
Pingara sends subscriber notifications via a reliable email delivery infrastructure:
- From address:
notifications@pingara.com(or your custom sender) - Reply-to: Your organization's contact email
- Format: HTML email with plain text fallback
- Unsubscribe: One-click unsubscribe header and footer link
Delivery Timing
- Incident Created — Sent within 60 seconds of incident creation
- Status Updates — Sent within 60 seconds of status change
- Incident Resolved — Sent within 60 seconds of resolution
Avoiding Spam Filters
To maximize delivery:
- Ask subscribers to add
notifications@pingara.comto their contacts - Pingara uses SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication
- Emails follow best practices for formatting and content
Privacy and Compliance
Data Handling
- Subscriber emails are stored securely and encrypted at rest
- Email addresses are only used for status page notifications
- Subscriber data is never shared with third parties
GDPR Compliance
- Double opt-in ensures explicit consent
- Unsubscribe available in every email
- Subscribers can request data deletion
- Data is stored within the region you select
CAN-SPAM Compliance
- Clear identification of sender
- Physical mailing address included
- One-click unsubscribe mechanism
- No deceptive subject lines
Best Practices
Promote Your Status Page
Include your status page URL in:
- Your website footer
- API documentation
- Support ticket auto-responses
- Onboarding emails
Write Clear Incident Notes
When updating incident status, write notes that make sense to non-technical users:
Good: "We've identified the issue — a database connection limit was reached. We're scaling up capacity now."
Bad: "pg_pool exhausted, bumping max_connections from 100 to 200 in RDS parameter group."
Don't Over-Notify
Only send updates when there's meaningful new information. Subscribers will unsubscribe if they receive too many low-value updates.
Encourage Subscriptions
A status page is only useful if people know about it. Add a banner to your app that links to the status page during incidents.
Next Steps
- Creating Status Pages — Set up your first status page
- Understanding Incidents — How incidents trigger subscriber notifications
- Setting Up Alerts — Internal team alerts (separate from subscriber notifications)