A temporary closure notice should answer three questions quickly: what is closed, when customers can return, and what they can do meanwhile. Use an exact date and time when they are confirmed. If reopening is uncertain, give the next update date instead of making a promise you cannot yet keep.
Put the same current facts where customers check before travelling and where they arrive. A clear door notice helps someone already at the entrance. A current website notice may help someone avoid a wasted trip.
This is a guide to writing and managing a notice. The examples are fictional and do not announce a Time for Designs closure.
Work out what is actually changing
Before writing, confirm the scope with the person responsible for the business. Is the whole business closed, the public entrance closed, or only one service unavailable?
These situations need different messages. “Closed” can tell a customer too little if collection remains available elsewhere. “Open as usual” can be misleading if the service they need has stopped for the day.
Write down the last normal opening time, the closure period, the confirmed reopening time and any service that remains available. If one of these is uncertain, mark it as uncertain in your working note.
Then ask which of those facts a customer needs. The notice does not have to explain every internal reason for the change. It does need to make the effect on their visit clear.
Lead with the change and return information
Make the most useful fact easy to find. A short heading such as “Temporarily closed” or “Reception closed on 14 October” gives the reader a starting point. Follow it with the return date and time, if confirmed.
Avoid “back tomorrow” on a notice that may remain in place for several days. The reader cannot know when it was written. Use the month name so the date is clear, and add a time when reopening partway through the day matters.
The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design recommends plain language and consistent dates. Its customer-communications guidance uses dates with the month written out, such as 12 February 2020. That makes a useful model for a notice that needs to stay clear when read later. CEUD: written-text guidance and CEUD: customer-communications toolkit.
Check that any day name matches the date. Have a second person check the details against the agreed closure plan, rather than simply proofreading the sentences.
Choose the right kind of return message
There are three useful cases to distinguish.
A confirmed reopening. State the date and time directly. Include an alternative route only if it exists and is ready to use.
An expected reopening that is not yet certain. Label it as expected. Tell customers where and when to check for confirmation before travelling.
No reliable reopening date. Say that plainly and give a specific next update. A promised update can be more useful than a hopeful reopening date, provided someone is responsible for making it.
Do not leave a confident date in large type while hiding the uncertainty in small print. The main message should match what the business can actually confirm.
If the situation changes, replace the notice. Adding a new handwritten date over an old one can leave customers unsure which information applies.
Give one useful next step
Think about the person standing outside. Are they collecting an order, attending an appointment, trying to make an enquiry or simply planning to browse?
Choose the next step that genuinely helps. It might be return at the stated time, use a confirmed alternative entrance, or check a named page for the next update.
If a phone number or email appears, confirm what customers can use it for during the closure. Do not invite an immediate call if nobody will answer. “Email for enquiries; replies resume on…” may be clearer, if that is the actual arrangement.
Avoid inventing an alternative service to make the notice sound friendlier. If there is no collection route during the closure, say when collection will resume rather than directing people to an unconfirmed entrance.
If customers with existing arrangements need separate instructions, prepare those instructions before they arrive. A general notice should support the plan, not become the first time someone learns an appointment has changed.
A fictional notice with a confirmed return
Imagine a fictional repair shop closing its public counter for one day. Its reopening time has been confirmed, and there is no alternative collection point that day.
Public counter closed on 14 October
We reopen on 15 October at 10am.
Collections resume when the counter reopens. Please check our opening-times page before travelling if your plans change.
The example does not need a long explanation of the work taking place inside. It tells the visitor what is unavailable and when that service returns. The final sentence would only be appropriate if the stated page exists and is kept current.
Now change the situation: reopening is not yet confirmed. The notice needs a different promise.
Public counter temporarily closed
Our reopening time is not yet confirmed. The next update will be on our opening-times page by 4pm on 14 October.
Please check that update before travelling for a collection.
This second example is useful only if the business can meet the update commitment. Naming an update time creates a job for someone, so assign that job before printing it.
Keep the door and online notice in step
Use one approved set of facts as the starting point for each version. The wording can change slightly to suit the space, but the closure period, return information and next step should agree.
List the places customers are likely to check: entrance, opening-times page, appointment information and any other channel the business already uses for such updates. Ask the responsible owners to update the relevant places. Do not create a new channel merely to manage a short closure.
On a web page, label the link by what it does. “Check the reopening update” helps a reader more than “Click here”. W3C's guidance on link purpose explains why descriptive links help people decide where to go. W3C: link purpose in context.
For a wider look at giving visitors a useful next action, read what customers need to do next on a website.
If you include a QR code, also print a useful alternative such as a short address. Test the actual destination. A notice about an uncertain reopening should not send someone to a page still showing normal hours without the update.
Put the notice where it can be read in time
Check the entrance from the customer's approach. Is the notice visible before they queue, try a locked door or walk to another entrance?
Use a clear main message, readable text and enough contrast. Keep the logo or decorative details from competing with the reopening information. View a proof at its intended size rather than judging only a large image on a screen.
If the notice sits behind glass, inspect it from outside. Reflections, other posters or a frame may hide part of the message. Check the location in the conditions customers will encounter.
For a site with more than one public entrance, make sure each relevant entrance has the current information. If an alternative route is open, walk that route before directing visitors to it. It needs to lead to the service the notice promises.
The guide to keeping company signs and directions connected explains the wider setting. The temporary notice should fit that setting without creating a conflicting route.
Plan the notice's removal as well as its installation
Give someone responsibility for checking the notice, updating it if the plan changes, and removing it after the closure ends. Put those tasks beside the reopening plan.
At reopening, check the entrance and the online information. An old closure notice left behind can make an open business look unavailable. An online update left in a prominent position may cause the same confusion before the customer travels.
If the notice will be reused, keep a clean template and make the date fields obvious. Start the next notice from that template rather than replacing one date in last year's file and missing another.
Check these facts before approving the print
- The exact service or entrance affected.
- The closure date or period.
- A confirmed return time, or a clearly stated next update.
- A real next step that customers can use.
- Matching information across the relevant notices and pages.
- A readable layout at the intended location.
- A named person responsible for changes and removal.
If you need a physical notice, our signage page is a starting point for discussing the location and intended use. Bring the approved wording, approximate size, required date and a photograph of where it will be read. The suitable format and specification need to be agreed for that job.
A temporary closure is easier for customers to understand when the notice respects their next decision: can I use this service now, when should I return, and where do I check if the plan changes?