Rephrasing error messages into heulpful messages
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/04/15
The problem with error messages is that they just displays errors as a fact without providing the user of future steps.
Offer them with a helpful, actionable message instead.
Not just for people with a visual impairment, I added readable text to the image below.
[Wayback/Archive] Dubmood on Twitter: “This image speaks truth. “ (image by [Wayback/Archive] Jenni Nadler (@jenninadler)):
Top image
Red cross (example of a bad error message)
Title (with remark “inappropriate tone”): “Whoops! Something went wrong”
Message itself (below I will split it in three parts in the explanation below):
“The third-party you’re trying to connect to isn’t responding,
so we can’t fetch your data. Try again later.”Red “Close” button
- “The third-party you’re trying to connect to isn’t responding”: passing the blame.
- “so we can’t fetch your data”: technical jargon
- “Try again later”: generic
Bottom image
Green checkmark (example of a good helpful message)
Title (with remark “say what happened”): “Unable to connect your account”
Message itself (split in four parts in the explanation below):
“Your changes were saved, but we could not connect your account
due to a technical issue o your end. Please try connecting again,
If the issue keeps happening, contact Customer Care.”(“contact Customer Care” is a hyperlink)
Red “Try Again” button and white “Cancel” buttons
- “Your changes were saved,” provide reassurance
- “but we could not connect your account
due to a technical issue o your end.”: say what happened- “Please try connecting again,”: help them fix it (with the “Try Again” button”
- “If the issue keeps happening, contact Customer Care.”: give them a way out
by clicking on the hyperlink
The top image shows a “traditional” error message that you see in too many applications:
- The almost meaningless title has an inappropriate tone.
- The message itself passes the blame to an unnamed “third party” leaving the user in the dark on what really happened,
- then continues with technical jargon a user likely does not understand,
- finally only offers the close “action” (which has no real value as the user cannot continue without trying again) and does not explain how to try again.
The bottom image is a re-phrasing of the traditional message into an easier to understand is actionable way:
- The title meaningfully says what happened.
- The message itself starts in a reassuring way (data has been saved!),
- then continues with why the problem happened (no error on part of the user or a vague third party),
- offers a way to fix it (in combination with the “Try Again” button),
- finally offers a way out if the problem persists (by a direct hyperlink to customer care).
Read more in the much more elaborate post [Wayback/Archive] When life gives you lemons, write better error messages | by Jenni Nadler | Sep, 2022 | Wix UX.
Via:
- [Wayback/Archive] Stephan Kämper on Twitter: “A very helpful change in the point of view. They should be #HelpMessages, not ErrorMessages.”
- [Wayback/Archive] Barney Dellar on Twitter: “One of the best things I learnt from @gregcons is to write help messages, not error messages.”
- [Wayback/Archive] Worms on Twitter: “source: …”
- [Wayback/Archive] Worms on Twitter: “very nice to see this thread get some traction, be sure to follow the original author of this content: @jenninadler I just regurgitated the images because I found them great!”
Related:
- [Wayback/Archive] Dubmood (@dubmood)
- [Wayback/Archive] Kate Gregory (@gregcons) / Twitter
- [Wayback/Archive] Kate Gregory’s Blog who has this very interesting page: [Wayback/Archive] SpeakerKit at Gregory Consulting
- [Wayback/Archive] Kate’s Conference Talks – YouTube
--jeroen
https://twitter.com/dubmood/status/1583530897155903488
https://twitter.com/MarcoWorms/status/1582382104100282368
https://twitter.com/MarcoWorms/status/1582495099056885760
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