From the customer’s point of view, an
error message is a crisis. When you’re
hit by an error on a website, you’re in trouble – by definition. To make things worse, the message can be so
cryptic it stops you dead. A poorly-designed error message drives you to a
competitor’s site, on the phone with the call center, back to paper-based
processes, or just giving up.
Don’t let this happen to your users! It’ll take work, but make the effort to
establish consistent and effective messages and standards for your websites. The end result should be simple; the error
message tells your visitors what went wrong, helps them over any barriers, and
lets them get on with their business.
