Errors happen. Users do things in ways that your design may not have accounted for. By following these rules you can manage errors in a way that doesn’t compromise your overall UX.

1. Brand your errors

A user never expects an error to appear, so the first questions they will ask themselves is: “Where am I?” Give your users something to orientate themselves by reproducing your site’s branding on your error page, rather than using a standard error message from your back-end system.

The error page is actually a great place to display the personality of your brand. Keep the language of your error positive and friendly, and perhaps add some well thought out humour.

2. Make the problem easy to understand

The biggest asset you have in solving the error is your user. Much of the time it is in their interests to solve fix the error themselves. They are the ones who clicked that link. They want it to work.
Help your users by giving them these three pieces of information on every error page.

1. What is happening? By telling them what you believe the issue to be, in plain English, many users will be able to solve the problem by themselves.

2. What to do next? For those who need a bit more information, make a suggestion for what their next step should be.

3. Who they can contact? Don’t make them search through your site to get help or report the problem. Give them easy access to a contact number or email address.

3. Consider yourself lucky to find out

Whether the error is critical or minor, you want your users to report the error. An error that doesn’t get reported will continue to cause UX problems. Encourage users to report by explaining that you want to know the error and that the error is your problem, not theirs If a user does report an error, be sure to thank and reward them. They have taken the time out of their schedule to improve your product.

By implementing the 3 Musts you can turn your error pages from UX catastrophes to minor issues. Your users and your bottom line will thank you for your effort.