Daily UX Writing Challenge: Day 14
Error Message for Unknown Error
Welcome to Day 14 of my 15-day UX Writing challenge. It’s the penultimate task of this challenge, and I’m pretty excited to have made it this far. Today’s task is to create an error message for an unknown error.
Not sure what that entails? Here’s the brief:
UX Writing Challenge: Day 14
Scenario: A user is shopping using a price comparison app that boasts “real-time” pricing on items. As they are checking the price of an item, something goes wrong. The problem is unknown.
Challenge: Write a message that informs the user that they cannot access the app right now. You cannot specify “why” the app doesn’t work, you also want them to continue using the app.
Headline: 30 characters max
Body: 120 characters max
Button(s): 15 characters max
My Thought Process
Error messages are common in the digital world. In fact, scenarios like the one described above are a daily (actually, multiple times a day) occurrence with digital product users. But how can UX writers make such error messages more effective?
That was my exact thought when I came across this challenge.
The user has hit a roadblock. They can’t move forward in the experience. It’s more than likely that they’re frustrated by this. So, the aim of our microcopy should be to reduce their frustrations or, at the very least, not contribute to them.
For this to happen, we should be polite and professional while offering as much help as possible.
Message Structure
Ideally, we need to tell them why the error has occurred. However, in some situations, such as this one, that information might not be available. Nevertheless, we must still strive to tell them all that we can. Such as:
- What has happened
- What we’re doing to resolve it
- What they can do on their end.
My Solution
This error message works for the following reasons:
- It states what happened — “Unable to load real-time prices”
- Offers reassurance — “Something is not right and we’re working hard to fix it”. By framing the message this way, we’re not only accepting responsibility for the error but also assuring the user that it’ll be fixed.
- Gives them a way out — “Please try again later or opt to get notified once we’re back”. By providing the user with options for when they can access the app again, we are basically saying, “Hey, we want you to keep using our app!”
That’s all for Day 14 of the Daily UX Writing challenge. What do you think? Is there anything you would have done differently? Let me know in the comments.
