Houston we have a 404 problem
What to do when the user reaches 404 dead ends
As much as we try to create excellent digital experiences, which are fluid and engaging with users the “error” is something that will appear in many moments. Something that leaves the user in suspense without knowing what to do, because the system did not give them the answer he expected to receive.
The most complex thing about “errors” is that as much as we want — and we must try — to avoid them, they happen for the most varied reasons, many of them outside the control of the teams responsible for thinking and designing the dimensions of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) of digital products. Whether for technological or human reasons, the “errors” will at some point find users who at that moment did not know what to do.
The 404 pages
“To error is human”, so the proverb goes. Although the phrase — and well — expresses a natural tolerance for error, it also entails a danger, which is its trivialization which in many moments can lead to sloppiness or lack of demand. Our biggest goal should always be to avoid mistakes rather than just to excuse them.
On any website, the user may encounter numerous problems. Too complex processes for carrying out simple tasks, weak systems performance, lack of information or incorrect information, external links to the website for missing or deleted pages, etc.
The 404 error pages concern precisely this last mentioned reason. Usually when the user is redirected to a page on the website that does not exist (or has been deleted in the meantime) a 404 error page is presented to them. These pages are above all a convention created to show the user that the page they are looking for does not there is more. The number follows a common pattern on the web, which says very little to the average user, but which has become an international standard.
The danger of 404 errors
But more than the simple designation of the error the important thing is to think about how we are going to help the user at this point in their experience. Upon reaching this 404 page, many things may be happening in the user’s mind that are essential to understand to help him in this “difficult time”.
For some reason the page he was looking for does not exist. You may have been redirected from a link on any social network with the expectation of finding content, but when you arrive at our website you cannot find it. Worse still, you may be browsing our own website and being redirected to a page that no longer exists.
The moment in the experience is not good, because your expectations have been defrauded and this scenario can be even worse according to the importance of what you expected the user to find. This moment is dangerous because it is the point at which the image that the user has of our product is below and can lead to him leaving our website. In this case, we have the risk of the user leaving our website with a double negative perception: he did not find what he was looking for and we were unable to help him solve a certain problem
Some tips
We already know that the moment when the user reaches a 404 page is not good. Preferably the goal is always to make sure that the user does not get here. But, we also know that this will most likely happen at some point. So how can we minimize the impact of this moment on the overall perception of the experience?
Thinking and designing 404 pages is far from an exact science. There are no formulas that always work because products (and consequently their users) are very different from each other. However, there are some simple tips which although they cannot be seen as absolute truths can often help the user to solve this problem.
Be humble
First of all it is important to be humble towards the user about the existence of the error. Although it can occur due to many factors, some of which we do not control, it is essential to always adopt a humble posture, to recognize that there is a problem to solve and that we will try to solve it in the best way.
Be proactive
From the moment the user reaches a 404 page, it is essential to be as proactive as possible in solving the problem. Allowing the search for new content, redirecting the user to another specific page, suggesting other pages that most users visit in the product, are all ways to suggest some kind of solution and redirecting the user from that page to another one that can be accessed. most useful.
Be intelligent
404 pages don’t all have to be the same. We can and should try to make the most of all the information we may have about the user, even if it is small information. For example, if you are a recurring user, we can suggest pages that he usually visits in our product. If the user comes from a social network, we can use that to build our approach and message. If we can understand the geographical location we can make some kind of pun on this information. The essential thing is to try to gather as much information as possible about who visits us and use this to better contextualize the 404 error page.
Be creative
There are many ways to get the same message across. Whether through text, image or video, there are many ways to tell the user that you have reached an error page. The way we talk to the user may change their perception of this moment of the experience. Here, as in many other moments, creativity can be a very important tool to soften the impact of an error page.
And by the way…
If it is possible to use some humor, the better. Humor can be a very interesting way to try to reverse this less positive moment of the experience. It can serve to transform a less good moment in the experience into something that the user can remember with some joke.
Innovation at work
On the 404 pages, as a little bit in everything that concerns the design of experiences, innovation can be a valuable help to make this moment something memorable. There are many solutions that can turn some 404 pages into pages that surprisingly the user won’t even bother to find.
In this Pinterest collection you can find some of these examples. They are enough, applied in different types of products but with a common purpose: to create an excellent user experience at any time, even if it means showing an error page.
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