The Story of “404: The Page not Found” Error

-->While shopping online, booking a hotel, uploading pictures, or generally speaking, doing any activities on the Internet, nobody wants to see “Sorry, the page was not found”. In most cases, this phrase annoys web users, a lot. People feel that their past effort of interacting with the websites was wasted. “When your visitors expecting something good from your website and suddenly they get the Error page makes them feels like you just kicked on their ass.” Consequently, consumers would lose their trust and patience, and thus leaving the website. A loss of potential customer is induced and an unreliable image of the website/brand is created by “The page was not found”.

However, I was intrigued by the talk given by Renny Gleeson, the Global Digital Strategies Director for Wieden + Kennedy, on TED: “404, the story of a page not found”, which approached this issue from a different perspective. Instead of seeing “Page not found” as a pain, "every error could be an opportunity to build a better relationship with the web users" indicated by Gleeson.

What Gleeson suggested was that websites/brands should personalize the 404 error pages to keep the interaction with web users and even improve the brand image by showing your care. For instance, DailyPath, which offers inspiration and tips of improving living quality, puts their own inspiration on their 404 error page, reminding their customers that they do care about their lives; Coca cola informs the users that the error is an opportunity to have fresh start with a smiling face.   

There are various ways of changing the annoying “page was not found” moment in developing a brand. Here are some tips:

• The default Error page should address the sympathy “The page what it felt like when you falls on an Error page”
• The Error page should offers related inks, apology note or a message that people would love to read instead of a irritating feel
• This is a relationship issues between your site and its user the batter way you would deal with this little thing the more you would be in benefit

Although it seems that designing the error page is trivial, but it is these well-designed moments that build up your brand image. This is one of the feedbacks of a web user when he saw a personalized 404 error page: “Hitting the 404 wall is annoying no matter what, but Gleeson's point is my own experience: finding a 404 result page personalized by the page owner makes me respect the care they have regarding my experience. It's a small moment when I can get another look at their style, their humor or idea. Really good 404 pages are not only a bit humorous but helpful in getting back to a place where you can begin to find the correct destination.”

As Gleeson concluded in his talk “A simple mistake can tell me what you aren’t. Or remind me why I love you.”

Sources:

Here is the original talk on TED: 

http://www.ted.com/talks/renny_gleeson_404_the_story_of_a_page_not_found.html

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81-web-general/4205-404-the-story-of-a-page-not-found-.html

http://www.vfunk.net/error-404-page-not-found-tips-for-webmasters-to-fix-it-show-you-care.html