Error pages are inevitable, even on the best websites.  As a visitor or business owner, it can be frustrating, and is certainly not ideal, but 404 error pages happen.

Recently, I had the opposite experience with an error page. When trying to access Seth Godin’s blog, the best error page ever came up, instead.

Usually, I click away immediately, but not with this one.  I studied it; I laughed; I tweeted it and shared it with my co-workers. Even though I came to the wrong page, I was happy and I wanted to try other ways to get to what I needed from his blog.

Seth’s page made me realize the importance of  the lowly error page as a customer service tool and gave me inspiration for making a better one.

5 Tips for Making a Better Error Page:

1. Add graphics

This could be your companies mascot or a cute image of an animal. Be creative. Seth used a knome from one of his book covers, and a silly picture of himself dressed as a pirate. It goes with his brand. Think about yours and how you can include a graphic that goes along with that.

GitHub uses their mascot, Octocat, in their 404 and 500 error pages.

2. Add humor

Be funny in your text. Make people want to read it.

Seth’s text: “Holy smokes! Somethin’ has gone wrong wi’ our systems an’ th’ page ye’re lookin’ fer be missin’. Here be some books t’ buy while ye`re waitin’ fer us t’ fix ‘t.”

He used text that worked with the knome on the cover of his book.  It grabs your attention and makes the reading a lot less dry. It says something that I actually read it, right?

3. Display your products or services

Put an image of your product or two to make people remember why they wanted to visit in the first place. Seth included images of his book covers in the error page. It’s a great use of the page to market his product and also reminds the visitor why you came there.

4. Add contact information

Include your email address with an easy input form or link, so visitors will alert you to the problem, while also feeling empowered, rather than just helpless and frustrated.

Seth did this: “If ye think ye got this in error, please mail us at oopsy [at] sethgodin [dot] com.”

5. Apologize

It’s okay to admit your mistake. People appreciate it. Seth added a yellow color to his “sorry” and put it in all caps at the top of the page.

By making a memorable page, customers will be happy and more likely to try to visit your website in another way, rather than leaving for good.

Read 404 Errors Drive Visitors Away for tips on avoiding error pages all together. Do you have any favorite error pages to share or other tips on making memorable ones? Comment below.

This article was written by Meg Hartley of AboutUs.

Meg Hartley is an account manager for AboutUs where she helps clients with their social media and blog content creation and strategy. Get in touch with her on Twitter: @meg_hartley.