Form error messages are the moment a form either helps people or blames them. A good one says what went wrong and how to fix it, in plain words, right next to the field. A bad one says Invalid input in red at the top of the page. This guide is ideal for beginners and for teams polishing a form that people abandon. We share rules, error message examples and how to set a custom validation message in Echo Forms, in about 15 minutes.
The short version
- Say what to do, not what went wrong: Add the @ part of your email.
- Show the message next to the field, not only at the top.
- Do not show errors before people have tried to send.
- Keep the answer they typed, so they only fix the one thing.
What makes a good form error message?
Three things: it is specific, it is polite and it is next to the problem. Enter a phone number with at least 10 digits tells people exactly what to change, while Error in field 3 sends them hunting. The Nielsen Norman Group’s guidelines for errors in forms add that the message should be easy to see and should never wipe what people already typed.
What are some error message examples?
| Field | Unhelpful | Helpful |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid email | Add the @ part, such as sam@example.com | |
| Phone | Invalid format | Use numbers only, at least 10 digits |
| Required choice | Required | Pick one so we know which service you need |
| Date | Invalid date | Pick a date from tomorrow onward |
| File | Upload failed | That file is 18 MB; the limit is 10 MB |
Each helpful version says what to do next. We write them as if a friendly person at a desk were explaining it, because that is how they read.
When should errors appear?
After people try to send, or after they leave a field they clearly got wrong. Showing red errors on every empty required field before anyone has typed is alarming and unfair, so you lose people who did nothing wrong. Echo Forms waits for the first real attempt to send before it colors fields as errors, so a new visitor sees a calm form.
How to set a custom validation message, step by step
- Open the form in Echo Forms and click the field.
- Open its Advanced options and fill in Custom validation message.
- Write what to do, such as Enter your 10 digit phone number.
- For fields with a fixed shape, add an input mask, so people can only type valid characters.
- To list every problem at once on long forms, switch on the error summary in the form’s settings.
- Send the form with a mistake on purpose, on a phone and a laptop.
The field options guide covers validation messages and masks. The message clears the moment people change the answer, so a fixed field never keeps refusing to send.
Do error messages matter for accessibility?
Yes. A screen reader user needs to hear what went wrong and where, and color alone is not enough for the 8% of men with color vision deficiency. Pair red with words and an icon, and keep the message tied to the field. The W3C’s tutorial on form validation shows the patterns, and our accessible forms guide covers the rest.
Form error messages take about 15 minutes to rewrite on one form, and they save every person who makes a typo from giving up. Start with the email and phone fields, which cause most mistakes, then read our form design best practices for the next 10 minutes of fixes, and test them in WordPress on a phone within the next 2 days.
Your own words for every error
Custom validation messages and an error summary are free in Echo Forms.
