If we do say so ourselves – our 404 page is pretty funny. But I know there’s a ton of funny ones out there – so I went on a quest to find the funniest 404 pages in existence, and I’ll be honest – I wasn’t disappointed. If you don’t take this opportunity to make a funny 404 page, I will hunt you down and tickle you silly.
Hook Agency’s 404 Page – Certified Silly Goose Material
IMDB’s – Lebowski “Where’s the Rug” play
Lego.com’s playful ‘Page not found”
STG – Lionel Ritchie Lyrics 404 Page
Chuck Norris Funny 404 Page
Crying Baby – 404 Illustration
Al Gore – You Broke the Internet Funny or Die 404 Page
Mint.com – We Looked Everywhere 404 Page
Probably My Favorite – “Page not available, but Justin the Developer is”
Meteor – 404 Error Message
Email Center – Pick Who to Fire Landing Page
Why make sure you have a clever 404 page?
The only real reason to have a clever 404 page is to “delight your users.”
“Delighting your users” is nerd, UX designer speak for helping the people on your website enjoy themselves.
If someone doesn’t feel all weird and bad when they land on the 404 page, and instead feels like they got a little ‘easter egg’ surprise instead, then perhaps it was worth putting a little effort into a small detail that only a fraction of your website users will ever see.
The principle at play here is that things like ‘micro-copy’, thank you messages, and other small details of a website should be thought through, and conversational. If they’re clever and funny than all the better. A good rule is that you should try to be ‘conversational’, or in other words – write as you speak.
Don’t waste time with overly formal words – or try to be corporate-esque. If you have to, record yourself talking candidly, and assume that style when writing.
When is it appropriate to have a funny 404 Page?
If you can be funny for your brand, you can be funny for your 404 page.
That means – if, on social media, it’s not totally inappropriate to use some wit (like you’re not marketing for a herse company, or talking about really sensitive topics) than funny is a wonderful way to help people let their guard down when dealing with your brand.
What about next steps?
Ideally, a 404 page has some key next steps on it.
If you just landed on a 404 page, what might you want to do next?
- Go back to the homepage?
- Search for the thing you didn’t find?
- Go to the blog index?
If in your companies situation, any of these things apply, you might want to provide those next steps under your humorous, conversational piece.
They can be paired with a list of popular posts, categories, or either key pages that people visit the most often on your website – and you can further delight your website, visitors.
Have you started delighting yet? Get to it. 😂
