The internet is expansive and there are likely a thousand products out there that your user could choose instead of yours. So what sets you apart? Ideally, the user experience that your product provides should be the distinguishing factor. If all the other copy on your product is friendly and polite, but your error messages are rude and grating on the user, they’re most likely to look for other products that are, well, nicer.

Taking a condescending or dogmatic tone in your error messages is a surefire way to lose users left and right. Instead, try to politely explain what went wrong and what they can do to fix it without making them feel stupid. This way, even if they’ve made a mistake, they’re less likely to feel bad about it. They’ll stick around because you’ve given them a solution in a warm and friendly way.