How to get users to read error messages?

Question

If you program for a nontechnical audience, you find yourself at a high risk that users will not read your carefully worded and enlightening error messages, but just click o

Answer 1

Show users that the error message has a meaning, and it's a way to provide assistance to them and they will read it. If it's just jargon-bable or generic nonsense message they will learn to dismiss them quicly.

I have learned that is very good practice to include an error dialog with default action to send (eg. via email) detailed diagnostic info, if you quickly respond to those emails with valuable information or workaround, they will worship you.

This is also a great learning tool. In future versions you can solve known-issues or at least provide in-place workaround info. Until then users will learn that this message is caused by X and the problem can by solved by Y - all because someone did explain it to them.

Of course this won't work on a large scale application, but works very well in enterprise applications with few hundred users, and in a lean agile, release early release often, environment.

EDIT:

Since you have a broad user base I recommend to provide software that does what users are/can expect it to do, eg. do not show them eroror message if phone number is not formatted well, reformat if for them.

I personally like software that does not make me think, and when occasionally there is nothing you (the developer) can do to interpret my intention, provide a very well written (and reviewed by actual users) messages.

It's common knowlege that people do not read documentation (did you read instructions back-to-back do when you did plugged in household appliance?), they try a way to get results quickly, when failed you have to grab their attention (eg. disable default button for a while) with meaningful and helpful info. They don't care about your sofware failure, they want to get results, now.