The dreaded 404 Not Found message. Not quite the blue screen of death, but definitely unwelcome when you are trying to find something on the Internet.
The 404 page isn’t something you are looking for—it’s a web page you typically receive when you land on a page that’s been deleted or removed.
From a marketing perspective, why should you care?
The 404 page is actually an opportunity for you to turn a negative into a positive. An inspired 404
improves usability, can reinforce your brand and turns something unwelcome into an informative, even entertaining contact point at a time when a site visitor least expects it
My favorite 404 is The North Face’s 404 goat:
The copy:
THE PAGE YOU REQUESTED WAS EATEN
Goats do all sorts of nifty things to keep humans off the mountains, such as sabotaging your favorite gear and apparel website by eating our links and pages. These pages contain valuable information related to state-of-the-art gear, the very gear vital to an athlete’s survival in the harshest of conditions.
Don’t let the goats win, and report to our Web Administrator.
Quite a contrast your typical 404, eh?
For more on creative 404 error pages, check out the following posts from Smashing Magazine:
They’re chock full of creative 404 examples and will give you all the creative inspiration you’ll need.
If your company has an inspired 404 page, or you’d like to share one you’ve seen, please comment below.
