Summary: When machines fail to tell stories—and instead throw technical errors—it reveals more than a systems hiccup. It signals the line between human empathy and automated indifference. This post breaks down a typical JSON error response into a case study on communication breakdowns, unmet expectations, and the risks of relying too much on automation without context.
Machines Talk in Code—Humans Think in Narrative
"Unfortunately, the provided text does not appear to contain a story that can be extracted and rewritten." This kind of sentence often pops up when someone attempts to process raw data with a storytelling function or AI engine. What's usually overlooked here is what this sentence actually signals—it means your system has no idea what just hit it. The request bounced, not because it's nonsense, but because of a hard truth: the source was never made for insight, emotion, or persuasion. It was built for transmission, not conversation.
When AI receives something like a JSON error reply stating { "error": "Insufficient account balance" }—it's not just rejecting the file. It’s refusing to pretend it sees meaning where there is none. But here's the crux: the person on the other side of that computer expected meaning, relevance, and maybe even help. That's a mismatch. And mismatches cause frustration, churn, and complaint tickets.
Only Humans Can Find Meaning in Error Messages
A JSON response does what it’s supposed to do: be ruthlessly efficient. But that doesn’t cut it in marketing, customer service, or user experience. People don’t think in key-value pairs. They don’t feel heard when a message says "insufficient balance." They feel blocked. Maybe even judged. And most systems don’t translate that failure into anything helpful or human.
The phrase “does not appear to contain a story” is quietly damning—it says no one thought through what happens when things go wrong. When there’s a failure in flow and the end user is left with raw machine output, we’ve skipped design. We’ve skipped narrative. We’ve failed to bridge the technical with the emotional.
Why This Matters to Product Teams, Marketers, and Storytellers
You might think this is a technical edge case. It’s anything but. It’s about expectations and breakdowns. It’s about handing someone a locked door without a reason, a workaround, or even the courtesy of a “sorry.”
Ask yourself this: If your user gets a JSON error, what do they do next? Leave? Rage-Tweet? Submit a ticket? Or worse—go silent and never come back? How would your business handle 100 people hitting that wall at the same time? Would your system treat each of them as confused humans in need of guidance—or just data packets behaving incorrectly?
Now let’s mirror what’s going on here one more time: “Does not appear to contain a story.” Why would your brand want a moment like that to happen... story-less, context-less, empathy-less? What would it look like if that error message came with a path forward—a mapped-out micro-narrative that explained what happened, what to do, and how to regain control?
Account Balance Errors Aren’t Just Technical—They Are Failing Trust Moments
“Insufficient account balance” is more than a status code. It might mean an unexpected charge the user wasn’t aware of. It might mean they’ve been billed for something they didn’t intend to order. Or it might flag an internal problem on your backend. It’s a flag—and if you don’t frame it for them, they will frame it for themselves.
People will fill meaning in any communication gap. That’s not speculation. That’s how the brain is wired. And when systems offer vague, rigid messages like this without a narrative, people assume the worst. Bad UX becomes bad reputation. Bad technical framing becomes bad retention.
Let me ask you straight: What would it take for your team to transform that message into something worthy of being called communication—one that doesn’t just notify but guides, reassures, and, yes, tells a story?
'No' Builds the Conversation. But Silence Ends It.
There’s power in a clear “no.” That JSON payload saying “you have insufficient funds” is a “no.” But not all “no’s” are created equal. The kind that builds trust explains what comes next, what to expect, or where to get help. The kind that kills trust just ends the interaction. Which does your product offer?
And let's press the issue: If the only content you offer in a system error is technical and void of user context, you are building a helpdesk backlog. You are building anger. You are outsourcing storytelling to internet forums instead of taking responsibility. You’re saying that your system is more comfortable serving machines than humans.
What Could Be Done Instead: Build Micro-Stories at Every Failure Point
Instead of dumping an error on the screen, what would happen if your system shared:
- A plain-language explanation of the event ("We couldn’t process your request because it looks like your account doesn’t have enough funds.")
- A soft confirmation of expectations ("We realize this can be frustrating—especially if you weren’t expecting a charge.")
- Next steps ("You can top up your balance or contact us if you think this is a mistake.")
- An optional link to the support article or human escalation path
That’s a story. That’s a human-sized message. And that is what prevents a leak in trust. Because even when machines break, the humans don’t have to feel broken.
Your Error Messages Aren’t Minor—They’re Moments of Truth
Let’s stop pretending an error message is the footnote of user interaction. It’s often the climax. The turning point. The moment where your user decides whether your platform respects their time or is just another cold technical layer that couldn’t care less what state they’re in.
So I’ll ask you, and I want space for silence here: Does your system treat error-handling as a form of brand storytelling—or is it still hiding behind code that “does not appear to contain a story”?
#UXWriting #MicrocopyMatters #HumanCenteredDesign #ErrorMessages #SaaS #WebNarratives #ProductDesign #TechnicalUX #OnlineTrust
Featured Image courtesy of Unsplash and Markus Spiske (bMvuh0YQQ68)