diff --git a/unittest/json_lib/json_normalize-t.c b/unittest/json_lib/json_normalize-t.c
index f72e90175e2b1..364a1619290a0 100644
--- a/unittest/json_lib/json_normalize-t.c
+++ b/unittest/json_lib/json_normalize-t.c
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ check_json_normalize(const char *in, const char *expected)
 
   err= json_normalize(&result, in, strlen(in), cs);
 
-  ok(err == 0, "normalize err?");
+  ok(err == 0, "normalize err: %d", err);
 
   ok(strcmp(expected, result.str) == 0,
-    "expected '%s' from '%s' but was '%s'",
-    expected, in, result.str);
+    "from '%s'\n expect: '%s'\n actual: '%s'",
+    in, expected, result.str);
 
   dynstr_free(&result);
 }
@@ -205,13 +205,13 @@ test_json_normalize_non_utf8(void)
 
   init_dynamic_string(&result, NULL, 0, 0);
   err= json_normalize(&result, utf8, strlen(utf8), cs_utf8);
-  ok(err == 0, "normalize err?");
+  ok(err == 0, "normalize err: %d", err);
   ok((strcmp(utf8, result.str) == 0), "utf8 round trip");
   dynstr_free(&result);
 
   init_dynamic_string(&result, NULL, 0, 0);
   err= json_normalize(&result, latin, strlen(latin), cs_latin);
-  ok(err == 0, "normalize err?");
+  ok(err == 0, "normalize err: %d", err);
   ok((strcmp(utf8, result.str) == 0), "latin to utf8 round trip");
   dynstr_free(&result);
 }
@@ -226,15 +226,15 @@ check_number_normalize(const char *in, const char *expected)
   init_dynamic_string(&buf, NULL, 0, 0);
 
   err= json_normalize_number(&buf, in, strlen(in));
-  ok(err == 0, "normalize number err?");
+  ok(err == 0, "normalize number err: %d", err);
 
   ok(strcmp(buf.str, expected) == 0,
+    "    from: %s\n"
     "expected: %s\n"
-    " but was: %s\n"
-    "    from: %s\n",
+    "  actual: %s\n",
+    in,
     expected,
-    buf.str,
-    in);
+    buf.str);
 
   dynstr_free(&buf);
 }