diff --git a/pkg/policy/validate.go b/pkg/policy/validate.go
index cb7af29a62..8ebc09cb9e 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/validate.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/validate.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func Validate(p kyverno.ClusterPolicy) error {
 			// policy.spec.background -> "true"
 			// - cannot use variables with request.userInfo
 			// - cannot define userInfo(roles, cluserRoles, subjects) for filtering (match & exclude)
-			return fmt.Errorf("userInfo not allowed in background policy mode. Failure path %s", err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("userInfo is not allowed in match or exclude when backgroud policy mode is true. Set spec.background=false to disable background mode for this policy rule. Failure path %s ", err)
 		}
 	}