diff --git a/src/backend/replication/logical/logical.c b/src/backend/replication/logical/logical.c
index aae0ae5b8aa..b7d95215764 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/logical/logical.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/logical/logical.c
@@ -605,9 +605,9 @@ DecodingContextFindStartpoint(LogicalDecodingContext *ctx)
 		/* the read_page callback waits for new WAL */
 		record = XLogReadRecord(ctx->reader, &err);
 		if (err)
-			elog(ERROR, "%s", err);
+			elog(ERROR, "could not find logical decoding starting point: %s", err);
 		if (!record)
-			elog(ERROR, "no record found"); /* shouldn't happen */
+			elog(ERROR, "could not find logical decoding starting point");
 
 		LogicalDecodingProcessRecord(ctx, ctx->reader);
 
diff --git a/src/backend/replication/logical/logicalfuncs.c b/src/backend/replication/logical/logicalfuncs.c
index 2609a0a7104..6cd2279a2e3 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/logical/logicalfuncs.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/logical/logicalfuncs.c
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ pg_logical_slot_get_changes_guts(FunctionCallInfo fcinfo, bool confirm, bool bin
 
 			record = XLogReadRecord(ctx->reader, &errm);
 			if (errm)
-				elog(ERROR, "%s", errm);
+				elog(ERROR, "could not find record for logical decoding: %s", errm);
 
 			/*
 			 * The {begin_txn,change,commit_txn}_wrapper callbacks above will
diff --git a/src/backend/replication/slotfuncs.c b/src/backend/replication/slotfuncs.c
index a80298ba53d..46175b70070 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/slotfuncs.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/slotfuncs.c
@@ -529,7 +529,8 @@ pg_logical_replication_slot_advance(XLogRecPtr moveto)
 			 */
 			record = XLogReadRecord(ctx->reader, &errm);
 			if (errm)
-				elog(ERROR, "%s", errm);
+				elog(ERROR, "could not find record while advancing replication slot: %s",
+					 errm);
 
 			/*
 			 * Process the record.  Storage-level changes are ignored in
diff --git a/src/backend/replication/walsender.c b/src/backend/replication/walsender.c
index fff7dfc6409..7950afb173c 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/walsender.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/walsender.c
@@ -2979,7 +2979,8 @@ XLogSendLogical(void)
 
 	/* xlog record was invalid */
 	if (errm != NULL)
-		elog(ERROR, "%s", errm);
+		elog(ERROR, "could not find record while sending logically-decoded data: %s",
+			 errm);
 
 	if (record != NULL)
 	{