diff --git a/plugins/parsers/registry.go b/plugins/parsers/registry.go
index c3e4b1cbf..8ebb4a713 100644
--- a/plugins/parsers/registry.go
+++ b/plugins/parsers/registry.go
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ func newCSVParser(metricName string,
 	defaultTags map[string]string) (Parser, error) {
 
 	if headerRowCount == 0 && len(columnNames) == 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("there must be a header if `csv_column_names` is not specified")
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("`csv_header_row_count` must be defined if `csv_column_names` is not specified")
 	}
 
 	if delimiter != "" {