diff --git a/notify/notify.go b/notify/notify.go
index d3f13fb962..fc04cbbe32 100644
--- a/notify/notify.go
+++ b/notify/notify.go
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ func NewMetrics(r prometheus.Registerer) *Metrics {
 			Namespace: "alertmanager",
 			Name:      "notifications_failed_total",
 			Help:      "The total number of failed notifications.",
-		}, []string{"integration", "code"}),
+		}, []string{"integration", "reason"}),
 		numNotificationRequestsTotal: prometheus.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
 			Namespace: "alertmanager",
 			Name:      "notification_requests_total",
@@ -297,8 +297,8 @@ func NewMetrics(r prometheus.Registerer) *Metrics {
 		m.numNotificationRequestsFailedTotal.WithLabelValues(integration)
 		m.notificationLatencySeconds.WithLabelValues(integration)
 
-		for _, code := range possibleFailureStatusCategory {
-			m.numTotalFailedNotifications.WithLabelValues(integration, code)
+		for _, reason := range possibleFailureReasonCategory {
+			m.numTotalFailedNotifications.WithLabelValues(integration, reason)
 		}
 	}
 	r.MustRegister(
@@ -666,10 +666,10 @@ func (r RetryStage) Exec(ctx context.Context, l log.Logger, alerts ...*types.Ale
 	r.metrics.numNotifications.WithLabelValues(r.integration.Name()).Inc()
 	ctx, alerts, err := r.exec(ctx, l, alerts...)
 
-	failureReason := defaultFailureReason
+	failureReason := DefaultReason.String()
 	if err != nil {
 		if e, ok := errors.Cause(err).(*ErrorWithReason); ok {
-			failureReason = e.Reason
+			failureReason = e.Reason.String()
 		}
 		r.metrics.numTotalFailedNotifications.WithLabelValues(r.integration.Name(), failureReason).Inc()
 	}
diff --git a/notify/notify_test.go b/notify/notify_test.go
index 6950eadd15..fb4a9a253d 100644
--- a/notify/notify_test.go
+++ b/notify/notify_test.go
@@ -425,27 +425,25 @@ func TestRetryStageWithError(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestRetryStageWithErrorCode(t *testing.T) {
 	testcases := map[string]struct {
-		reason        string
-		reasonlabel   string
-		expectedCount int
+		isNewErrorWithReason bool
+		reason               Reason
+		reasonlabel          string
+		expectedCount        int
 	}{
-		"for clientError":     {reason: clientError, reasonlabel: clientError, expectedCount: 1},
-		"for serverError":     {reason: serverError, reasonlabel: serverError, expectedCount: 1},
-		"for unexpected code": {reason: "unexpected", reasonlabel: defaultFailureReason, expectedCount: 1},
+		"for clientError":     {isNewErrorWithReason: true, reason: ClientErrorReason, reasonlabel: ClientErrorReason.String(), expectedCount: 1},
+		"for serverError":     {isNewErrorWithReason: true, reason: ServerErrorReason, reasonlabel: ServerErrorReason.String(), expectedCount: 1},
+		"for unexpected code": {isNewErrorWithReason: false, reason: DefaultReason, reasonlabel: DefaultReason.String(), expectedCount: 1},
 	}
 	for _, testData := range testcases {
-		fail, retry := true, false
-		sent := []*types.Alert{}
+		retry := false
 		testData := testData
 		i := Integration{
 			name: "test",
 			notifier: notifierFunc(func(ctx context.Context, alerts ...*types.Alert) (bool, error) {
-				if fail {
-					fail = false
-					return retry, NewErrorWithReason(testData.reason, errors.New("fail to deliver notification"))
+				if !testData.isNewErrorWithReason {
+					return retry, errors.New("fail to deliver notification")
 				}
-				sent = append(sent, alerts...)
-				return false, nil
+				return retry, NewErrorWithReason(testData.reason, errors.New("fail to deliver notification"))
 			}),
 			rs: sendResolved(false),
 		}
diff --git a/notify/util.go b/notify/util.go
index 98d8943641..21c41a0538 100644
--- a/notify/util.go
+++ b/notify/util.go
@@ -30,17 +30,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/alertmanager/types"
 )
 
-// defaultFailureReason is the default reason for numTotalFailedNotifications metric
-const defaultFailureReason = "other"
-
-const (
-	clientError = "clientError"
-	serverError = "ServerError"
-)
-
-// possibleFailureStatusCategory is a list of possible failure reason
-var possibleFailureStatusCategory = []string{clientError, serverError, defaultFailureReason}
-
 // UserAgentHeader is the default User-Agent for notification requests
 var UserAgentHeader = fmt.Sprintf("Alertmanager/%s", version.Version)
 
@@ -225,10 +214,10 @@ type ErrorWithReason struct {
 	Err error
 
 	// The reason of the failure.
-	Reason string
+	Reason Reason
 }
 
-func NewErrorWithReason(reason string, err error) *ErrorWithReason {
+func NewErrorWithReason(reason Reason, err error) *ErrorWithReason {
 	return &ErrorWithReason{
 		Err:    err,
 		Reason: reason,
@@ -239,16 +228,41 @@ func (e *ErrorWithReason) Error() string {
 	return e.Err.Error()
 }
 
+// Reason is the failure reason
+type Reason int
+
+const (
+	DefaultReason Reason = iota
+	ClientErrorReason
+	ServerErrorReason
+)
+
+func (s Reason) String() string {
+	switch s {
+	case DefaultReason:
+		return "other"
+	case ClientErrorReason:
+		return "clientError"
+	case ServerErrorReason:
+		return "serverError"
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unknown Reason: %d", s))
+	}
+}
+
+// possibleFailureReasonCategory is a list of possible failure reason
+var possibleFailureReasonCategory = []string{DefaultReason.String(), ClientErrorReason.String(), ServerErrorReason.String()}
+
 // GetFailureReasonFromStatusCode return the reason for failure request
 // the status starts with 4 will return 4xx and starts with 5 will return 5xx
 // other than 4xx and 5xx input status will return an 5xx.
-func GetFailureReasonFromStatusCode(statusCode int) string {
+func GetFailureReasonFromStatusCode(statusCode int) Reason {
 	if statusCode/100 == 4 {
-		return clientError
+		return ClientErrorReason
 	}
 	if statusCode/100 == 5 {
-		return serverError
+		return ServerErrorReason
 	}
 
-	return defaultFailureReason
+	return DefaultReason
 }