diff --git a/cli/app/new.go b/cli/app/new.go
index 5e4c88fe..c31583ca 100644
--- a/cli/app/new.go
+++ b/cli/app/new.go
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ var appNewCommand = cli.Command{
 				return err
 			}
 
+			if err := ensureSecretLengths(secretsConfig, internal.Domain, sanitisedAppName); err != nil {
+				logrus.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
 			if err := promptForSecrets(recipe.Name, secretsConfig); err != nil {
 				logrus.Fatal(err)
 			}
@@ -126,10 +130,6 @@ var appNewCommand = cli.Command{
 				logrus.Fatal(err)
 			}
 
-			if err := ensureSecretLengths(secrets, sanitisedAppName); err != nil {
-				logrus.Fatal(err)
-			}
-
 			secretCols := []string{"Name", "Value"}
 			secretTable = formatter.CreateTable(secretCols)
 			for name, val := range secrets {
@@ -262,12 +262,12 @@ func ensureServerFlag() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func ensureSecretLengths(secrets AppSecrets, sanitisedAppName string) error {
+func ensureSecretLengths(secrets map[string]string, domainName string, sanitisedAppName string) error {
 	if len(sanitisedAppName) > 45 {
 		sanitisedAppName = sanitisedAppName[:45]
 	}
 
-	domainLength := len(sanitisedAppName)
+	domainAndFormatLength := len(sanitisedAppName) + 4
 	failingSecrets := []string{}
 	maxSecretLength := 0
 
@@ -277,20 +277,20 @@ func ensureSecretLengths(secrets AppSecrets, sanitisedAppName string) error {
 			maxSecretLength = len(secretName)
 		}
 
-		if len(secretName+"_v1")+domainLength > 64 {
+		if len(secretName)+domainAndFormatLength > 64 {
 			failingSecrets = append(failingSecrets, secretName)
 		}
 	}
 
 	if len(failingSecrets) > 0 {
 		failedSecretsString := strings.Join(failingSecrets, ", ")
-		return fmt.Errorf("the following secrets are too long to work with the domain name %s, change their length or use a shorter domain name: %s", sanitisedAppName, failedSecretsString)
+		return fmt.Errorf("the following secrets are too long to work with the domain name %s\n change their length or use a shorter domain name:\n %s", domainName, failedSecretsString)
 	}
 
 	logrus.Debugf(
 		`The longest secret name is %d 
 including 4 extra characters for format %s_<name>_v1 
 fits with domain length of %d for max docker secret length of %d`,
-		maxSecretLength, sanitisedAppName, domainLength, domainLength+maxSecretLength+4)
+		maxSecretLength, sanitisedAppName, domainAndFormatLength, domainAndFormatLength+maxSecretLength)
 	return nil
 }