diff --git a/app/experimenter/experiments/tests/test_views.py b/app/experimenter/experiments/tests/test_views.py
index 3ccf4b9ba..637d6d998 100644
--- a/app/experimenter/experiments/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/app/experimenter/experiments/tests/test_views.py
@@ -787,6 +787,11 @@ class TestNimbusUIView(TestCase):
 class Test404View(TestCase):
     def test_404(self):
         user_email = "user@example.com"
-        response = self.client.get("/404", **{settings.OPENIDC_EMAIL_HEADER: user_email})
+        response = self.client.get(
+            # test path should be a string that doesn't match any existing url patterns
+            # or django will attempt to 301 and append a slash before 404ing
+            "/invalid/",
+            **{settings.OPENIDC_EMAIL_HEADER: user_email},
+        )
         self.assertTemplateUsed(response, "nimbus/404.html")
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 404)