diff --git a/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/MainLoop.scala b/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/MainLoop.scala
index 915902b1f..292f8e2b8 100644
--- a/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/MainLoop.scala
+++ b/main/command/src/main/scala/sbt/MainLoop.scala
@@ -67,8 +67,10 @@ object MainLoop {
       val loggedState = state.copy(globalLogging = newLogging)
       def isInteractive = System.console() != null
       def hasShell = state.remainingCommands contains "shell"
-      if (isInteractive && !hasShell)
-        state.log warn "Executing in batch mode; for better performance, hit [ENTER] to remain in the sbt shell"
+      if (isInteractive && !hasShell) {
+        state.log warn "BATCH MODE: for better performance hit [ENTER] to switch to interactive mode"
+        state.log warn "  consider launching sbt without any commands, or explicitly passing 'shell'"
+      }
       try run(loggedState) finally out.close()
     }