diff --git a/client/go/internal/cli/cmd/root.go b/client/go/internal/cli/cmd/root.go
index a41050b7985..8ea545283d4 100644
--- a/client/go/internal/cli/cmd/root.go
+++ b/client/go/internal/cli/cmd/root.go
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ func (c *CLI) configureFlags() map[string]*pflag.Flag {
 		quiet       bool
 	)
 	c.cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&target, targetFlag, "t", "local", `The target platform to use. Must be "local", "cloud", "hosted" or an URL`)
-	c.cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&application, applicationFlag, "a", "", "The application to use (cloud only)")
+	c.cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&application, applicationFlag, "a", "", `The application to use (cloud only). Format "tenant.application.instance" - instance is optional`)
 	c.cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&instance, instanceFlag, "i", "", "The instance of the application to use (cloud only)")
 	c.cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&cluster, clusterFlag, "C", "", "The container cluster to use. This is only required for applications with multiple clusters")
 	c.cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&zone, zoneFlag, "z", "", "The zone to use. This defaults to a dev zone (cloud only)")