Dark Patterns in UX: Understanding Manipulative Design Tactics

Yesterday, you took out the ultimate sock savings subscription online without actually registering it. How did that happen? You were manipulated with a dark pattern in an online shop.

What are dark patterns?

Dark patterns are user interface or design elements or processes that companies use to manipulate customer behavior. We are manipulated on a daily basis, not only online but also offline and don't even notice it.

Or have you never asked yourself why there are only a few bottles of this wine left in the supermarket? All of a sudden, you choose exactly this bottle. After all, it must be good if there are only a few bottles left... right?

Dark patterns place the (mostly economic) interests of the company above those of the user and are intended to get the user to do something that he did not want to do. For this purpose, various techniques are used which more or less clumsily ensure that important information is not noticed and therefore incorrect decisions are made by mistake.

Doesn't sound like a fair thing!

The problem with dark patterns

A dark pattern can be a warning in an online shop that uses a countdown to warn that an offer is about to expire. But it can also be a barely visible sign when paying that indicates that you are now taking out a sock subscription. A dark pattern doesn't have to be a visual element at all. It can also simply be an incredibly exhausting cancellation process that prevents you from deactivating your subscription again.

The problem with Dark Patterns isn't just that they're annoying — they can also be really damaging. They exploit human psychology for the sole purpose of making people act against their interests. This is unethical and may be illegal. Dark patterns are widely used — researchers analyzed about 53,000 product pages from 11,000 shopping websites and found that 11% of those investigated websites have dark patterns that are aggressive, misleading, fraudulent, and potentially unlawful...

Dark patterns make customers dissatisfied and cause them to lose trust in a company.

How designers can defend themselves

As designers, it is our job to explain to our clients what dark patterns are and why it is unwise to use them. For example, a client might think they can increase customer loyalty and profit by making it harder for their users to cancel their subscriptions. In this case, it is the designer's responsibility to disagree and explain that this tactic is more likely to result in frustration and negative reviews.

It can be difficult to balance business goals with a great user experience, but dark patterns are never the right solution. A professional UX UI design agency can help strike that balance effectively, ensuring that ethical design and business performance go hand in hand.

Designers should always strive for transparent user experiences that enable customers to make their own decisions. It can be difficult to balance business goals with a great user experience, but dark patterns are never the right solution.

To remain ethically justifiable, designers can ask these questions:

• Is this design in the client's best interest?
• If I was the customer, would I feel that I was being treated honestly?
• Could this design sample damage my client's reputation?
• Is the design illegal?

Most common dark patterns

What nasty tricks do we encounter most often in everyday digital life?

Spoiler: There are plenty of them! From countdown timers that create artificial pressure to annoying Pop-ups that want to push you to make ill-considered decisions. Let's take a closer look at the top Dark Patterns favorites:

Activity notifications

“This shoe was just bought again! “Did he really do that? Activity notifications are often artificially generated information about a purchase, booking, or activity that has just taken place. This creates artificial pressure through the feeling of scarcity.

Repeated disturbance

You're scrolling across a website and suddenly a pop-up pops up advertising a newsletter. You close it and after a few seconds, it pops up again. And again and again and again. This pattern is not considered dangerous, but it is annoying!

Roach Motel and enforced continuity

These two dark patterns are often combined. With the so-called Roach Motel (“Schaben Motel”), it is super easy to create an account or take out a trial subscription.

However, if you want to delete the account or cancel the subscription, it will be particularly difficult for you. To do that, you have to send an email, send a letter, or call directly. The main thing is complex in order to overcome as big a hurdle as possible.

preselection

In this pattern, a product is presented with two options, one of which is pre-selected. However, this option is not necessarily beneficial for you. A great example is the “Savings Subscription” feature.

Instead of just selling a single product, two options are offered here. The individual product and the “savings subscription”. The savings subscription is sometimes set as a pre-selection so that a subscription is concluded when you click on “add to shopping cart”. And now the deodorant comes monthly instead of just once.

Hidden information

In this pattern, important information and options are hidden or presented in such a way that they are barely noticeable. To see the information, you first have to click somewhere, look very closely or actively search for it.

Every newsletter email must allow you to unsubscribe. But just because you have to have the option, you don't have to make it visible right away! So the “unsubscribe” link is simply made invisible or almost invisible in the email.

Confirmshaming

With Confirmshaming, you should be ashamed if you choose an option that is not in the interests of the company.

For example, if you want to unsubscribe from a newsletter, you must first click on “No, I don't want to save anymore.” These types of texts range from “No, I don't want any offers” to “I don't want to support a good cause.”

Artificial scarcity

Only 2 pieces left! Only 4 hours until the offer expires! Artificial scarcity is being used to stimulate purchases. This can occur in a variety of ways:

• Shortage of time
• Shortage of quantities
• Shortage of access

We make decisions faster under pressure. The decision is then often made automatically only on the basis of the shortage. Nobody wants to miss out on a great deal after all.

conclusion

Companies have always tried to manipulate us. The difference from the past is that our world and thus also the possibilities of manipulation have become more complex, faster and much more difficult to control.

Smart homes and voice assistants could give dark patterns new opportunities. The development of artificial intelligence could also make dark patterns even more individual, inconspicuous and suitable for mass use. And augmented reality will provide companies with even more data to integrate dark patterns into reality.

The challenge is that we, as customers, users and also as designers, must protect ourselves against dark patterns.

We must not be blinded by tempting offers and not just act on our gut feeling online. Because Dark Patterns are never about our advantage, but always about the advantage of the company.

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Roach Motel and Forced Continuity

These two dark patterns are often combined. With the so-called Roach Motel (“cockroach motel”), it is super easy to create an account or sign up for a trial subscription.

But if you want to delete the account or cancel the subscription, it is made especially hard for you. To do so, you have to send an email, mail a letter or call directly. The main thing is that it is laborious, so as to create as high a hurdle as possible.

Preselection

With this pattern, a product is presented with two options, one of which is preselected. This option, however, is not necessarily to your advantage. A great example is the “subscribe and save” feature.

Instead of just selling a single product, two options are offered here: the single product and the “subscribe and save” plan. The subscription is sometimes set as the preselected option, so that clicking “add to cart” signs you up for a subscription. And just like that, the deodorant arrives every month instead of only once.

Hidden information

With this pattern, important information and options are hidden or displayed in such a way that they are barely noticeable. To see the information, you first have to click somewhere, look very closely or actively search for it.

Every newsletter email must let you unsubscribe. But just because the option has to exist doesn’t mean it has to be visible right away! So the “unsubscribe” link in the email is simply made invisible or almost invisible.

Confirmshaming

With confirmshaming, you are supposed to feel ashamed if you choose an option that is not in the company’s interest.

If you want to unsubscribe from a newsletter, for example, you first have to click “No, I don’t want to save any more money.” Texts of this kind range from “No, I don’t want any offers” to “I don’t want to support a good cause.”

Artificial scarcity

Only 2 left in stock! Only 4 hours until the offer ends! Artificial scarcity is used to encourage purchases. It can take many different forms:

• Time-based scarcity
• Quantity-based scarcity
• Restricting access

Under pressure, we decide faster. The decision is then often made quite automatically, based solely on the scarcity. After all, nobody wants to miss out on a great offer.

Conclusion

Companies have always tried to manipulate us. The difference from the past is that our world – and with it the possibilities for manipulation – has become more complex, faster and much harder to control.

Smart homes and voice assistants could open up new possibilities for dark patterns. The further development of artificial intelligence could also make dark patterns even more personalized, less conspicuous and better suited to mass use. And augmented reality will give companies even more data to integrate dark patterns into the real world as well.

The challenge is that, as customers, users and also designers, we have to protect ourselves against dark patterns.

We must not let tempting offers dazzle us, and we must not act online on gut feeling alone. Because dark patterns are never about our advantage, but always about the company’s advantage.

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