

Dark UX patterns are bad for your business - ramijames
http://www.letstalkdesign.co/design/dark-ux-patterns-are-bad-for-your-business/

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joeyspn
> Recently I encountered a new service called Cushion […] They are pushing a
> 14-day trial, but halfway through the signup process, they ask for credit
> card details. This is a show-stopper for me, and I’m willing to bet that
> their drop-off rate here is huge. They are throwing money away.

Well, that's _an opinion_... maybe they’re actually converting x2 times
more...

[http://planscope.io/blog/why-im-going-back-to-capturing-
cred...](http://planscope.io/blog/why-im-going-back-to-capturing-credit-cards-
upfront/)

I guess until you A/B test it you never know! Requiring credit card upfront is
not a "Dark Pattern", it's a business decision, and a very effective measure
for abuse prevention (among many other things).

Maybe it doesn't work for all the businesses, but for others (like Amazon with
its Free Tier or the above example) it looks like works wonders!

------
teaneedz
> Be honest with your users and they will respect you, they will buy from you,
> and they will recommend you to their friends and family.

The golden rule for anyone building or selling something.

~~~
ramijames
You would think so, but unfortunately it's really just not that common in the
business world.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
It's not that common because _you can make a lot of easy money by being
dishonest._

I can think of a good few "businesses" that made millions by stiffing their
customers in dark pattern ways.

For example - you can bury the fact that a one-off payment is really a monthly
subscription in the legal T&Cs.

There are online forums devoted to helping dishonest people do this - often by
marketing some craptastic info-product, and then creating a sales funnel that
tries to find the most gullible customers and upsells further subscriptions
and services to them.

Unfortunately dishonesty, greed, and customer exploitation are capitalist
virtues - or at least considered more than excusable if there's profit to be
made.

It's not an individual problem so much as a question of collective ethics.

So don't expect dark patterns to disappear because they're immoral: some
people are just fine with that.

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mat_jack1
I'm astonished that we need to explain that being correct sales people is the
way to build relationships.

As if over the web you could fool human beings and get out without being
noticed.

~~~
ramijames
I have clients who ask for this kind of nonsense every week. I have to explain
it to them again and again that this stuff is not ok.

In my mind, it's an extension of the anonymity principle: if you don't think
someone knows who you are, you're more willing to be an asshole.

~~~
mat_jack1
Yes, crazy. I think that most of the people don't think that are dealing with
humans through computers. They just deal with machines, so they can try to
fool them.

It's also part of the being really rude on the Internet behind the anonimity
that we have.

------
steanne
This is why i don't use stackexchange. The post-as-guest box is secretly a
create-new-account box.

