

How Dark Patterns can improve your conversion rates but damage your brand. - harrybr
http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2010/12/17/dark-patterns-an-overview-for-brand-owners/

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swombat
Good point, though I would argue (and have argued here:
[http://swombat.com/2010/12/19/dark-patterns-good-for-
busines...](http://swombat.com/2010/12/19/dark-patterns-good-for-business))
that in some business sectors, like, for example, the ultra-competitive
registrar market, dark patterns are a necessity. If you don't use them you
will go bankrupt. So before you discard dark patterns, make sure you're in a
business that can afford to do so.

Also, things that were considered dark patterns in other types of businesses
(e.g. supermarkets), like laying out the shop in a way that will encourage you
to buy more stuff, are now considered standard business practice. Will that
happen to these patterns too?

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JoachimSchipper
I'd argue that if you can't make money without tricking people, you shouldn't
be in that particular branch of business.

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swombat
You can argue that all you want, but Ryanair, which epitomises the application
of dark patterns in every aspect of its operations, is the largest or second-
largest carrier in the world on a number of metrics (see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair>).

If you want to tell them they shouldn't be in the airline business, sure, but
I'm not quite sure what your argument is then.

~~~
gommm
And I as a customer am happy to have Ryanair, Airasia and other low cost
carriers like those. Even if they do use dark patterns, they provide me with
possibilities I didn't have before they appeared...

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j2d2j2d2
I have never been a customer of Ryanair. How difficult is it to navigate their
dark patterns?

Can I be a customer without getting entangled?

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gommm
It's not very difficult, you just have to be careful when filling the forms,
they are a bit confusing...

For example to refuse the travel insurance policy you must choose that you
don't want it in the country selection box...

Personally while I find it irritating, I find godaddy much worse and since
unlike Ryanair they have cheap competitors without dark pattern I avoid them.

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hugh3
Uh, can anyone explain what Dark Patterns are?

It's not explained on the page, and while it may be explained if you want to
sit through the slideshow I'd rather know what it's about before I start
listening to some Englishman drone on about it.

~~~
harrybr
Haha, fair point! I'm the droning Englishman giving the presentation. If you'd
rather read than listen, check out the <http://darkpatterns.org> \- it's a
public wiki that I curate. Here's the definition of Dark Patterns from the
site:

"Dark Patterns are User Interfaces that are designed to trick people. Normally
when you think of bad design', you think of laziness or mistakes. These are
known as design anti-patterns. Dark Patterns are different – they are not
mistakes, they are carefully crafted with a solid understanding of human
psychology, and they do not have the user’s interests in mind."

~~~
hugh3
Ah, thanks for the explanation.

(And I apologise for the "droning" remark, I actually only listened to the
first half sentence of what you had to say -- I wasn't expecting to hear a
voice when I clicked on the "next slide" button -- so I'm not qualified to
judge your speaking voice...)

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nowarninglabel
That was a very good presentation, reminds me to continue to work more towards
allowing user interaction without requiring registration.

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amorphid
Use of dark patterns is lazy and unsustainable.

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lwhi
TL:DR - Don't trick your users.

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gojomo
I love the way Google Autocomplete serves as a window into the raw sentiments
of the masses.

