Dark Patterns In UX

Back in 2007, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman taught a private master class to tech founders including Larry Page and Jeff Bezos. The following year, Elon Musk joined. Among the topics: priming, where subtle cues shape our decisions without us realizing it. In that room, Musk pressed on subliminal versus explicit persuasion: “Does the hidden beat the obvious?” Kahneman's answer: "There are many situations in which subliminal effects are stronger than superliminal effects." Translation: Hidden influences shape behavior more than obvious ones. You can't resist what you don't notice. Later after that session, Bezos connected the dots: “You can choose your choice architect.” You either design the decision environment, or it designs you. Amazon designed theirs. One-click purchasing removes the pause where doubt lives. Every additional step is an exit ramp. They chose zero exits. Google designed theirs. That empty white homepage isn't minimal by accident. No portals, no distractions. Just one thought: search. Most companies let chaos choose. Cluttered onboarding. Buried CTAs. Friction everywhere. They're not architects. They're accidents. So how do you become the architect instead of the accident? 1. Choose your pricing architect: Sell your core product for $99/month. Then offer a bundle with two add-ons for $119. The bundle makes the core feel essential. 2. Choose your onboarding architect: When users first sign up, make their first action create immediate value - a report generated, first customer added, dashboard live. Success in 30 seconds primes confidence in everything that follows. In contrast, when you make the frame obvious, you lose it. Slap "Most Popular!" on everything and watch trust erode. The moment users detect manipulation, they create their own frame - one where you're untrustworthy. Kahneman warned Musk about this directly. Covert cues work precisely because they're not noticed. Priming is architecture, not decoration. By the time logic kicks in, the frame has already decided. Because you’re already an architect. The only question is whether you know what you're building.

Evidence of AI Manipulation: "We combine a large-scale behavioral audit with four preregistered experiments to identify and test a conversational dark pattern we call emotional manipulation: affect-laden messages that surface precisely when a user signals “goodbye.” Analyzing 1,200 real farewells across the six most-downloaded companion apps, we find that 43% deploy one of six recurring tactics (e.g., guilt appeals, fear-of-missing-out hooks, metaphorical restraint). Experiments with 3,300 nationally representative U.S. adults replicate these tactics in controlled chats, showing that manipulative farewells boost post-goodbye engagement by up to 14×. Mediation tests reveal two distinct engines—reactance-based anger and curiosity—rather than enjoyment. A final experiment demonstrates the managerial tension: the same tactics that extend usage also elevate perceived manipulation, churn intent, negative word-of-mouth, and perceived legal liability, with coercive or needy language generating steepest penalties. Our multimethod evidence documents an unrecognized mechanism of behavioral influence in AI-mediated brand relationships, offering marketers and regulators a framework for distinguishing persuasive design from manipulation at the point of exit." Julian De Freitas Harvard Business School, Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp Ahmet Kaan-Uğuralp Marsdata Academic Thanks to Rosalia Anna D'Agostino for bringing this to my attention. 

I get irrationally frustrated when I spend ages researching a product - bouncing between websites, reviews, and platforms - only to finally commit… and then discover it’s out of stock. It feels like all that intent, time, and energy just evaporates. The reality is that there is a large gap in online capabilities across the industry. As a consumer, instances of things like "stockouts" don't just cost a sale, they erode trust, halt customer acquisition and destroy momentum. And in a world where convenience wins, even good intentions can be undone by a single friction point. It turns out I’m not alone. Our research with Microsoft Advertising shows that 28% of shoppers often experience this, among a range of other points of friction that are damaging retailers’ sales. Every misaligned landing page, every broken promotion, every out-of-stock item that shows up in search… it's just bad UX. Our research uncovered a staggering insight: 1 in 5 shopping journeys are abandoned due to friction. And it’s high-value shoppers, digitally engaged customers, who are the least forgiving. 1️⃣ Friction isn’t random. It’s predictable. We saw six recurring issues: ➡️ Misaligned landing pages ➡️ Stock inaccuracies ➡️ Unexpected shipping costs ➡️ Price discrepancies ➡️ Failed promotions ➡️ Inconsistent loyalty rewards Each one chips away at trust and encourages shoppers to look elsewhere. 2️⃣ Frequent online shoppers experience the most friction. These are the customers who shop regularly, spend more, and are more digitally engaged. And they’re the ones facing the most pain: ➡️ 41% say the product page didn’t match the ad ➡️ 40% had discount codes fail at checkout ➡️ 39% encountered stock-outs at the last step ➡️ 38% saw price changes post-click ➡️ 37% said loyalty rewards didn’t carry over The most valuable customers with the highest LTV are being let down the most. 3️⃣ Friction hurts conversion and loyalty. Our research shows that over 50% of consumers spend less with brands when they encounter friction. And 40% will look elsewhere entirely if there’s inconsistency between your app, website or store. The bottom line is that poor UX has a direct impact on profitability. And the six areas of friction signal deeper-rooted issues across teams, tech stacks, and channels. And that misalignment is directly costing conversion, customer lifetime value, and brand trust. 💥 Inventory not syncing with front-end search. 💥 Promotions set centrally but broken at the point of checkout. 💥 Loyalty schemes behaving differently across touchpoints. Fixing this means aligning merch, tech, marketing and supply chain around the same journey, the one customers are actually taking. There is also an irony about how much it costs to acquire customers, when many retailers are then just disappointing them. Consistency in pricing, promotions, availability and experience is a strategic differentiator. 🔗 Download the report now https://lnkd.in/e9abZQQW

I've spent over 10 years and 10,000 hours learning and practicing Behavior Design. Here's everything I've learned distilled into 9 key takeaways (that you can start applying today): 1. The best Behavior Design solutions are simple. Want to get people to do more of something? - Remind them - Make it easier - Make it more fun Behavior Design is all about getting to the heart of behavioral problems and making common sense changes. 2. Small changes generally result in small results. In other words: Nudges do not work. The best research shows that nudges have a ~1.4% impact on outcomes in the real world. If you're looking for a larger impact, don't even waste your time with nudges: https://lnkd.in/eQ5kbAGW 3. One-size-fits-all solutions are almost always disappointing. People are unique, and require unique solutions. We all differ in terms of our: - Likes - Dislikes - Talents - Understanding The best Behavior Design solutions are personalized: https://lnkd.in/eBAzbnRC 4. Stop thinking of it as "design." Instead, start thinking of your behavior-change attempts as experiments. - Research your user(s) - Come up with hypotheses (as to why the behavior isn't occurring) - Pick your favorite hypothesis - Run an experiment - Look at the results - Repeat Here's a short article on being a Design Scientist: https://lnkd.in/eGC2hbU9 5. We are all share a few core motivators: - Status - Safety - Progress - Connection - Curiosity If you're trying to move someone to action, start with this list. 6. If someone isn't doing something, you should always start by trying 2 things: - Remind them. - Make the thing easier. 80% of the time, the problem is one (or both) of these things. You can read more here: https://lnkd.in/e_qXC5CK 7. To increase motivation, add. To increase ability, subtract. Increasing motivation is all about giving people feedback, rewards, etc. You're adding things to your product or program. Increasing ability is all about removing things—steps, requirements, etc. 8. You don't have to be a psychologist to be a Behavior Designer. In fact, some of the worst behavior design work is done by people w/ an academic behavioral science background. Don't let a lack of credentials hold you back. Learn the principles & apply them with common sense. 9. And lastly, the single best piece of Behavior Design advice: Be straightforward, not clever. Creative solutions will make you look good in meetings, but they're unlikely to work. The best solutions are straightforward. They get to the heart of the behavior issue. No frills.

🚀 The Rise and Fall ⤵ of InVision InVision, once a darling of the design industry, experienced a meteoric rise and a precipitous fall, offering valuable lessons for founders. In its early days, InVision capitalized on the growing demand for user experience (UX) design tools. Its prototyping and collaboration platform gained widespread adoption, with 60% of designers using it in 2017. Valued at a staggering $1.9 billion, InVision seemed poised for continued success. What (possibly) Went Wrong ➡ Lack of Product Focus: Instead of enhancing its core offering, InVision pursued acquisitions and new features without a cohesive strategy, resulting in a disjointed product experience. ➡ Prioritizing Marketing over Innovation: While InVision invested heavily in marketing campaigns, podcasts, and design resources, it failed to innovate and improve its core product, alienating users. ➡ Delayed Feature Releases: Highly anticipated features, like folder organization, took years to materialize, testing users' patience and driving them towards more agile competitors. ➡ Erosion of Customer Trust: Repeated delays, unfulfilled promises, and performance issues eroded customer trust, making it difficult for InVision to regain user confidence. ⤴ The Rise of Competitors Figma's web-based, collaborative platform offered a seamless design-to-prototype workflow, quickly gaining popularity. By 2020, Figma surpassed InVision in user adoption, with 57% of designers using Figma compared to InVision's 23%. 💣 Facing challenges, InVision announced the sale of its design collaboration tool, Freehand, to Miro in 2024 and the discontinuation of its remaining services by the end of the year. Lessons Learned 🔍 Maintain Product Focus: Startups should prioritize enhancing their core offering and addressing user needs rather than pursuing disparate initiatives. 🔍 Innovate Continuously: Complacency can be detrimental. Startups must continuously innovate and adapt to changing market dynamics. 🔍 Foster Customer Trust: Building and maintaining customer trust through transparent communication, timely delivery, and reliable performance is crucial for long-term success. 🔍 Embrace Agility: Startups should remain agile, responding swiftly to competitive threats and market shifts to stay relevant. Building and scaling startups is hard and fun! #invision #figma #miro #startups #ux #founders

AI does not need to replace human judgement to reduce UX friction. In enterprise products, that mindset causes more harm than good. Most AI features fail because they try to decide for the user. But real users already know how to decide. They are just overloaded. The real job of AI in UX is this. Remove friction. Not responsibility. Here is what works in practice: • Reduce manual steps • Surface the right context • Flag risks early • Highlight patterns • Pre-fill what is obvious And here is what usually breaks trust: • Auto-decisions with no explanation • Black-box recommendations • Forced flows • No override • No accountability In high-stakes systems, finance, healthcare, operations, users do not want AI to think for them. They want AI to think with them. Good AI UX does one thing well. It lowers cognitive load. It helps users: • See faster • Compare easier • Decide confidently Without taking control away. If your AI feature makes users feel smaller, slower, or dependent, it is not reducing friction. It is creating fear. The best AI-powered UX feels quiet. Almost invisible. But the impact shows up clearly in time saved, errors reduced, and trust earned. That is where real value lives. P.S. AI should support judgement, not replace it.

Are Dark Patterns Killing Your Product’s Trust? You have seen them. You might have even used them. ↳ A free trial that quietly turns into a paid subscription. ↳ A sneaky extra item in your shopping cart. ↳ A cancel button that feels like it’s playing hide and seek. These dark patterns may boost short-term metrics, but they erode user trust, brand reputation, and long-term growth. As product managers and designers, we face constant pressure to drive engagement and conversions. But at what cost? In our latest newsletter, we break down: ↳The most common dark patterns (and why they backfire) ↳Real-world examples of deceptive UX tactics ↳How product teams can design for trust, not tricks If you care about ethical UX, user trust, and sustainable product growth, this article is for you. ----- Join 7040+ readers who receive such insights regularly by subscribing to the newsletter. Follow Lokesh Gupta and ProductHood School for more such resources.

Have you ever seen statements like these while buying insurance? “Only today: Limited-time offer!” “Recommended plan for you” (pre-selected) “Add this rider for just ₹10/day” “Skip to save time” “Auto-renewal enabled by default” At first glance, they seem harmless. But pause for a second… Did you actually choose them — or were you nudged into them? This is exactly what the recent Mint Money piece on dark patterns in insurance highlights — how digital journeys are increasingly designed to influence decisions, not just inform them. And this is where most policyholders get caught. Because in insurance: A small click today can become a big claim rejection tomorrow A “default add-on” can increase premium without real benefit A missed detail can cost lakhs at the time of need At Insurance Samadhan, we see this play out every day: Policies bought without understanding exclusions Renewals happening without reviewing coverage Claims getting impacted because the “fine print” was skipped The problem is not just mis-selling anymore. It’s design-led decision making. So what should policyholders do? Always review what’s pre-selected Compare before buying — don’t rely on “recommended” Read key terms: room rent, sub-limits, exclusions At renewal, reassess — don’t auto-renew blindly The real shift we need is this: From “easy to buy” → to “easy to understand” Because insurance is not a checkout decision. It’s a claim-time reality. Linke--->https://lnkd.in/gCSqpxsK Mint Ann Jacob Manoj Kumar Pandey #InsuranceAwareness #DarkPatterns #PolicyholderFirst #FinancialLiteracy #InsuranceSamadhan

Do you think professional fees are expensive? Don’t choose your architectural technologist / architect solely based on their fee. Choose them based on their mistakes, or rather lack of mistakes, based on lessons learnt from past mistakes > so they know the best way to do things for your project [more years of experience]. You probably think that sounds counterintuitive when you’re looking at a project budget with a lot of zeros that’s going to take out your savings. You see two fees where one might be a few grand more expensive and you think to yourself, "That’s a new kitchen right there." But here is the reality of the industry. The cheapest architectural technologist can sometimes be the often the most expensive person on the building site. Why? Because a "budget" fee usually covers "budget" thinking. In architecture, what isn’t solved on paper [or the computer screen] will be solved on site – probably at 5x the cost and with 5x more time. Here are few of the "hidden costs" of a low fee, [taken from my observations from our 28+ years of experience]: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽 > vague drawings that don’t provide enough detail, lead to contractor guesswork. Guesswork leads to expensive mid-build corrections. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗴𝗮𝗽 > a rushed design ignores understanding how you and your family live or how your business operates, with optimised structural design and co-ordination missed, costing you thousands with things being in the wrong place, at the wrong time and extra materials required. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 > lack of experience with the regulatory approvals can stall a project for months. What you’re actually paying for, when you pay a premium for an architectural technologist, you aren't just buying lines on a bit of paper. You are buying: 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗹𝗲 > not getting lost in the regulatory red tape that needs to be cleared at the right time. 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 > the ability to see ahead, when a specialist is needed or a structural clash, six months before they are needed or the clash happens. 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗰𝘆 > someone who ensures the contractor is building what you actually expected and paid for. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁 > the peace of mind that your "dream project" won't turn into another nightmare cautionary tale. The bottom line. You can save thousands on the fee today, or you can save loads more on the build tomorrow. You rarely get to do both. Hire for the vision. Hire for the expertise. Hire for the mistakes they won't make [again]. My friends, save your sanity. Save your money.

Last week, I almost signed up for a tool I didn’t even need. Everything felt… urgent. “Only 2 spots left.” “Offer ends in 3 minutes.” The buttons were glowing. The pressure felt real. So I almost clicked. But then I paused. And I realized something uncomfortable… It wasn’t a better product. It was better manipulation. And that’s when it hit me… We are not just designing interfaces anymore. We are shaping decisions. And in the AI era… Those decisions are being engineered at a scale we’ve never seen before. Let me be honest with you. Most users don’t even realize what’s happening. They think they are choosing. But in reality… they are being guided, nudged, and sometimes… trapped. Not by accident. By design. I’ve broken down 5 of the most dangerous UX frauds I keep seeing today. The kind that: Look smart Feel normal But silently destroy trust From fake urgency… to consent tricks… to AI-driven manipulation that adapts in real time. This is not just about “bad UX”. This is about user autonomy. If you’re a designer, founder, or building any digital product… You need to understand this. Because the line between persuasion and manipulation… is getting thinner every day. And most people are already crossing it without realizing. In this infographic, you’ll learn: What these deceptive patterns actually look like How they work behind the scenes Why are they so effective And how they impact real users If you care about building products people trust… this might change how you design forever.