Hi there, it's me, Karen, again. Earlier we learned how implicit bias can affect your role as a UX designer. Because biases are often unconscious, they can sometimes lead designers to unintentionally create experiences that exclude, belittle or mislead users. But misleading design isn't always unintentional or the result of bias, designers and the teams they work on can be intentionally deceptive. They do this to create experiences that encourage users to buy or use a product. Deceptive patterns are UX methods that trick users into doing or buying something they wouldn't otherwise have done or bought. These can include a range of visual, interactive, audio, or motion elements added to e-commerce sites, ads, and other marketing content. One important note; we've chosen to use the phrase deceptive patterns instead of the industry-standard term, dark patterns. We consider the use of the word dark problematic when referring to something that's bad. You can find out more about this concept in the course readings. Deceptive patterns were first identified by UX specialists, Harry Brignull in 2010. The use of deceptive patterns has only increased since it was first called out. In this video, you'll learn about some of the common types of deceptive patterns used in design and how to identify them. But before we get started, let's make one thing clear. Deceptive patterns are ethically wrong and not a good business practice. Once users notice that they're being purposely deceived, they can lose respect and trust for a company's brand. They might even publicly complain and take their business elsewhere. The list of deceptive patterns we're about to discuss doesn't include every possible deceptive pattern out there. But it's a great starting point for you to understand how common deceptive patterns are. The first deceptive pattern we'll cover is called forced continuity. Forced continuity is the practice of charging a user for membership without a warning or a reminder. For example, you sign up for a seven-day free trial of a streaming service, and then notice that your credit card was charged on Day 7, but you weren't emailed or notified that your free trial was coming to an end. That's forced continuity. Next, is a pattern called sneak into basket. Have you gone to purchase something online, but when you got to the checkout page, extra things had been added to your cart? Maybe you were making a hotel reservation and trip insurance was added, or you are purchasing a new phone and an extended warranty was added to your cart. With the sneak into basket pattern, a user has to remove an item from their cart if they don't want to buy it, which is an extra step that could be easily missed. Another deceptive pattern is hidden costs. Hidden costs is similar to sneak into basket, except there are extra charges in your cart instead of extra products. For example, a website might advertise free shipping, but then charge you for handling. Or you might be booking movie tickets online, but when you reach the final checkout page, there are suddenly online booking fees. These hidden costs can really frustrate users and can even make them choose to no longer purchase a product. Another deceptive pattern you should be aware of is confirmshaming, which is when users are made to feel guilty when they opt out of something. For example, many websites have pop-ups that ask for your email address to subscribe to their newsletter or get a discount code. Instead of including straightforward options like yes, sign me up and, no thanks, with confirmshaming, the opt-out option might be something like no, I like paying full price or no, I don't care about the environment enough to subscribe to this newsletter. Confirmshaming makes users feel bad and guilts them into taking an action. Next, let's discuss the deceptive pattern of urgency. Have you ever opened an email promoting a sale that's only happening for a few hours, or visited a website that offers a limited-time deal of the day. These are examples of the deceptive pattern of urgency. They convince you that you need to purchase an item before you run out of time or miss today's amazing price. The final deceptive pattern we'll cover is scarcity. In this pattern, a website makes you very aware of the limited number of items in stock. Have you ever been browsing items in an online store, and notice a line that reads, 26 people have this lamp in their cart or hurry only one more box of cereal like this left. If you're made to feel like an item will be gone if you don't purchase it immediately, that's the scarcity pattern at work. This injustice scarcity of the product is intended to manipulate you and the numbers are often fake. That's all the deceptive patterns we'll cover in this video. You can learn more about these and other deceptive patterns in the course reading. Now that you can identify some common deceptive patterns, let's consider why they're used. You might have guessed the primary reason, money. Using deceptive patterns to trick people into using a product, subscribing to a service, or sharing personal information is an easy way for companies to earn more cash. But these practices are unethical. You've learned a lot so far about empathizing with users. Well, empathizing with users is about understanding their product needs and solving their problems. Deceptive patterns do the opposite of that. They create a bad user experience. As a UX designer, you might feel pressured to use these unethical practices. But always remember, good UX benefits both the user and the business, not one or the other. Coming up, we'll discuss the effects of deceptive patterns. We'll also cover how you, as a UX designer can avoid using deceptive patterns in your work. See you there.
