Optimizing engagement and conversions through dark design patterns. Includes goats, smurfberries, and a 55-gallon drum of lube.

1. How does Darth Vader
like his toast?

2. A little on the dark side.

3. Designing with the Dark Side

4. First, let’s make a distinction:
Stupidity Fraud Evil

5. Stupid Design
● Hard to follow (anti-patterns)
● Unclear what action is expected
● Sloppy or lazy (but with no ill intent)
● Simply broken (errors, missing steps, etc.)

6. Actual Fraud (illegal-ish*)
● Outright lying about product or features
● Ponzi or confidence schemes
● Deliberately misleading testimonials
● Deceptive terms of purchase
*Must prove: False statement, knowledge, intent, reliance, and injury.

7. Dark Side - Evil design
● Purposefully misleading
● Emotionally manipulative
● Disconnects actions from outcome
● Discourages critical thinking

8. Reducing friction is not evil
● Clear call to action on each page
● Simple, digestible steps
● Auto-fill forms & offer to save data
● Move “account creation” to the end
● Give an “out” that still gets you something

9. Reducing friction the Amazon way

10. Fogg Behavior Model B.J. Fogg, 2007 behaviormodel.org
Hard Easy<- Ability ->
HighLow<-Motivation->
Line of action
Triggers succeed
Triggers fail

11. Fogg Behavior Model B.J. Fogg, 2007 behaviormodel.org
Hard Easy<- Ability ->
HighLow<-Motivation->
Interaction Design
Marketing/Advertising

12. Fogg Behavior Model B.J. Fogg, 2007 behaviormodel.org
Hard Easy<- Ability ->
HighLow<-Motivation-> Persuasive Design

13. Evil (persuasive) design
● Purposefully misleading
● Emotionally manipulative
● Disconnects actions from outcome
● Discourages critical thinking

14. Purposefully misleading:
Cart Slamming (Active.com)

15. Purposefully misleading:
Cart Slamming (Ticketmaster)

16. Purposefully misleading:
Cart Slamming (Ticketmaster)

17. Purposefully misleading:
False Options (Microsoft)

18. Purposefully misleading:
False Options (Microsoft)

19. Purposefully misleading:
Packaging design (General Mills)
Of the first 6 ingredients, 4 are just sugar.

20. Purposefully misleading:
Unsubscribe 3-card monty (Amazon)

21. Purposefully misleading:
Unsubscribe 3-card monty (Amazon)

22. Emotionally
manipulative
● Create a problem
(the more personal the better)
● Position your product as
the solution

23. Emotionally
manipulative
● Scarcity & loss aversion
● Overestimation of
perceived risks

24. Emotionally
manipulative
● Give a (meaningless) gift
● Create a sense of urgency
● Humanize with a
conversational tone

25. Emotionally
manipulative
● Discounted price
● Reassurance
● Urgency
● Flattery
● Visualization
● Social Proof

26. Disconnect actions
from outcome
● “Winning” vs buying (ebay)
● Create a “token” economy
● Focus on “rewards”
● Incentivize investment
● Leverage “sunk cost”

27. Disconnect actions
from outcome
● Buy credits or redeem points
● Gift cards and “breakage”
(unredeemed prepaid items)
● Refill your Starbucks card?

28. Disconnect actions
from outcome
● Make users feel special
● Anchor on the “reward”
● Reinforce positive feelings
● I too, am a sucker.

29. Discouraging
critical thinking
● The Paradox of Choice
(fewer options increase satisfaction)
● Maximizers vs. Satisficers
● Customers with a “sunk
cost” create their own
justifications

30. Discouraging critical thinking:
The Paradox of Choice
Barry Schwartz, Social Psychologist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM
Satisfaction
Number of options

31. Discouraging critical thinking:
The Paradox of Choice
● Lower confidence with
30 choices vs. 6
● More regretful and
dissatisfied with choice
● More likely to defer to
“expert opinion”

32. Discouraging critical thinking:
Maximizers
● Exhaustively seek the best
● Second-guess decisions &
compare with others
● Expend much more time
and energy
● Unhappier with outcomes
Satisficers
● Accept “good enough”
● Don’t obsess about other
options
● Quickly move on after
decisions
● Happier with outcomes

33. Maximizers want to rule the galaxy

34. Mudhole? My home this is! - Satisficers

35. Overall maximizers were
less satisfied, unhappier, &
more stressed — despite the
fact that they ended up with
an average of $7,430 more in
salary than the satisficers.
Sheena Iyengar, Social Psychologist
http://blog.idonethis.com/satisficing/

36. Getting them to commit:
Maximizers
● Money-back guarantee
● Testimonials & reviews
● Clear return policy
● Coupon or promo code
Satisficers
● Clear “default choice”
● List popular options first
● Checklist of features
● Social sharing post
conversion

37. 2 goats, 1 car.
1 2 3

38. 1 2 3
You pick door #1

39. 1 2 3
You pick door #1 Host reveals a goat

40. 1 2 3
You pick door #1 Host reveals a goat
Want to switch your door?

41. 1 2 3
1/3 Chance 2/3 Chance

42. 1 2 3
1/3 Chance 2/3 Chance

43. 1 2 3
Changing your vote doubles your odds
http://www.mathwarehouse.com/monty-hall-simulation-online/
https://www.khanacademy.org/computer-programming/monty-hall-simulation/1121357698

44. Discouraging critical thinking:
Monty Hall & the “Sunk Cost Fallacy”
● Mythbusters tested 20 people, all 20 kept “their” door
(Episode 177, Wheel of Mythfortune)
● Once we’re emotionally or financially invested in
something, it’s hard to reverse course
● We justify our actions in terms of loss-aversion
“I’d feel worse if I changed my mind and was wrong.”

45. Well, we’ve already got these plans...

46. Further costs are self-justifying*
*A few personal examples :)

47. Designing “Sunk Cost” experiences

48. Farmville: 84 million dissatisfied users
● “Series of mindless chores… in an atmosphere of
negativity, requiring unprecedented commitment…
and encouraging users to exploit their friends.”
- Game Developer Magazine
● “One of the 50 worst inventions” - Time Magazine
● Zynga’ revenues were over $1 Billion that year (2012)

49. Discouraging critical thinking:
Leveraging “Sunk Cost” & fear of loss
● Make it easy to get started
● Tell people they’ve created something they’ll lose if
they don’t continue
● Require regular interaction to avoid negative
consequences
● Let people pay for more immediate gratification

50. Communicate accomplishment
(even if people haven’t really done very much)
● Complete Profile vs. Create Profile
● Finish Your Order vs. Checkout
● Save & Return Later vs. Log out
● And provide early positive feedback to encourage
feelings of mastery

51. “Choose wisely, you must…
If you choose the quick and easy path — as
Vader did — you will become an agent of evil.”
— Space Kermit

52. Wrapping it up
● It’s our job to understand how to engage, motivate, and
retain paying, satisfied customers
● Over-use of manipulative conversion strategies creates
mistrust and drives people away
● You will be pressured by sales, marketing, product, etc.
to maximize short-term profits
● If you don’t believe your organization is consistently
delivering real value, leave

53. Steve Noone
stevenoone@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/stevenoone
Thank You!