How does Darth Vaderlike his toast?

A little on the dark side.

Designing with the Dark Side

First, let’s make a distinction:

Stupidity Fraud Evil

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.)

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.

Dark Side - Evil design

● Purposefully misleading

● Emotionally manipulative

● Disconnects actions from outcome

● Discourages critical thinking

●

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

Reducing friction the Amazon way

Fogg Behavior Model B.J. Fogg, 2007 behaviormodel.org

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Line of action

Triggers succeed

Triggers fail

Fogg Behavior Model B.J. Fogg, 2007 behaviormodel.org

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Fogg Behavior Model B.J. Fogg, 2007 behaviormodel.org

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Persuasive Design

Evil (persuasive) design

● Purposefully misleading

● Emotionally manipulative

● Disconnects actions from outcome

● Discourages critical thinking

●

Purposefully misleading: Cart Slamming (Active.com)

Purposefully misleading: Cart Slamming (Ticketmaster)

Purposefully misleading: Cart Slamming (Ticketmaster)

Purposefully misleading: False Options (Microsoft)

Purposefully misleading: False Options (Microsoft)

Purposefully misleading: Packaging design (General Mills)

Of the first 6 ingredients, 4 are just sugar.

Purposefully misleading: Unsubscribe 3-card monty (Amazon)

Purposefully misleading: Unsubscribe 3-card monty (Amazon)

Emotionally manipulative

● Create a problem(the more personal the better)

● Position your product as the solution

Emotionally manipulative

● Scarcity & loss aversion

● Overestimation of perceived risks

Emotionally manipulative

● Give a (meaningless) gift ● Create a sense of urgency● Humanize with a

conversational tone

Emotionally manipulative

● Discounted price ● Reassurance ● Urgency● Flattery● Visualization● Social Proof

Disconnect actions from outcome

● “Winning” vs buying (ebay)● Create a “token” economy● Focus on “rewards”● Incentivize investment● Leverage “sunk cost”

Disconnect actions from outcome

● Buy credits or redeem points● Gift cards and “breakage”

(unredeemed prepaid items)

● Refill your Starbucks card?

Disconnect actions from outcome

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

Discouraging critical thinking

● The Paradox of Choice(fewer options increase satisfaction)

● Maximizers vs. Satisficers

● Customers with a “sunk cost” create their own justifications

Discouraging critical thinking:The Paradox of Choice

Barry Schwartz, Social Psychologist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM

Sati

sfac

tion

Number of options

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”

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

Maximizers want to rule the galaxy

Mudhole? My home this is! - Satisficers

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/

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

2 goats, 1 car.

1 2 3

1 2 3

You pick door #1

1 2 3

You pick door #1 Host reveals a goat

1 2 3

You pick door #1 Host reveals a goat

Want to switch your door?

1 2 3

1/3 Chance 2/3 Chance

1 2 3

1/3 Chance 2/3 Chance

1 2 3

Changing your vote doubles your oddshttp://www.mathwarehouse.com/monty-hall-simulation-online/ https://www.khanacademy.org/computer-programming/monty-hall-simulation/1121357698

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.”

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

Further costs are self-justifying*

*A few personal examples :)

Designing “Sunk Cost” experiences

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)

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

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

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

— Space Kermit

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

Steve Noone stevenoone@gmail.comlinkedin.com/in/stevenoone

Thank You!