The concept of "dark pattern", which I translate here as "unfair interface", was described by Harry Brignull from 2010. These are interfaces deliberately designed to lead us to perform an action beneficial to the company (for example, subscribing to a recurring subscription), but disadvantageous for the consumer.
These interfaces, deliberately designed to deceive, are therefore to be distinguished:
A friend told me of having received, in a short period of time, a large number of invitations to join LinkedIn from her friends. Prior to this, LinkedIn had just made a significant, but relatively difficult to perceive, change to its "Do you know them" template. Without warning, LinkedIn started including people who are not yet members of LinkedIn in the suggestions, whereas previously this page was limited to displaying members of LinkedIn.
The wording "Add to Network" does not imply that these people are not registered with LinkedIn and will receive an invitation to join LinkedIn. This tactic is one of the most common. Harry Brignull, the father of the dark pattern concept, called it the "Bait and switch" tactic, which could be translated as "mislead".
LinkedIn's goal is to get members to invite more people to join the site, a goal that could be pursued in a number of ways. However, LinkedIn has chosen to do so in a way that is not very transparent, and this in a likely deliberate way. Here, for example, is one of the many tactics that LinkedIn could have used to persuade its members instead of misleading them.
Exploratory mockup of a more honest alternate UI element.
The interface above clarifies that this contact is not a member of LinkedIn and allows the Internet user to revise the invitation message, as is currently the case when inviting contacts who are already members of LinkedIn. Also, the origin of this suggestion also appears. Obviously, it is likely that this alternative interface would lead to a drop in the number of invitations. However, by offering the possibility to personalize the invitation message, it is not impossible that it can improve the response rate of invitations, therefore ultimately the number of new members in LinkedIn.
As we said, unfair interfaces are in one way or another disadvantageous for the Internet user. Consequences are basically of 3 types:
In many cases, the objective of the unfair interface is to obtain the list of the user's contacts or even to encourage him to subscribe to a newsletter.
For example, the page to download the Axure software seems to suggest that we must provide our email to download the software when this is not the case. To achieve this, it was enough to include an email field, without indicating that this field is optional. Combined with a pre-checked box to subscribe to their newsletter, we imagine that this tactic is very effective.
Unfair tactics certainly yield short-term results; but in the long term, these erode trust. To achieve lasting success, it is better to invest in the creation of content or services with real value, and to persuade the consumer of this value, in particular through persuasive and user-friendly interfaces, i.e. by investing in strategy and web ergonomics.