UX Dark Pattern — Hidden Cost
“When the users get to the last step of the checkout process, only to discover some unexpected charges have appeared, e.g. delivery charges, tax, etc.”
This is one of the many dark patterns adopted by some companies in their designs while building experiences to attract more customers. These techniques could be employed intentional or visa versa.
These dark patterns could be beneficial at the initial phase, but do not build customer loyalty or return customers and possibly that could be the intension of the companies in the first place.
This video sheds light on one of such dark pattern — hidden costs identified at cleartrip.com during the flight booking process. The initial research phase starts with a positive feelings (discounts and best price). Overall user trust significantly declines in the last steps of booking process which could result into abandoning the journey with negative feelings.
It is very discomforting for a user to look at constantly changing prices on the portal, as confidence on the brand is lost.
If interested, do have a look at other types of dark patterns and comment below.
Reference:
https://darkpatterns.org/types-of-dark-pattern/hidden-costs
Thank you for reading.
