There’s not denying the amount of competition in the Lakeland website design industry. With millions on website floating around the Internet today, it has become a race to be the website of choice for the high number of online users today. While this is understandable, it has cultivated a certain number of website owners who employ certain methods to get more users to click on their websites and generate more traffic. These methods are what we call dark patterns in web design.

These methods take advantage of the fact that most users skim content rather than read it outright, and causes them to unwittingly buy something or give them the conversions that they want.While these methods are not illegal, they’re not exactly ethical either. Because plenty of websites employ this method, it makes it hard for users to trust websites nowadays.

In addition to this, because they have become rather common, some new website owners think that it’s okay to include these patterns in their web designs, adding to the number of websites that use these methods online. It’s important that you avoid using these methods as these take away from the online browsing experience, which will cause your users to lose trust in you.

Clickbait

Clickbait is one of the most common forms of dark patterns that you can observe on the Internet today. These are easily identified by their sensationalist titles that are designed to draw users’ attention and compel them to click on it. These titles look like these: “Lose 10 Pounds in 2 Days With One Simple Step!” Once users are directed to these sites, they usually have to click through multiple pages to get the answer to the question, and more often than not, the answer doesn’t exist, or an answer that doesn’t answer the original question. These are designed to bring as many clicks to the website and generate more traffic.

Roach motels

These are designed to make it very easy for you to subscribe to something, but very difficult to unsubscribe from. For example, a Lakeland website design might trick you into signing up for a newsletter or subscription that you have to pay for and never wanted in the first place. They put it in with your order that tricks you into purchasing it, and when you end up buying it, you have to go through hoops of fire just to opt out. Sometimes it isn’t as easy as unsubscribing online, you might have to call a representative, or main an unsubscription form just to cancel your subscription.

Confirm shaming

This is a very common sight in Lakeland website design, which is why you see plenty of websites that utilize it. At first glance, it seems like a bit of light-hearted web copy, but it actually shames the user into signing up for their service. For example, you’re browsing a recipe site, and a pop-up shows stating that you have the option to sign up for daily recipes right in your mail. You’re presented with two choices: “Sign me up, food is great!” and, “Nope, I don’t like awesome food recipes”. As you can see, it shames the user if you don’t choose the positive choice.