UX Dark Design Patterns- The Roach Model Pattern
Do not confuse it with Dark Mode.
Dark Patterns are tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to, like buying or signing up for something.
Shady design patterns, unfortunately, are very common. To demonstrate, I’m going to show how Amazon uses a Roach Model Design Pattern to make closing your account as hard as possible.
Amazon.com
Roach Model Pattern
Deleting your Amazon account is the only way to completely erase your purchase history. While Amazon makes it painless to signup, deleting your account is a bit of an Easter egg hunt, but not an enjoyable one.
When you land on Amazon.com and you want to close your account it’s only natural to assume that when you want to close your account you would click on Account.
Once on the Account Details screen, you can click on any link here but none will allow you to close your account. This is a dead-end.
In order to actually close your Amazon account, you need to scroll down all the way to the bottom of the page and under “Let Us Help You” and click “Help”.
This takes you to a Browse Help Topics Screen where you will need to scroll down to the bottom and choose “Need More Help” and then click Contact Us.
This is where the process just gets a bit ridiculous. When you click “Contact Us” you’re now taken to a new page that will force you to either have an Amazon Representative call you or you can interact with a ChatBot.
I chose to interact with Chatbot, and I asked it how do you close your account.
The Chatbot will respond by providing you with a link to their FAQ page so that you may learn more about how to close your account. At the bottom of the page, you will need to click on another “Contact Us” link.
This takes you to another screen where you will need to select “Close My Account & Delete My Data” from a dropdown and you finally discover that you can’t delete your account yourself. They have to do it for you.
This is a classic Roach Motel Dark Pattern. A Roach Motel design makes it easy to get into a situation but hard to get out. It provides a crappy user experience and makes it almost impossible to do something that will hurt business.
As designers, it’s our responsibility to pushback when asked to use a dark design pattern. While nobody wants to lose a customer there is no reason to make the cancelation process hard. Just because a customer needs to close their account does not mean they will not be back. All users deserve outstanding user experiences even when they are doing a task that is not in line with the business goals.
