With the latest figures showing that Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be worth a combined total of £7bn to the retail sector this year, a new study claims top online retailers are employing website design tactics to trick people into spending more online.
User experience agency Sigma first evaluated the hidden strategies that some brands use on their websites to gather personal data.
Now the agency has revisited the subject to look at tactics used around Black Friday and Cyber Monday to drive sales, amid claims that many businesses are using “behavioural psychology” principles to bring in extra revenue.
Asos
Fashion retailer Asos was offering a ‘Black Friday’ discount of 20% – but only if you enter a promotional code. However, the ‘enter code’ box wasn’t in an obvious place during the checkout process. The brand is therefore promising customers a discount, but later encouraging them to forget to input it.
Jacamo
Similarly, Jacamo was offering a ‘code only’ Black Friday offer, which was difficult to see on the home screen. Furthermore, during the checkout process, the ‘enter code’ form only appeared on the basket page after signing in, but if you signed up as a new user, you were taken straight to the checkout page, bypassing the discount code option – meaning new users had to put in extra effort to get their discount.
During the registration process, one of the ‘sign up’ buttons actually added shoppers to the company’s mailing list. Moreover, during registration the form pre-selected an opt-in – for a ‘Jacamo Pay’ credit account.
Very.co.uk
Researchers found that lifestyle retailer Very.co.uk may have been encouraging ‘pressure’ sales. By stating that particular sales items are ‘Going fast!’ with ‘7 purchased in the last hour,’ shoppers may feel that they should buy immediately, or face the disappointment of the items selling out.
River Island
River Island was shown to be prioritising data collection over its customers’ privacy, with a near-invisible ‘opt-out’ tick box at checkout stage. Not only does this potentially confuse shoppers, but it doesn’t meet recognised best-practice accessibility guidelines on colour contrast.
NastyGal
The fashion e-commerce site could be capitalising on the ‘fear of missing out’ by urging customers to complete their purchases before a ‘limited’ delivery offer is no longer available. However, it is unclear whether the offer is genuinely limited. Shoppers may once again feel compelled to buy an item at that moment, instead of taking time to reflect on whether it is what they really want or need.
Commenting on the findings, Sigma managing director Hilary Stephenson said: “The examples listed above are just a brief overview of what we know is happening across the entire retail industry, when websites are designed with ‘mind tricks’ to confuse consumers into making a purchase.
“These tactics take advantage of customer desires to find a bargain on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and are likely to have been deliberately implemented for this reason.
“Perhaps the most worrying finding within this year’s Black Friday research was that customers are automatically being signed up to credit accounts which, in the wrong hands, could create unexpected personal debt.
“We advise shoppers to take care when it comes to ‘sales’ events, as – evidently – they can be rife with ‘dark user experience’ practices. Always read the small print (even if it might not be immediately obvious where that is).”
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