Amazon Purchase UX

—so let's try to find some on Amazon!

...apparently, Omega 3 can prevent serious health problems—

A quick search led me to this...

...really...

...that's literally the definition of a dark pattern—

Dark Pattern — Defaults

“A Dark Pattern is a user interface that has been crafted to trick users into doing things, such as [...] or signing up for recurring bills.” ¹

Instead, aim to build a positive relationship between you and your users. If you want to change behaviors, do it with their consent.

¹Brignull, Dark Patterns (2010)

Wait... What?

Subscribe now?...

...Selected by default??

Can you name them?

Hint: Look in these areas→

So... starting from the top, they used:

1. ⚓️ Anchoring to remind us that each softgel is VERY cheap compared to the overall price.

2. 💚 The Endowment effect to make us feel like it's almost ours: "Get it Tuesday..."

1. Anchoring

2. Endowment Effect

And honestly... who wants yet another subscription!?

Anyway—

—there's a lot to unpack here...

Can you spot 4 other psychology principles used in this screen?

1. Anchoring

2. Endowment Effect

—the maths don't add up...

This product recommends 1 pill/day... so 60 pills in 2 months.

But each bottle is 180! (3x too many... unless you're a family)

Fitts's Law

The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.¹

Here almost 1/3rd of the screen is dedicated to your subscription setup vs. a tiny radio button for the one-time purchase.

Most people will likely start setting up their subscription as a result.

¹Growth.Design, The Psychology of Design (2021)

3. Fitts's Law

4. Social Proof

3. 🎯 Fitt's Law to focus your attention directly on your subscription settings—

And finally...

4. 👥 Social Proof to help you choose the "most common" option for delivery frequency...

BUT—

So they're trying to help us "swallow that pill" by offering a discount...

Getting back to my purchase...

...I must admit... 15% could be interesting—

..so how do I get it? {Tap}

Status Quo Bias

We tend not to change an established behavior unless the incentive to change is compelling.¹

Here, the 5-15% discount might be compelling enough for people to onboard this new subscription model and change their behavior.

¹The Decision Lab, Why do we tend to leave things as they are? (2019)

Arrgghhh... of course—

—you need at least 5 subscriptions to get it...

Second Order Effect

Imagine if most people had 5 product deliveries/month (or more!). That is a lot of shipping and overconsumption. To save a 5-min walk?

On paper, it looks brilliant, saving a lot of time running the same errands. In practice, this can go very badly very quickly. Amazon needs to think about the other level of consequences of its actions.¹

P.S. Want more tips to create ethical experiences, check out our product psychology course.

¹Growth.Design, Second-Order Effect (2021)

Now... How would we make this interaction more ethical*?

*and potentially save us from a worldwide subscription cataclysm.

Like this!

We applied 2 psychology principles to make this experience more ethical...

1. 📮 Self-initiated triggers to increase chances of action when the reminder comes in.

2. 🧨 Spark Effect by making the action (notify me) a no-brainer and eliminating the cognitive load of adding another subscription to your wallet.

No, this wouldn't increase revenues short-term, but... Amazon doesn't need to make money now. They need to gain trust...

By the way, if you need a one-pager with 100+ psychology principles to quickly remember them (like these) →

...just click here to download it!

Oh and one last thing—

1. Anchoring

2. Endowment Effect

3. Fitts's Law

4. Social Proof

Dark Pattern — Defaults

Fitts's Law

Status Quo Bias

Second Order Effect

⚡️ You found the secret slides!

Congrats!