Bait and Switch is the practice of tricking users into making a decision they had no intention of doing. This dark pattern is commonly seen in conjunction with the last one (Trick Questions). It is common for companies to give users a false understanding of what an action, such as clicking on a checkbox, does. Going back to the previous example of opting into a mailing list. Companies will often use a T&C (terms and conditions) checkbox to trick users into thinking that clicking the box will opt them in thus agreeing to the T&Cs. However, this will then be switched up for the next instance and the checkbox will now mean that the user is opting out. When creating user experiences you aim to have the solution be easy to use, and part of this is to use consistent components, and have their function consistent. This decreases the cognitive load on the user. The bait and switch pattern plays on this and tricks the user into opting in or selecting something they had no intention of doing. 

This is an eCommerce don’t. The act of hidden costs is fairly self-explanatory, it is the process of hiding the true costs by not displaying all information. This is most commonly seen from platforms hiding their delivery charge. When users fill out multi-stage checkouts, these platforms will keep the cost of delivery hidden until the last screen, by which time users are fatigued and invested in their purchase. As a result, users are likely to accept the cost rather than search elsewhere. While this may seem like a good way to increase sales, users tend to remember these bad experiences and avoid returning to these platforms. This results in a negative long-term impact on sales. 

Users should be kept informed throughout their checkout, and should not be misled and have important information kept from them. Once you can calculate the shipping cost, users should be able to see this factored into their total costs, not have it hidden from them till the end. 

Confrimshaming is the act of guilting your users into opting into or agreeing to something. Let’s say you are offering a discount code in exchange for signing up to your mailing list, a solid enticement for users. You display this offer to your users through a pop-up message, but you change the phrasing of your ‘no thanks’ CTA to a message similar to ‘I don’t like discounts’. This is confirmshaming. You are trying to shame your users when they go to confirm their disinterest in your promotion. No one likes peer pressure, and most likely your users won’t see you as a friend, so instead of it being a harmless jab amongst friends it comes across as rude, mean, and a form of bullying. In no way does this lead to a positive user experience and will harm your brand perception in the long run. If your brand does not have a brash, forward-speaking personality then don’t adopt that tone for opt-out messaging.