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The purpose of Growth design is to help users understand and experience the core value of your product in order to drive sustainable, long-term engagement. In an ideal world, designers would create experiences that drive business growth while following ethical principles. Achieving and maintaining this balance, however, can be challenging.
Finding the right balance means creating products that are both user-friendly and effective at driving acquisition, retention, and revenue growth. This requires an approach that puts the user first and provides genuine value.
Why ethics matters
Balancing usability with growth design is a challenging but essential skill for any designer aiming help their company build sustainable, long-term success. Designers must juggle usability with growth metrics which can sometimes lead to the temptation to use dark patterns or aggressive tactics. However by committing to ethical tactics, designers can ensure that their growth strategies are respectful and cultivate a healthier, more sustainable relationship with their customers. This approach not only benefits users but also strengthens the company's reputation.
"Design is a privilege, a responsibility, and a weapon. Designers are in a position of power, and it's their duty to wield that power ethically to ensure that their work does not harm others and, ideally, benefits society."
—Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It by Mike Monteiro
Being ethical is not just about avoiding manipulative tactics but about actively striving to do good and ensuring promotional activities provide real value to users. Ethical designers aim to make every growth strategy transparent and honest, developing features and campaigns that meet growth metrics while respecting users.
Ethical strategies that drive growth
While adding new features or enhancing functionality improves the user experience, businesses often seek to monetise these improvements. Designers must advocate for users and empathise with their needs in ways that other teams might not. They are responsible for navigating stakeholder demands while ensuring a positive user experience. Short-term growth strategies can sometimes lead to negative long-term consequences, ultimately becoming more costly for the company over time.
Ethical design practices focus on transparency, consent, and user autonomy to cultivate positive and long-lasting relationships. Here’s are some strategies to try in your growth experiments:
Opt-in notifications
Allowing users to voluntarily choose to receive notifications respects their autonomy and fosters a sense of control over the service. This contrasts with automatically opting users in, which can feel intrusive and lead to users ignoring notifications. Users who opt-in are more likely to engage, as they've demonstrated an interest in the content, resulting in higher engagement rates.
Implementing an opt-in system involves clear and transparent communication about what users can expect. During the onboarding process or at another relevant point of user interaction, present the option to opt-in with a clear call to action, explaining the benefits and frequency of notifications. Ensure users can easily manage their preferences and opt-out if they wish so that they maintain in control.
Transparency
Transparency leads to higher user trust and better outcomes. Its's important to clearly communicate your intentions, processes, and anything you do that has the potential to impact your users to avoid your brand being perceived as dishonest or deceitful.
At Blinkest, they saw tangible benefits in user retention by improving transparency in their free trial period. A reduction in cancellations by 7% indicates that users appreciated the honest communication and clear reminders about the trial period's end, reducing their anxiety about unexpected charges. Users likely felt more confident in the product and more willing to maximise the free trial period.
By maintaining honesty and openness, you build trust and foster a positive relationship with your audience.
Easy cancellation
When users know they can easily cancel a service or subscription, they are more likely to sign up in the first place, as the perceived risk is lower. This transparency can lead to increased customer acquisition and retention. A seamless cancellation process demonstrates a company's confidence in its product, suggesting that they do not need to rely on cumbersome barriers to retain customers. This positive experience can lead to word-of-mouth referrals and improved brand reputation. And if customers do churn, at least they leave on a positive note.
To implement an easy cancellation process, ensure the option to cancel is clearly visible and accessible. Provide simple instructions and avoid unnecessary steps or requirements that could frustrate users. Incorporate feedback mechanisms to understand the reasons for cancellation, which can offer valuable insights. Additionally, consider offering alternatives such as pausing the service. But be careful to respect users’ decisions—a lot of cancellation flows use dark patterns at the last minute, like offering a free month and then automatically resuming recurring payments once the free period has ended. See Forced continuation
Free educational resources
Offering free, high quality educational content can attract new users who are seeking to learn or improve their skills. By teaching users how to use the platform more effectively, companies can enhance user satisfaction and retention—users who understand how to maximise the platform's features are more likely to continue using it and recommend it to others.
Providing educational resources can also help differentiate the platform from competitors. It demonstrates a commitment to user success and adds value beyond the basic service offering. This can be particularly effective in crowded markets where competition is high. Additionally, educational resources can serve as a form of marketing, as satisfied users are likely to share the resources with others, leading to organic growth.
Ask clear, non-deceptive questions
When gathering information from users, questions should be straightforward and easy to understand, avoiding jargon or overly complex language that might confuse them. Be direct in your questioning to ensure users know exactly what is being asked of them. This helps in gathering accurate data. Clearly explain the purpose of the questions and how the information will be used. Users should feel confident that their data are being collected ethically, for legitimate reasons.
During a signup process, ask only for necessary information in a clear and straightforward way. Instead of asking for extensive personal details upfront, just ask for essential details and explain why it’s needed, then collect further information later in the customer journey.
Dark patterns to avoid
Dark patterns, also referred to as “deceptive patterns,” are techniques employed by designers to manipulate users into taking actions they did not initially intend to take.
The likely outcome of using dark patterns is a loss of trust and credibility. Users may feel deceived or misled, leading to dissatisfaction and disengagement. This can result in increased churn rates, negative word-of-mouth, an increase in customer support and potential damage to your brand's reputation. Prevent negative reviews and customer complaints about deceptive practices by avoiding the following:
Bait and switch
This technique is used to lure customers with an attractive offer, only to then switch it with a less favourable one once the customer is committed. For example, clicking on a button that seems to do one thing, such as closing a pop-up, but actually performs another action, like signing up for a newsletter. This pattern manipulates users by exploiting the commitment bias—once users have committed, they are more likely to accept the switch to justify their initial decision.
Confirmshaming
This coerces users into making an action they typically wouldn't by using emotional manipulation. It often involves using language that implies the user is making a wrong or undesirable decision if they do not choose the option the designer wants them to. For example, a website might display a pop-up with the options "Yes, sign me up for marketing emails and save 10%" or "No, I don't like saving money.” This technique exploits several behavioural heuristics, including the fear of missing out (FOMO) and social pressure.
Forced action
A user wants to do something, but they are required to do something else in return such as signing up for an account, before they can proceed with their intended task, like reading an article or viewing product details. It works by creating a sense of necessity, making it difficult or impossible for users to proceed without completing the desired action. By presenting the action as necessary to avoid a negative consequence or to gain a significant benefit, users are more likely to comply.
Forced continuity
This manipulates users into entering a continuous billing cycle or subscription without their full understanding or consent. It often involves offering a free trial or low-cost initial subscription, but the information about automatic renewal is hidden or not prominently displayed. Forced continuity exploits the anchoring effect (where the initial low cost or free offer creates a reference point for perceived value), the endowment effect (where users feel a sense of ownership and are less likely to cancel once they are enrolled), and the scarcity principle (where the limited-time offer creates a sense of urgency to sign up).
Preselection
Users are presented with a preselected default option, aiming to influence their decision-making. This practice convinces users that the service is doing them a favour by preselecting certain options. For instance, when booking a flight, the service might automatically suggest insurance or offer contributions to offset CO2 emissions. This approach exploits the status quo bias, as it capitalises on users' tendency to stick with the default settings.
Roach motel
A design that makes it simple to enter but challenging to exit (such as subscribing to a service or signing up for a membership). This uses the principle of loss aversion, which suggests that people strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. By making the exit process challenging, users are more likely to tolerate or continue with the service to avoid the perceived loss of effort or benefits they've already invested.
The threads app employed the roach motel dark pattern to keep users on their platform. Users trying to delete their account on Meta's new app found out that they couldn't do so unless they also deleted their Instagram account. Many users would have kept the app for fear of losing their instagram account.
Final thoughts
Achieving a balance between usability and growth is essential for building sustainable, long-term success. By prioritising ethical practices, such as transparency, user autonomy, and providing genuine value, companies can create positive and lasting relationships with their users.
Remember, ethical growth design is not just about following rules; it's about understanding your users' needs and building products that enhance their lives. By focusing on ethical growth strategies, businesses can not only drive growth but also earn the trust and loyalty of their customers, leading to a more sustainable and successful future.
