Popups are not necessarily deceiving our users, but they are making it difficult for them, which can be made even more difficult by having hard to see close buttons or being made to fill out the form before accessing the content.

Are pop ups needed? Is it preventing a user from getting to your content? How often do you visit other websites and instantly close pop ups because you find them annoying? Something to think about.

“Roach Motel”

Roach Motel is an interesting concept but one you’re probably already familiar with. Have you ever tried to cancel a subscription or a contract and asked to do it via the website? You often find you can’t find where to cancel and are endlessly traversing the website going in loops, becoming confused and eventually becoming trapped: that’s Roach Motel.

The term ‘Roach Motel’ comes from an American business of the same name that provides devices to catch cockroaches. They provide a trap for cockroaches that is easy to get into but impossible to get out of, which obviously makes it a good term for this dark pattern UX practice.

Think of the maze image at the top of this article too; people being trapped with no way to escape is a feeling we absolutely need to avoid when it comes to our charity websites user experience.

Roach Motel for a charity could be providing a very easy way to sign up for a newsletter, a members area or a direct debit for regular donations, but is then almost impossible for those same users to cancel their donation, opt-out of the newsletter or close their members account – which can cause confusion, frustration and ultimately anger with your organisation.

We have to ensure that signposting to both opt-in and opt-out of our services is clear for our users, it’s all part of having an experience that is good for them and prevents users getting frustrated with us as an organisation.

Dark Patterns & Cases of Wrongdoing

These are just a few of the examples of dark patterns related to UX. There are many more - not all related to charities - but it’s well worth being aware of them.

Often, businesses and websites who have dark patterns on their website have also been found guilty of deception, with very large fines to boot. That is something to understand and be wary of moving forward as both the inclusivity and accessibility of our charitable websites becomes more and more important.

A fantastic resource to find out about more Dark Patterns and cases related to them can be found at the Deceptive Patterns website.

When good UX is intentionally bad: Dark patterns to avoid on your charity website