India’s digital economy has changed the way consumers discover, compare, and buy products and services. Websites and applications are built to make that journeys faster, more personalised, and convenient. However, the same design choices that make a journey convenient can also influence consumers to take decisions they may not have otherwise intended to take.
These practices are commonly known as ‘dark patterns.’ They may include additional charges disclosed late in a transaction, pre-selected options, artificial scarcity messages, emotionally framed choices, difficult cancellation processes, design elements that make one option significantly more prominent than another among others.
