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One in three shoppers spend more than intended due to manipulative online design tactics, according to research by Consumer NZ.
Consumer says the research shows that New Zealanders are being tricked into spending more and cancelling less, exposing the invisible influence of ‘dark patterns’– deceptive digital design tactics used to manipulate consumer behaviour.
From hidden fees and “only one left!” scarcity cues to countdown timers and endless subscription traps, dark patterns are manipulating the choices of online shoppers, costing them time and hitting their back pockets.
The nationally representative research found that one in three New Zealanders spend more than they intended to online because of dark patterns, while nearly one-quarter say they’ve kept a subscription longer than they wanted to due to confusing or obstructive cancellation processes.
“The implications are huge. It would be conservative to say that dark patterns cost New Zealanders millions. Unfortunately, these tactics often fall into a legal grey area – exposing a major regulatory gap,” Consumer’s senior investigative journalist Chris Schulz says.
Dark patterns include design tricks such as:
- pre-ticked boxes that automatically add extras to your cart
- scarcity warnings such as “only one left at this price”
- hidden fees that appear only at checkout, hiking the advertised price
- hard-to-find cancellation buttons or multi-step unsubscribe processes
- confirm-shaming messages that guilt consumers into staying subscribed (with wording like: “No thanks, I’d love to stay penniless” or “Do you like wasting money?”).
The impact of these patterns is widely felt, with 93 per cent of New Zealanders saying they had encountered scarcity cues like “only three tickets left at this price”, while three out of four people had discovered hidden fees at the checkout.
