A summary of a number of extraordinary newsworthy items, without it actually revealing what the article is about, the purpose of which is to encourage readers to click on the article. This relates to the vague headlines of articles which generate just enough interest for people to click on them. These are also known as clickbait articles, and they form the basis of the success of sites such as Buzzfeed. It is a well-known form of online persuasion, which marketers use to steer consumer behaviour with a specific objective. Is clickbait a transparent trick, or can it be termed smart marketing?
Clickbait is a tried and tested technique which you use to get more people to click on the basis of attractive headlines or misleading visuals/images. They often involve sentences containing phrases such as ‘things you won’t believe’ and ‘that will blow your mind’. The parody site ClickHole is dedicated to clickbait, and is filled with – in its own words – ‘the most clickable, irresistibly shareable content’. The site is a prime example of how writers try to tempt people with headlines and images. It is primarily intended as a joke, but this technique is used by a huge number of websites.
Clickbait headlines draw attention
The technique is used primarily by content platforms to attract visitors. In this respect, it often is not even about offering a good story, but about creating such attractive headlines that consumers click on the article and visit the website. The person who created the headlines benefits from these extra visitors, because their earning model is based on this: the larger the number of visitors, the more advertising income the websites receive. In this sense, clickbait articles are good for the writers and their bank balances, but not for the readers.
It is a cheap and quick method for attracting large numbers of people, and even if you only have their attention for a brief period, they have visited your site. But are they satisfied with what they read after clicking on the tempting headline? It demonstrates that there is a grey area between writing a tempting headline at the top of an article, and whether or not you ensure that the content matches this title. In the case of clickbait articles, it is clear from the start to readers that this strategy is being used. After all, it is an extremely obvious attempt to steer behaviour, and people have by now become familiar with it. It is up to the readers as to whether to click or not in order to read more, but what if that choice has already been made for them, and they are therefore unconsciously being influenced?
The unconscious steering of behaviour
Unconscious steering takes place through what are known as ‘dark patterns’. These are patterns on websites which are deliberately created to steer behaviour unconsciously in a malicious manner, in order to trick the user. Examples include a menu on which the most expensive version is put in a prominent location and the other versions are not. This increases the risk that consumers choose the more expensive version from the menu. Another example of a dark pattern is pre-completed reply fields on websites. Some airlines, for example, force you to buy insurance if you do not uncheck this option.
And there are many more examples of dark patterns out there, all intended to steer behaviour unconsciously. And this is where the problem lies in terms of ethics, because is it sensible for a brand to do this, hoping that people will go for the most expensive version, or take out the extra insurance? In my view, this approach is coming from the wrong direction: if marketers know that they can steer behaviour, why do they not use this in a positive way? Because dark patterns can also be used in a positive sense, if you make the consumer the central focus.
Making things as easy as possible for the consumer
For example, if designers know that visitors do not read the small print carefully, build in a function so that the website asks for confirmation twice. Or like in Microsoft Word when saving a file. The ‘Save’ function is already marked (this is known as a ‘smart default’), so that the user only needs to press Enter to save the file. This means that the user doesn’t need to take the trouble to select something else. The same applies to language use. When designing the website, you can also leave out unimportant information, so that consumers more clearly see the information which is important to them. If you are trying to achieve conversion, tempt the visitor to take the right steps on the basis of a positive customer experience.
Learning to understand the effect of dark patterns also means that you can optimise the operation of your website, putting the customer first rather than your turnover. Turnover remains the ultimate objective, but the more satisfied consumers are, the higher the conversion rate will become.
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