Persuasion and its limits

Persuasion influences a decision through what can be checked; manipulation rests on what is hidden or made up. In an interface it is called a dark pattern.

Everything you can do can be turned against the reader

The earlier lessons taught you to speak so that the reader understands you and wants to act. The same techniques in another hand give manipulation: deceit, pressure, a trap. And the line between them doesn’t run where people usually think. Both work: manipulations are used precisely because they are effective. The difference is the ground: persuasion rests on what can be checked, and manipulation on what is hidden or made up.

A practical test: if the reader found out how it was done, would they approve? A real deadline (“book by Friday, because on Saturday the crew is busy”) passes such a test. A timer that starts over each time does not.

This lesson has four tools. Three describe how people make decisions: Cialdini’s principles of influence, the Fogg model and Eyal’s “hook”. The fourth describes how all of that is turned into deceit. We teach the first three so that you can notice them in others’ texts and use them honestly in your own, and the fourth so as not to do what you would be ashamed of.

Cialdini’s principles

Where from. Robert Cialdini, professor of psychology and marketing at Arizona State University, published Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion in 1984. For years he watched how salespeople, fundraisers and advertisers win agreement, and picked out principles that work in different situations. Later, in Pre-Suasion (2016), he added a seventh, unity: the sense of “we are one group”. In the English-speaking world he is simply “Cialdini”, and the six are the best-known vocabulary of influence there is.

The principles and their honest use on a site.

1. Reciprocity. We try to repay a kindness. Honest: useful material, a checklist, an analysis with no conditions and no hidden charge. Manipulation: a “free” gift that puts you under an obligation.
2. Commitment and consistency. We try to stay true to our decisions. Honest: a small first step the person chose themselves (“start with the short form”). Manipulation: drawing someone in with a small step and hiding the price.
3. Social proof. We look at what others do. Honest: real reviews with the author’s name and consent, numbers with a source. Manipulation: made-up reviews and a “14 people are viewing this now” counter.
4. Authority. We trust experts. Honest: documents, numbers, entries in registers, memberships. Manipulation: a “recognized expert” with no backing, awards that don’t exist.
5. Liking. We agree with people we like. Honest: real people, real photos, a human tone, something in common with the reader. Manipulation: stock-photo “staff” and pretended friendship.
6. Scarcity. We value what is rare. Honest: a real limit with a named reason: “two slots are left in the schedule”. Manipulation: “only 2 left” every time.

Where it lets you down. Cialdini’s principles are tendencies, not laws. They grew out of field and laboratory experiments, and some results of social psychology haven’t been reproduced as confidently as they were once reported. Don’t build a page on one principle as if it were a guarantee; test it on your own people (the part on metrics). And Cialdini himself insists that the principles be applied honestly: real authority, real scarcity.

The Fogg model: motivation, ability, prompt

Where from. B. J. Fogg, a Stanford researcher and founder of its Persuasive Technology Lab, published the “Behavior Model for Persuasive Design” in 2009. Later, in the book Tiny Habits (2019), he wrote it as a formula, B=MAP.

How it is built. A behavior (B) happens when three things coincide in time:

• Motivation: desire. Fogg names three pairs of drivers: pleasure and pain, hope and fear, acceptance and rejection.
• Ability: how simple the action is. Fogg names six factors of simplicity: time, money, physical effort, mental effort, social deviance and non-routine.
• Prompt: the signal “do it now”. In the 2009 paper he called it a trigger. A prompt works only if motivation and ability are above the “action line”.

From this follows the most useful practical advice: it is often better to make the action easier than to strengthen the desire. Every extra field, wait or unclear word takes away ability. A form with eight fields today usually loses to a form with two.

Open the “The Fogg model” tab in the diagram: remove the difficulties one by one and watch the point rise above the action line.

Where it lets you down.

• The model is a handy scheme, not a result of measurement. The numbers in it are arbitrary.
• “Make it simpler” doesn’t mean “hide the terms”. What you simplify is the person’s effort, not their awareness.
• Friction is sometimes useful. Confirmation before deleting data, an “Are you sure?” before a payment, protect a person. To take out all the friction is to take out the protection.
• Prompts turn into nagging: notifications, pop-ups, “you forgot” emails.

Hooked: trigger, action, reward, investment

Where from. Nir Eyal wrote Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products (2014) with Ryan Hoover. Eyal built on Fogg’s work; he described a loop of four links used to build products people return to: a trigger (external, then internal), an action, a variable reward (unpredictable, as in a feed) and an investment (the person leaves data and effort that bind them in).

Where you need it. Most likely nowhere. The Hooked loop describes apps, social networks and games: things used again and again. For the page of an expert, a workshop or a coffee shop it’s excessive, and a person who needs a service once in a few years shouldn’t be “hooked” on it. If your project is an app or a community, the honest version of the loop means: the reward is real (the person got what they came for), the investment is voluntary (they saved what they need) and they return because it’s good for them.

The line. In the book itself Eyal offers a “manipulation matrix”: two questions to the maker. Would you use this yourself? and Does the product improve people’s lives? If the answer to both is no, it’s dealing in addiction, not a product. Later Eyal wrote Indistractable (2019), about how to keep your attention; and many former makers of habit-forming products have criticized the techniques they once taught.

Dark patterns

Where from. The term “dark patterns” was coined in 2010 by the British user-experience specialist Harry Brignull, who gathered a catalog of interfaces that trick a person into the decision someone wants. Today the catalog is called “Deceptive Design”, it’s open, and it holds dozens of techniques. A few are the most common.

• Pre-selection. Boxes and plans are checked in advance.
• False urgency and false scarcity. Made-up timers and “only two left”.
• Hidden charges and subscriptions. The price in small print, automatic renewal “by default”.
• Shaming the decline (confirmshaming). “No, I don’t like saving money.”
• Made-up reviews and counters. “14 people are viewing this now.”
• The trap (“roach motel”). In with one click, out only by letter.
• The double negative. “Do not uncheck this box if you do not want to stop not receiving emails.”

See whether you can spot them: in the diagram below are eight invented bits of pages. The answer for each gives the Cialdini principle the technique feeds on, what the honest version looks like and which rule of law it comes near.

Dark patterns The Fogg model

These are invented bits of pages. For each, choose the name of the technique from Harry Brignull’s catalogue: the answer gives the principle, the honest replacement and the rule of law.

1. Only 2 spots left! The offer ends in 09:59 (the timer starts over every visit)

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

2. ☑ I want to receive news and offers (the box is checked in advance)

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

3. [Yes, I want to save] [No, I like paying full price]

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

4. Free* (in small print: *after 7 days $19.99 a month, renews automatically)

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

5. Right now 14 people are looking at this page (the number is random)

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

6. “Best service in town! Anna K.” (there is no such person and no date)

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

7. Subscribe: one click. Unsubscribe: by letter to a postal address, with a copy of your ID

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

8. ☐ Do not uncheck this box if you do not want to stop not receiving our emails

   Which technique is this chooseFalse urgency or scarcityPre-ticked consentShaming the decline (confirmshaming)Hidden price or subscriptionA made-up “people viewing now” counterMade-up reviewsA trap: hard to cancel (roach motel)A double negative (trick question)

Right: 0 of 8. The rules are named for orientation, not as a legal assessment: in every case a lawyer decides.

What the law says. The rules are alike in spirit across the English-speaking world, and none of them is called “the dark patterns law”; general rules catch particular techniques.

• United States. Section 5 of the FTC Act bans unfair or deceptive acts, and in 2022 an FTC staff report, Bringing Dark Patterns to Light, described how false urgency, hidden fees, disguised ads and obstructed cancelation fall under it. ROSCA (the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act) and state laws require clear disclosure and simple cancelation for online subscriptions. The FTC’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (16 CFR Part 465, effective 21 October 2024) bans fake reviews and fake social-media indicators. CAN-SPAM governs marketing email. California’s privacy regulations require symmetry in choices and bar guilt-tripping wording and double negatives when you ask for a privacy choice. Rules on subscriptions and cancelation have been in flux (a federal “click to cancel” rule was finalized in 2024 and set aside by a court in 2025), so check the current state.
• United Kingdom. The CAP Code, applied by the ASA, bans misleading marketing and false claims of limited availability, and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 gives the Competition and Markets Authority power to fine for unfair practices, including fake reviews, and brings in new subscription rules. The GDPR rules on consent apply in the UK as the UK GDPR, with PECR for marketing messages.
• European Union. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive bans misleading and aggressive practices and lists always-banned ones, among them false limited-time offers and fake reviews. The GDPR demands unambiguous consent and bans pre-checked boxes (Recital 32). The Digital Services Act, Article 25, bans online platforms from interfaces that deceive or manipulate users, though it leaves practices already covered by the UCPD or the GDPR to those laws, and an ordinary business website is usually not an “online platform”. The EDPB has guidelines on deceptive design patterns.
• Russia, for comparison. There’s no special law on dark patterns, and you won’t find the term in it. Particular techniques fall under general rules: the advertising law (38-FZ), Article 5 on false advertising and Article 18 on prior consent to phone and email advertising; the personal data law (152-FZ), Article 9, on conscious and unambiguous consent; and the consumer protection law, Article 10 (full and reliable information about a service and its price).

We name the rules for orientation, not as a legal opinion: whether a particular technique falls under a rule is for a lawyer to decide. This is general information, not legal advice; the rules change, so check the current texts, and for a real site ask a lawyer or the regulator (the FTC in the US, the ASA and CMA in the UK, your national consumer authority in the EU).

For experts in particular. References to authority, client testimonials and case results are limited in regulated professions by the rules of ethics (remember the lesson on legal and expert texts): promises, win statistics, clients’ names and comparisons with colleagues are usually forbidden. Social proof and scarcity are therefore most often “I don’t use it” for an expert, and that’s fine.

How to tell persuasion from manipulation: four questions.

1. Is it true? The deadline, the number, the review, the document.
2. Can it be checked? A link, a number, a register.
3. Would the reader approve if they knew how it works?
4. Does it leave the person free to decide? An honest decline is as easy as an acceptance.

Check yourself: how does “only 2 spots left, the offer ends in 09:59” differ from “book a visit by Friday: on Saturday the crew is busy”?

The second phrase is true, with a named reason, and can be checked. The first is made up, and the counter is updated on purpose. The principle of scarcity is one; the ground is different.

Practice

Check your page for persuasion and manipulation. The part in the block page-honest is your page, and the rest are notes.

1. The offer and the form. A short offer-text paragraph with no pressure (“left”, “today only”, “hurry”). A form of no more than three fields. The consent box is separate and not checked. The button names the main action from the brief.
2. Cialdini’s principles. For each of the six write where you apply it, or “I don’t use it”. For authority, name a proof from the brief in full. For social proof, say what backs it up, or that there’s none.
3. The form by Fogg. Keep from one to three fields, and write why for each.
4. Dark patterns. In each of the six rows write “yes” or “no” and what you did.

If your project’s profession restricts advertising, the check will look for “guarantee”, “best” and “100%” in the text. The rest is for you to check: go through the four questions above for every phrase of your offer.