Sales Secrets: Controversial Tactics Top Companies Don’t Want You to Know

Big companies driven by the intense pressure to grow rapidly and achieve profitability, have sometimes resorted to controversial techniques to boost their sales.

Some of these methods can blur ethical lines or even be outright deceptive. Here are a few examples:

1. Dark Patterns

Dark patterns are user interface (UI) designs that manipulate users into taking actions they might not have intended or wanted to take, such as signing up for a subscription or sharing more data than they realise.

Examples include auto-enrolling users in subscriptions after a free trial, making the unsubscribe button difficult to find, or adding hidden costs at the last step of a purchase.

Dark Patterns are potential violation of regulations like the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) or the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA).

We’ve asked a team of GDPR and DSAR support experts to reveal some of the most common ‘Dark Patterns’ tactics used by companies.

The term ‘Dark Patterns’ describes online interface designs made to trick or manipulate users into making unintended and potentially harmful decisions, exploiting cognitive biases and potentially affecting economic outcomes or personal data use. These ‘Dark Patterns’ can be found in a broad range of industries and contexts, including ecommerce, cookie consent banners, and even children’s gaming applications.

During a public workshop in April 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) identified several deceptive design elements aimed at consumers’ purchasing decisions. Common practices included fake “low stock” messages and baseless countdown timers, such as ‘offer ends in 00:59:48’.

These practices aim to put pressure on consumers to make an immediate purchase, or risk missing out on a perceived “deal”.

Companies have also been found to use parasocial relationship pressure, whereby children are shown well-known characters to encourage them to make in-app purchases.

Not all ‘Dark Patterns’ are related to online sales, and there are many that influence consumers’ decisions about the way their personal information is used. The European Data Protection Board has identified 5 categories for deceptive design patterns relating to data protection:

Shortcuts

Online platforms should contain shortcuts to important information, settings, or actions to help users manage their data. These could be links to Privacy Notices, data protection settings, password reset pages, and even account deletion pages. It’s also advisable to consider a Consent Management Platform (CPM) to collect and manage user consent for cookies and other data processing activities.

Bulk options

Privacy options with the same processing purpose should be grouped together as bulk options. This allows users to change their data protection settings easily, whilst still providing granular choices.

Explain consequences

When users want to make changes to their privacy settings, it is important to explain the consequences of activating or deactivating certain data protection controls or giving and withdrawing consent.

Cross-device consistency

Platforms accessed across different devices or operating systems must be consistent. Interface elements, including menus and icons, should be the same and privacy settings should be located in the same place across all devices.

Notifications

Notifications can be used to raise awareness about changes or risks to data processing, as long as consent to receive notifications has been given. These can be in the form of inbox messages, pop-up windows, or website banners.

2. Growth hacking with incomplete products

Some early-stage startups have been known to market and sell products that aren’t fully developed or functional, using the hype to drive early sales and interest.

For example launching a product with exaggerated claims of its capabilities, or selling a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that is so bare-bones it barely meets user needs, while promising future enhancements that may or may not materialise.

Read more about growth marketing techniques here.

3. Data harvesting and privacy violations

Leveraging user data in ways that users did not anticipate or consent to, often to target them with more aggressive marketing or to sell their data to third parties.

For example, apps that secretly track user locations, collect personal data without clear disclosure, or share sensitive information with advertisers without explicit user consent.

Companies use data harvesting to gain insights into user behavior, preferences, and demographics, which they can then leverage for various purposes.

Users are often unaware of the extent of data being collected or how it is being used, which can lead to mistrust and potential misuse of personal information.

High-profile cases of data breaches and misuse, such as the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, have brought these issues to public attention and spurred calls for stricter regulations on data harvesting practices.

4. Astroturfing and fake reviews

Astroturfing is a deceptive practice where organisations or companies create a false sense of product popularity or satisfaction by generating fake reviews, testimonials, or online buzz.

Examples of astroturfing is paying for fake positive reviews, creating fake accounts to post favorable comments, or manipulating social media to make a product seem more widely accepted than it actually is.

5. Freemium model with high paywalls

Freemium models is offering a free version of a product that is so limited in functionality that users are effectively forced to pay for the premium version.

Free apps or software that constantly push users to upgrade by limiting essential features or bombarding them with ads, making the free version frustrating to use.