In this webinar, Kate Crocker introduces the concept of website dark patterns, discusses the regulatory landscape, and gives practical advice about detecting and eliminating dark patterns while taking advantage of ethical marketing tactics.
Dark patterns (deceptive design patterns) are everywhere in the digital world. They’re so common that as a consumer, you probably don’t even know when you've encountered one because they seem so normal. For example:
- Accepting terms and conditions without reading the fine print
- A countdown clock that resets shortly after your "limited time" purchase
- Trying unsuccessfully to unsubscribe from a service
- Finding an extra item in your shopping cart as you’re completing a purchase.
Dark patterns impact consumer protection and data protection, so they're increasingly subject to government crackdowns. Worldwide, we’re seeing more and more laws to try and curb the problem. And in Australia, there are already regulatory moves to bring us into step with the rest of the world.
Any Australian business that has a website, should get ready to comply. And any business with international operations may already be subject to laws in other countries. Now is the time to consider how visitors experience the website: whether any sales tactics are, in fact, dark patterns, and what to do about them.
This webinar will step through these issues and give you some practical advice about how to start readying your website. And best of all, how eliminating dark patterns can be used as a marketing advantage.
Topics Covered
In this webinar, Kate will:
- Introduce the concept of online dark patterns (deceptive design patterns)
- Explore the regulatory landscape, including anticipated Australian legislation
- Give practical examples of dark patterns
- Provide tips about how to spot online dark patterns
- Outline how to help clients avoid dark patterns and embrace compliant marketing
- Discuss the advantages of ethical marketing strategies.
What you will learn
- What are dark patterns?
- How to identify dark patterns
- How to eliminate dark patterns
- Things to consider when checking your website and implementing changes.
- Basic legal overview (in Australia and internationally)
About the presenter:
Kate Crocker
Dark patterns consultant, legal copywriter and former lawyer
Kate Crocker has more than 20 years of experience as a workplace lawyer, legal content creator and legal educator. She first heard about dark patterns when training as a legal designer, and immediately saw the critical connection between dark patterns and compliant marketing.
Because copywriters, web developers and marketers all play a critical role in deciding what goes on a website, it’s important to understand dark patterns, the risks, and compliance strategies. So, Kate immersed herself in learning as much as possible about dark patterns while keeping watch for legislative developments, both in Australia and worldwide.
Now, part of Kate’s work is as a dark patterns consultant, delivering presentations and workshops to business groups and in-house teams, as well as conducting dark pattern website reviews.
Kate’s other work is in SEO legal copywriting, legal design, and AI solution implementation.