Engineered for Fraud
There is a lot of chatter about the rise of grow hacking. I will delve more into the subject at a later date, but suffice it to say I see much ado about nothing. However, with more people discussing growth hacking and sharing ideas, I am starting to see reoccurring patterns used specifically to drive acquisition growth and increase retention. Many of these tactics have become predictable and for the most part are harmless ways for startups to accelerate their traction.
Then there are tactics that are so underhanded that they deserve public humiliation. You may have heard of the fashion subscription commerce service JustFab. They raised a pretty massive $76 million round in July. However, you may have heard the recent controversy about their shady practices. To spare you reading through the thread, the complaint leveled was that the site has been engineered to mask that you are buying a subscription and to obfuscate the opt-out and cancellation processes. In other words, it is like the online equivalent of the roach motel.
I can understand the reasoning why VC’s would put money into such an enterprise. JustFab is minting cash hand over fist with projected revenues of $100 million. In a field that is quickly getting crowded with other subcom startups, the race to the top will be won by the business that has the most scale and widest market. To do that means topping up on the VC rocket fuel. Given those revenues and growth projections, there are plenty of VC’s that would salivate at the opportunity to buy in for the ride.
However, for the rest of us, let this be a lesson on the limits of tinkering with growth. You are nothing without your customers. Yet I am seeing the same obsessive compulsion to screw over customers in the name of driving certain growth metrics without thinking holistically of the impact of such tactics. It reminds me of the conservations I would have with call center executives that proudly proclaimed how they lowered customer call times only to find out later that customer churn had significantly increased. In the same way, I have seen plenty of startups pushing the boundaries by invading user privacy, mucking with default settings, hiding onerous terms, adding obstacles to cancellation, etc. It is all in the name of driving growth though, so it must be alright.
These types of misleading tactics are known as dark patterns. They are purposefully created user experiences and designs used to exploit certain human behaviors that work against users. People tend to skim large amounts of text or follow the crowd, so companies may attempt to take advantage of these behaviors to hide information or frame situations to look more advantageous than they are or extract your information surreptitiously. Some examples include Quora changing the default privacy setting to publically expose the questions you have viewed or Facebook altering how permissions are granted through their redesigned Apps Center (otherwise known as Privacy Zuckering).
There are plenty of good companies using good practices that improve the user experience and benefit users. They are innovating on ways to streamline acquisition and keep users engaged without resorting to trickery. For example, Fab.com (ironic, but no relation to JustFab) recently removed their sign up process to view products on their website. They focused on removing friction from the user experience and making it easy for customers. These are the types of companies that value customers and focus on building long-term relationships. To that end, keeping users happy is the only metric that really matters and is a core value of the company.
Do not use growth hacks that merely focus on short-term results or juice up vanity metrics. That is like selling your soul for a pittance to have a roller coaster ride. It might be fun and fast, but the ride is painfully short. The only growth strategies that work long term are the ones that help customers make more informed and transparent decisions about your offerings. If you keep your focus on delighting customers by providing valuable products or services, you will reap the rewards. That is something you cannot fake or tweak with cynical growth hacks or underhanded tactics.
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