It seems businesses are very happy to talk the talk of user-friendly digital, without really walking the walk.

One of the ironies in the whole process of my cancellation was that I got an automated phone call not long after I had spoken to the call centre (but before I received my cancellation email). The automated call was a customer feedback mechanism, asking if I was satisfied.

I must admit I hung up before I could hear much of what was required. At the time I was very satisfied with my experience. However, if I had been asked for feedback after I had received the email above, I think I would have taken the time to explain my concerns.

Do I have a point here? I am still happy with my experience. I would use the website again.

But if we are really serious about sectors such as travel moving away from offline channels, and if we really believe that customer-centricity is important for brand-building and loyalty, we need to keep shining a light on these awkward compromises in user experience – what many might call a ‘dark pattern.’

Travel is a tricky sector. Look at British Airways, for example. Consultant Dan Barker shared a screenshot of a booking screen on Twitter recently and wrote: “Some odd things going on here from British Airways: 1. It presents being able to buy food on board as a benefit of Economy Plus (of course, you can also buy it with basic). 2. The Business ‘dedicated check-in area’ doesn’t actually exist.”

The Competition and Markets Authority has taken enforcement action already this year against some holiday booking sites that employed tactics such as pressure selling and misleading discounts. All sorts of businesses are trumpeting lines about the customer when there is clearly work to be done. And if we cannot trust businesses to weed out dark patterns online, what else might we be missing?

It seems businesses are very happy to talk the talk of user-friendly digital, without really walking the walk. To get back to more prosaic advice for marketers and their C-suite seniors, being familiar with your product and its many customer journeys is more important than ever.

Short-term growth may just be too good to be true.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com