Let’s design sustainable online shopping experiences
You know how e-commerce sites use pushy design to get users to buy more, right? Urgency, social proof, recommendations etc, etc.
We seriously need to stop designing e-commerce like that. Excessive consumption is not only killing the planet but also puts people in debt. As responsible UX designers, we can’t be a part of this exploitative design practice.
Why should I care?
Why should I care?
Because we have an overconsumption problem
The mindless consumption of cheap and easily available stuff is ruining our planet, and our mental and financial wellbeing.
We exploit our precious natural resources to produce throw-away stuff that we ship halfway around the world for someone to use twice. The result is: destruction of natural habitat, poisoning of land and water, modern-day slavery, unthinkable amount of waste, and more.
Sadly, this cheap stuff not only doesn’t bring the promised joy but rather invites clutter and anxiety to our lives. Not to mention the potential financial loss due to hasty purchases.
The ‘upside’ is: companies are making big bucks selling useless stuff. It is a lose-lose-win situation (planet, consumer, business respectively).
E-commerce design is encoraging excessive consumption
Today, e-commerce platforms are designed intentionally to push users to buy more things. We can call it “persuasive design”, “nudging”, “choice architecture”, the point is: as designers, we leverage behavioral science and psychology insights to influence user decision-making.
For example, we use social influence like “3 people in your area bought this item in the past 24 hours” to signal desirability and nudge our users to buy. We use time-based scarcity, like 72-hour best sellers and countdown clocks to artificially create a sense of urgency.
In light of the above-discussed problem, this is clearly encouraging and facilitating unsustainable user behavior.
Design is a craft with responsibility
In the middle of a climate crisis, we simply can’t continue promoting unsustainable user behavior through our designs. E-commerce is only growing so the best time to challenge persuasive design is today.
We must start designing for mindful consumption.
“As designers, we need to see ourselves as gatekeepers of what we are bringing into the world, and what we choose not to bring into the world. Design is a craft with responsibility. The responsibility to help create a better world for all.”
- Mike Monteiro
What to do now
Learn what are pushy design patterns→
If you are curious about what design techniques are used in e-commerce today, this is for you. I collected a list of pushy patterns and added examples of how they are used in the wild. Take a look!
Start raising awareness about the problem→
To change how e-commerce is designed, we need to raise awareness about the problem. You’ll find ideas how to do that and resources to share.
Design Kind Commerce →
Coming Soon
Start your Kind Commerce journey with me →
I would love to help you and your company to take the first steps toward Kind Commerce. I’m available for consultation or giving a talk. Also open to different formats so feel free to ask!