Designing for conversion sounds ugly—you should learn it anyways

Your designs might be having a real impact. You just may be unaware of it

Photo by Antoni Shkraba: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-talking-to-a-car-dealer-7144235/

Recently, I've heard designers complaining about "Designing for conversion."

It sounds like an ugly practice and may conjure up images of a toxic workplace. It can also be one of the critical things designers can offer businesses.

Why? It is one of the easiest ways to show design value. Your design work might already be improving Conversion, and you might not be aware of it.

Here's how knowledge about Conversion (and other metrics) can help you communicate better with businesses.

Design KPIs: how to avoid dark/deceptive patterns

I've asked over 100+ Designers about metrics through my Data-Informed Design course, and fears tend to fall into one of 3 categories:

• Metrics are unfamiliar (i.e., "I have no idea what I'm doing")
• Metrics cause a loss of creative control (i.e., "Metrics will cause me to create safe, boring, predictable designs")
• Metrics are intimidating (i.e,. "What if I misinterpret metrics or make a mistake?")

The second fear is the primary fear I hear about "Designing for Conversion."

Whether they've heard of nightmare scenarios where designers are asked to deceive users into buying things (or they've experienced it), combining design and metrics sounds like a surefire way to end up designing dark patterns.

If you're unaware, dark patterns are design patterns that deceive users and trick them into paying for something they don't want.

These include:

• Free trials that make it impossible (and frustrating) to cancel
• Tricking users into purchasing premium plans they don't need
• Emotionally manipulative designs (like having a "No thanks, I don't like saving money" button)

These patterns are used to pursue one specific metric: revenue. That's why designing for Conversion sounds like such an awful idea.