• Examination of several subscription websites found that many use dark patterns and shady tactics to make unsubscribing tougher.
• Forcing users to take an action before cancelling, confirmshaming and forcing folks to call a helpline are just some of the tactics used.
• Researchers suggest that some of these tactics may confuse less tech savvy individuals forcing them to maintain a subscription they may not need or want.

A group of researchers have published a study that examines how complex the journey to unsubscribing from a service can be and the results are quite alarming.

In the article Staying at the Roach Motel: Cross-Country Analysis of Manipulative Subscription and Cancellation Flows, researchers examined how unsubscribing compares in the US and UK. The bad news is that no matter where you are, companies make it difficult to unsubscribe.

The jumping off point for this research article is a Federal Trade Commission complaint which alleges that Amazon involuntarily enrolled customers into Prime subscriptions and then made the cancellation process incredibly complex.

“The complaint asserts that it requires a minimum of six clicks to cancel the Amazon Prime subscription and that the cancellation flow contains several dark patterns such as Forced Action, Interface Interference, Misdirection and Obstruction,” write the authors.

“In July 2022, Amazon agreed to change its cancellation process for the EU and EEA users, following a complaint made by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), the Norwegian Consumer Council and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue Thanks to these changes, EU and EEA users can cancel their subscriptions in two clicks with a clear and prominent cancel button–an option that was not available in the US until April 2023.”

The authors refer to the practice of putting obstacles in the path of unsubscribing as a roach motel. This is a reference to a cockroach trap sold in the US where roaches were trapped by a sticky substance. We’d have called it Hotel California but that’s aside from the point.

When it comes to cancelling, companies make it tough to cancel using dark patterns and tactics such as confirmshaming. You may have encountered confirmshaming yourself when a company says they’re sad to see you go or that your subscription could financially ruin the company. In some instances the authors found examples of cancellation being called “a mistake” by the company.

Another low tactic is forced action where the user is asked to do something before cancelling. This can take the form of completing a survey or type a confirmation phrase.

This is of course in addition to tried and tested tactics like using vague language, misdirection and more.

While it is slightly easier to unsubscribe from services in Europe, this is borne from legal requirements and not the goodwill of companies.

“Cancelling online was possible for 63 of the 67 subscriptions made in the study, but these were not effortless processes. Four of the 67 subscriptions could only be terminated by contacting the customer representative via phone. Calling to cancel, in most cases, was straightforward, and often the phone number was easier to locate than an unsubscribe button. Out of the four phone calls placed, three lasted approximately three minutes each,” reads the study.

The study also looks at the sign-up process and found that many subscriptions require a large amount of data.

The authors point out that legislation is both in place and coming that prevents this sort of behaviour but more needs to be done to prevent companies from making it so hard to unsubscribe that users just continue paying.

“In summary, while careful or tech-savvy users may navigate these design tricks to complete their cancellations, users with low tech literacy, reduced vision or confused mental state may easily fall for these traps and end up paying for subscriptions that they do not need and use,” the authors wrote.

Be careful what you sign up for folks.

[Image – Denis Bogdan from Pixabay]