Ever wondered why certain products are designed to be frustrating? It’s not poor design—it’s strategy. Planned annoyance is a tactic companies use to affect user behavior, encourage engagement, or generate revenue.
Consider subscription services that make it a pain to cancel. By adding additional steps or making it difficult to find, they take advantage of user inertia in the hopes you’ll throw in the towel and remain subscribed. Like how social media notifications push you back continually, using volatile alerts to build a habit.
Some devices, such as printers with costly ink, are made to keep people locked into their system. Cheap razors with high refills do the same thing—seducing consumers with a great bargain but costing them more in the long term.
Even slow-close buttons on elevators and frustrating pop-ups have a role—whether to control crowd movement or nudge consumers towards an upmarket alternative.
Though these strategies can be infuriating, they succeed because they take advantage of human psychology. The next time something on a product gets under your skin, wonder: is it by chance, or by design?
#ProductDesign #ConsumerPsychology #MarketingTactics #UserExperience #BehavioralScience