Employing dark patterns never pays off in the long term. Here’s how companies and designers can work together to prevent UX worst practices.

While there are plenty examples of bad user experience design, from ineffective site navigation to overly complex interfaces, there is a darker side of UX that goes a step further. Designers may feel torn between designing in the best interest of the user and ensuring that their client is happy with a financial return. It’s this complicated dynamic that can lead to what’s known as “dark patterns.”

The term, coined by London-based designer Harry Brignull, is also known as dark UX, and describes a type of design that is meant to to trick users into doing something they wouldn’t otherwise. Dark UX shows itself in the airline website that tricks its customers into spending more money by making it seem like only the most expensive seats are available, or the loan provider that uses unnecessary steps so it’s more difficult to make advance payments on loan installments. These practices use UX methodologies to achieve business goals and increase conversion rates, rather than build the best experience for the user. And it’s not just crappy, deceptive companies that lean on dark UX to trick users into doing what they want: People have griped on social media about encountering dark patterns on Amazon, Uber, Facebook, and LinkedIn, among others.

What companies that use these practices often fail to realize is that these strategies only bring short-term returns. In the long term, the experience frustrates the user, leaving them irritated and reluctant to return. The result is a stain on the brand’s reputation, which may cost more than any conversion rate they reach.

Staying clear of dark UX shouldn’t be the burden of just UX professionals, and while this can be a difficult subject to tackle, here are a few easy guidelines that can help you avoid the bad practices of dark UX.