Dark patterns produce short-term conversion lift and long-term brand damage. A forced-continuity subscription that buries the cancel flow converts 20% more trial signups, but produces 3-5× higher complaint rates, more chargebacks, and structurally worse word-of-mouth.
For B2B SaaS specifically, dark patterns are usually counterproductive even by short-term math. The buyer talks to peers; the peer cite signal travels faster than the conversion bump. One viral "they made it impossible to cancel" Twitter thread can cost more than a year of dark-pattern lift.
The diagnostic alternative: structured persuasion that respects buyer attention. Strong proof, clear pricing, frictionless onboarding, and an easy cancel flow tend to produce higher LTV than coercive equivalents — and they pencil out at every scale.
How Lytms scores it
Lytms scores honest persuasion signals: clear value prop, specific proof, frictionless CTA, accurate offer description. Pages that score well on these dimensions tend to be the opposite of dark-pattern-driven; high-Lytms scores correlate with high LTV.
See also
See dark patterns on your own page.
One URL. About 2 minutes.