Transparency means the user can see what a choice costs and what happens next before they commit: the price after a discount ends, what a "free" option turns into, which data goes to which vendor. On this site it covers pricing clarity, fair terms and informed choice. Vague lines like "Verified for your privacy" or "Enable free access" fail it because they hide the real deal behind a reassuring label.
The evidence that hiding costs works in the short term is strong, which is why it needs a rule. In a large field experiment on StubHub, Blake, Moshary, Sweeney and Tadelis (2021) found that showing fees up front instead of at checkout reduced both how many tickets people bought and how expensive they were. The FTC's 2022 dark patterns report lists advertising only part of the total price and burying junk fees as deceptive design. Baymard's checkout research finds that unexpected extra costs are the most common reason shoppers abandon a cart.
In onboarding and paywalls the hidden part is usually the renewal price, the trial end date, or what data you share. Hiding it may lift the first conversion, but it moves the cost to refunds, chargebacks, app store complaints and churn once people find out.
How to use it
- Put the price after any intro offer next to the offer itself, for example "€9 for 3 months, then €15/month".
- Name exactly what a trial or "free access" becomes, when it converts, and how to cancel, on the same screen as the button.
- When asking for data or AI features, say what is shared, with whom, and why, as a separate choice from the core product.
Watch out
- Technically disclosing terms in grey fine print or behind a sticky footer is not transparency; if the key number is harder to read than the CTA, it is hidden.
- Labels like "free" for something that auto-converts to paid cross into deception and invite regulatory and store-review trouble.
