Should “Like us on Facebook” be a required field on a form?

Question

I came across a Facebook app/tab for a brand that required that the person Like the brand before being able to submit the form. I'm used to normal "like-gates" in which a splash screen is shown saying you have to Like the brand before being allowed to fill out the form. However, in this specific case, the Like button was "step 4" on this particular form that didn't have a Like-gate.

Here's an example of the form:

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This seems to go against some of the Like button guidelines; however, does anyone have any feedback on if this is 1) allowed and 2) something that is a good practice?

I have my personal thoughts on this practice; however, I am curious to know if anyone has any data or experience with this type of layout.

Answer 1

They're leveraging Sunk Costs, a powerful psychological effect. Since you've filled out the standard parts of the form you're more inclined to click the Like button; bailing out late means abandoning all the work you've done. Even if the "cost" was something rather minor like this, you're likely to see less of a bounce rate than you would with a form that started with a "like to sign up!" intersital page before the form was filled out.

However, this is definitely a Dark Pattern as it's (ab)using psychological tricks to help the business encourage behavior that's good for them but not really good for the user at all, as Liking a page is now essentially signing up for marketing/shares from that page.

Also note you're excluding users without a Facebook account or who choose not to Like random companies/share your info with them...but that's likely irrelevant to the business decision at work here; those people wouldn't have Liked the company's page anyway. Since the focus is on that, not the user, user goals are abandoned; surely you see the problems this line of thinking can cause.

So, "should" it be done like this? It's a wicked thing to do and I wouldn't recommend it, but it may well increase conversion rates over a form where the "like" was required first. Of course I wouldn't recommend requiring the like at all; it's better to have one engaged user that actually reads your facebook posts and shares them than to have 50 users racing to unlike/hide your facebook posts immediately after signing up.

Answer 2

In addition to the other comments discouraging this, it should not be assumed that the user even has a Facebook account. In this case, the form effectively requires the user to sign up for Facebook, which will almost always amount to an abandoned form.

Answer 3

No you shouldn't. The only right answer is to provide the best user experience possible. Un-needed extra steps, no matter how small, are unacceptable. Extra un-needed steps that feel, and ARE evil to any degree are further unacceptable.

Is it a good idea from a business perspective? Doesn't matter, bad UX is bad UX. Period.

There are further deeper reasons this has big pluses and minuses from a business perspective, but that is not what UX is about.

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That said. The option to 'like' is fine. This issue is requiring it. Personally I don't necessarily want all my friends to see that I signed up for X or receive future communications from X. As a result, I may choose to not sign up at all, even if I originally wanted to. Privacy is a real issue; so practical form completions may actually go down, in the name of marketing.

Answer 4

Just because I submit to some newsletter or support forum or whatever does not mean I actually like that company. Someone is going to be added to my adblock list in this case, even if that renders something else less usable. It's like having to hug a salesperson when all you really wanted was a car or your groceries. And if it is inevitable the reaction may rather be "I need a shower" than "I'll buy here again".

Just don't forcibly link two distinct things. If users like your company, they will hit the like button themselves, or even actively look for your facebook profile to do so.

Answer 5

In my opinion, definitely not ! Not only it goes against good practices, but what would be the reason why a user would be forced to like something before signing uop ?? Unless it is a dictatorial brand, nobody would do it! It's like you would not accept any potential critics from your users or so.

Furthermore, and though there are many internet users who do have a Facebook account, there are many other who just DO NOT have any Facebook account, which means you would turn your site down on these people as well.

In a nutshell, never do it unless you want to kill your site.

Answer 6

It is less noticeable embedded in a list so there will be less resistance to complying with the request. In addition the default action on a form is to fill out the fields so the user will be less likely to refuse due to less attention being given to evaluating the request than to completing the task (i.e. filling out the form). Higher compliance rates would be expected as a result.

However, a dedicated splash-screen like-gate may be more effective in those that comply (press the like button) due to the commitment-consistency mechanism: Making a public commitment increases the likelihood of (future) behavioral consistency with that commitment (see Cialdini's book Influence for more). The more public the commitment, the greater the consistency. A splash-screen is likely a more public commitment.