Yes, it's possible to use A/B testing in a short-sighted fashion. Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of examples thereof. No, that doesn't mean A/B testing is inh

Yes, it's possible to use A/B testing in a short-sighted fashion. Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of examples thereof. No, that doesn't mean A/B testing is inherently short-sighted. It's entirely possible to measure long-term secondary effects of an A/B test. Just save a record of treatment groups, and remember to come back and compare long-term metrics like LTV down the road. We do this all the time at my startup, and of the dark patterns that we've tested, we rarely see a long-term negative impact on LTV that outweighs the positive conversion rate impact. If you want to make a valid argument against dark patterns (which is basically what 90% of this thread is trying to do), it's unlikely to be grounded in efficacy. This is coming from a business owner who spends seven figures monthly on advertising, constantly split tests, and is heavily invested in only making decisions that are in the long-term interest of the business.