Thanks for another great breakdown. Super interesting.
Whenever I see a UX change as with the Comfort / UberX order switch I always wonder what they are trying to achieve, as we never really know from the outside we can just guess.
It could be Uber want to increase revenues by getting more accidental taps on Comfort, but that would seem risky in the long term as it errodes trust - though great for s/t revenues. Maybe they wanted you to try a Comfort for the first time, in the hope you'd like it going forward - if so sounds like that was a fail as your ride felt the same! Maybe there were more drivers offering Comfort in the area, so you'd get a faster response by choosing one. I'm sure there are many more. Whatever the reason, it does feel pretty dark to me as we're all used to UberX being top.
Anyone working at Uber want to let us in on the reason?
I'm always just guessing with these - however there has been a few times the company has reached out to share more. So I'm always waiting for those messages 👀
Love your extra hypotheses there - if I continue to go on Uber and keep seeing comfort as the default, that will help narrow down what it might be.
I used to be more optimistic with these, but over time have learned not to always trust. We never know thought - hope it's not so nefarious as it sounds...
What makes this work isn't just visual hierarchy—it's the copy. "Trip Preferences" sounds like customization, not upsell. "May be able to accommodate" disclaims responsibility while implying value. "Comfort" vs "UberX" language difference is doing heavy behavioral work. Content designers get blamed for "unclear labeling" but often we're asked to write copy that intentionally obscures tier differences. This is microcopy as dark pattern enabler.
Thanks for another great breakdown. Super interesting.
Whenever I see a UX change as with the Comfort / UberX order switch I always wonder what they are trying to achieve, as we never really know from the outside we can just guess.
It could be Uber want to increase revenues by getting more accidental taps on Comfort, but that would seem risky in the long term as it errodes trust - though great for s/t revenues. Maybe they wanted you to try a Comfort for the first time, in the hope you'd like it going forward - if so sounds like that was a fail as your ride felt the same! Maybe there were more drivers offering Comfort in the area, so you'd get a faster response by choosing one. I'm sure there are many more. Whatever the reason, it does feel pretty dark to me as we're all used to UberX being top.
Anyone working at Uber want to let us in on the reason?
I'm always just guessing with these - however there has been a few times the company has reached out to share more. So I'm always waiting for those messages 👀
Love your extra hypotheses there - if I continue to go on Uber and keep seeing comfort as the default, that will help narrow down what it might be.
I used to be more optimistic with these, but over time have learned not to always trust. We never know thought - hope it's not so nefarious as it sounds...
What makes this work isn't just visual hierarchy—it's the copy. "Trip Preferences" sounds like customization, not upsell. "May be able to accommodate" disclaims responsibility while implying value. "Comfort" vs "UberX" language difference is doing heavy behavioral work. Content designers get blamed for "unclear labeling" but often we're asked to write copy that intentionally obscures tier differences. This is microcopy as dark pattern enabler.
SUCH a good point. There was something on the tip of my tongue as I was writing that I didn’t quite capture
And I think this is it. It’s what makes the flow feel not like an upgrade but just choosing bits and bobs to edit
So glad you resonated with that :)