“In the subscription space it leads to high churn. If you burn your users you're going to lose them. You need to respect your users and take a principled approach to business.”

Principles Before Profits: Dark Patterns Drive Short-Term Revenue and Long-Term Churn

Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr list 'principles before profits' as the eighth growth principle because the subscription model exposes the cost of burning users more nakedly than any other model. Churn is the direct, measurable consequence of mistreating customers — a dark pattern that tricks someone into subscribing just creates an annoyed churner in the next billing cycle. Transparent, user-respecting growth is also better growth.