Subject areaCommunication sciences
Friction is any obstacle that slows down or discourages customers on their purchase journey: an extra step, missing information, a hard-to-reach contact, a channel that does not recognise what the customer did in another one.
Every point of friction raises the chance that the customer gives up.
The site's articles treat it as the enemy of a coherent experience: customers no longer separate online and store, and they expect a customer journey without friction. Removing it is therefore a process task before a technology task, because it often comes from outdated contact methods or from departments that do not talk to each other. It follows the same logic as omnichannel and it is where customer experience is measured.
An example
A machinery manufacturer asks customers to phone during office hours to order a spare part. An online form with a written reply removes the friction of a synchronous interaction and respects the time of both parties.
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Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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