FRICTION―The Untapped Force That Can Be Your Most Powerful Advantage

1. Friction is the invisible force shaping human behavior and business success

Decreasing friction increases action.

The law of friction states that the level of action is inversely proportional to the level of friction. When you make something easier, people do more of it. When you make something more difficult, people do less of it. This applies to everything from consumer behavior to employee productivity.

Friction takes many forms:

• Physical effort required
• Mental effort or cognitive load
• Time and delay
• Complexity and confusion
• Bureaucratic obstacles

Businesses and organizations that identify and eliminate sources of friction gain a powerful competitive advantage. Reducing friction allows customers to more easily take desired actions, employees to work more efficiently, and processes to run more smoothly. The most successful companies obsess over minimizing customer effort at every touchpoint.

2. Reducing friction in customer experience drives loyalty and profitability

Ninety-six percent of customers who put forth high effort to resolve their issues are more disloyal.

Customer effort is key. Research shows that making things easy for customers is far more important for building loyalty than "delighting" them with above-and-beyond service. Companies should focus on removing obstacles and simplifying processes rather than investing in costly "wow" moments.

High-effort experiences drive disloyalty:

• 96% of customers reporting high-effort experiences become disloyal
• Only 9% of customers with low-effort experiences become disloyal
• High-effort customers are 4x less likely to repurchase
• 88% of high-effort customers say negative things about the company

To reduce customer effort, companies should resolve issues in a single contact, eliminate the need for customers to switch channels or repeat information, and empower frontline employees to solve problems. Even small friction reductions can have an outsized impact on customer loyalty and word-of-mouth.

3. Digital giants like Amazon and Google dominate by minimizing user effort

When you reduce friction, make something easy, people do more of it.

Frictionless design is at the core of the most successful digital companies. Amazon's 1-Click ordering and Prime membership remove friction from online shopping. Google's search predictions and autocomplete reduce typing effort. These seemingly small conveniences add up to create a compelling user experience that's hard for competitors to match.

Key friction-reducing innovations:

• Amazon's 1-Click ordering
• Google's search predictions and autocomplete
• Uber's seamless ride-hailing and payment
• Instagram and WhatsApp's simple sign-up process

By obsessively focusing on making things easy for users, these companies have achieved dominant market positions. Their frictionless experiences create habits and loyalty that keep customers coming back. Any company can apply these same principles to improve their digital products and services.

4. Bureaucracy and red tape create costly organizational drag

The US economy loses $3 trillion dollars in productivity annually due to excess bureaucracy.

Organizational drag refers to the cumulative impact of bureaucratic policies, needless meetings, excessive approvals, and other internal frictions that slow work and reduce productivity. This hidden tax on efficiency can cost companies billions in lost output.

Common sources of organizational drag:

• Unnecessary meetings
• Excessive emails
• Complex approval processes
• Redundant reports and paperwork
• Unclear decision-making authority

Leaders should actively work to identify and eliminate sources of organizational friction. This can involve streamlining processes, empowering employees, reducing unnecessary meetings and reports, and creating a culture of trust. Even small reductions in internal friction can yield significant productivity gains when applied across an entire organization.

5. Trust and empowerment reduce internal friction and boost performance

Employees at high-trust companies report: 74 percent less stress, 106 percent more energy at work, 50 percent higher productivity, 13 percent fewer sick days, 76 percent more engagement, 29 percent more satisfaction with their lives, 40 percent less burnout.

Trust drives performance. Research shows that high-trust organizations significantly outperform their peers. When employees feel trusted and empowered, they experience less stress, higher engagement, and greater productivity. Trust also reduces the need for bureaucratic control mechanisms that create friction.

Building a high-trust culture:

• Share information broadly
• Recognize excellent performance
• Give people choice over how to do their work
• Show vulnerability as a leader
• Invest in employee development

Leaders should focus on creating an environment of trust rather than implementing strict controls. This not only improves performance but also reduces the friction caused by excessive rules, approvals, and micromanagement. A culture of trust allows organizations to be more agile and responsive.

6. Habit formation succeeds through tiny, frictionless actions

After I pour my morning coffee, I will open my journal.

Tiny Habits is a behavior change method developed by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg. It involves reducing desired behaviors to their simplest, quickest form and anchoring them to existing habits. This makes new habits nearly frictionless to adopt.

Keys to the Tiny Habits method:

• Make the new behavior extremely small and easy
• Anchor it to an existing habit or routine
• Celebrate small wins to reinforce the habit

Examples of Tiny Habits include flossing one tooth after brushing or doing two push-ups after using the bathroom. By starting with ridiculously small actions, people can bypass the friction and resistance that often derails bigger habit changes. Over time, these tiny habits can grow into more significant behaviors.

7. Friction engineering can guide behavior when complete elimination is undesirable

If you want someone to do something, consider offering a much more difficult alternative. It will make the action you want seem easier.

Friction design involves strategically adding or preserving friction to guide behavior in desired directions. While reducing friction is often the goal, there are times when some friction is beneficial or necessary.

Examples of productive friction:

• "Cooling off" periods for major purchases
• Opt-out organ donation policies
• Placing healthy foods at eye level in cafeterias
• Adding steps to unsubscribe from essential services

By thoughtfully engineering friction, organizations can nudge people toward better choices while preserving freedom of choice. This approach can be particularly effective in areas like health, safety, and financial decision-making where completely frictionless experiences may lead to undesirable outcomes.

8. Cultural and regulatory friction impacts economic growth on a national scale

China's economy as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) grew a cumulative $82 trillion more than India's from 1987 to 2017, even though the two economies were initially similar in size.

National friction in the form of bureaucracy, corruption, and over-regulation can significantly hinder economic growth. Countries with streamlined business processes and low regulatory burdens tend to see faster economic development and higher standards of living.

Factors contributing to national friction:

• Complex business registration processes
• Inefficient legal systems
• Corruption and bribery
• Excessive occupational licensing
• Inflexible labor laws

The World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" rankings highlight how reducing friction through regulatory reform can spur economic growth. Countries that make it easier to start and operate businesses see increased entrepreneurship, job creation, and overall economic dynamism. Policymakers should focus on eliminating unnecessary barriers to business activity.

9. Imaginary friction from cognitive disfluency affects decision-making

When subjects read the descriptions in an easy-to-read font, just 17 percent couldn't decide which phone they preferred. When the descriptions were printed in a more difficult font, the percentage shot up to 41 percent.

Cognitive fluency refers to the ease with which our brains process information. When information is presented in a way that's harder to process (disfluent), it creates a form of imaginary friction that can impact decision-making and behavior.

Effects of cognitive disfluency:

• Tasks seem more difficult and time-consuming
• Risks appear higher
• Decision-making is impaired
• Compliance with instructions decreases

Even small changes in how information is presented can have significant impacts. Using clear, easy-to-read fonts and simple language can reduce this imaginary friction. This is particularly important in areas like medical instructions, financial disclosures, and user interfaces where clarity and ease of understanding are crucial.

Last updated: November 5, 2024