Typically, any business be it online or offline seeks to deliver their service in the most efficient way possible, getting the customer in, getting them their order, and getting them out so you can repeat the cycle at a high rate. Anything that got in the way, or slowed down this process, is called "friction", and it's the big bad F-word of the commercial world.

Contrary to this widely held belief though, not all business related friction is bad. That's what Phillip Jackson found out when he and Rightpoint set out to study customer behaviour and buying habits.

Good Friction Vs Bad Friction

There are two types of business friction, generally defined as Good Friction and Bad Friction.

• Good Friction - Something in the buying process that allows a customer to engage further with your brand a product, without interrupting their purchasing of the product
• Bad Friction - Something in the buying process that slows the process without adding any value to the customer in return, creating "speedbumps" between them and completing their purchase

"How do I tell good friction from bad?" 

Where friction is placed in the shopping process is a good indicator, and knowing how shoppers approach your customer support experience is the best way to determine if you've applied too much or too little friction.

The vast majority of post-purchase customers contact service for two reasons:

1. Delivery questions
2. Return questions

There's a smaller but potentially helpful third reason though;

          3. Can you help me with more information?

Whereas any interruption that addresses the first two before checkout will be seen as bad friction, slowing the process to provide unwanted annoyance, one that provides the details of the third (accounting for around a third itself of all customers) before the customer either checks out, or has to return themselves to ask the detailed extra questions, is good friction, helping them to make a better purchase and have a better overall experience.

Examples of Customer Experience  Design Centric Friction

Pop-up assistants, preferred by almost 30% of all customers, are an excellent example of how to use good friction, and how it could result in bad friction. 

• If a customer arrives at your store, and is unsure what to get, a pop-up assistant, like an in-store assistant, can be very helpful in pointing in the  right direction. It is a form of friction, because you have interrupted their shopping flow, but it's good friction because it has actually accelerated their buying experience, delivered through a positive brand engagement. This means that the shopper not only has what they want faster, but now trust your company a little more.
• If however the pop-up needlessly interrupts someone going through the checkout, product in cart with their shopping experience nearly finished, this previously good example breaks bad. The customer has now been slowed unnecessarily, and will carry a negative association not only with your product, but with the feature itself.

Another good use of these chat features, which can be either automated or human-driven, is to offer customers ways that they could fix any problems they have themselves while waiting for escalation, empowering them to feel responsible for their own good outcome with your product and brand, with even less needed interaction or engagement.

The happier the customer is, the better their customer experience through either applied good friction or a noted lack of bad friction, the more likely they'll return to buy again.

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