Friction

Friction is anything that makes it harder or more effortful for a visitor to do what you want them to do — a long form, a confusing layout, an unexpected cost, a slow page, an unclear next step. Every point of friction is a reason to give up, and reducing it is one of the most reliable ways to lift conversion.

Find friction with the evidence: session recordings, form analytics, funnel drop-off reports, and user testing show exactly where people hesitate or quit. Then remove it — cut form fields, clarify copy, speed up pages, eliminate surprise steps, and make the next action obvious. Reducing friction usually beats adding persuasion, because you are removing reasons to leave rather than manufacturing reasons to stay.

Senior practitioners distinguish harmful friction from useful friction: some effort qualifies leads or sets expectations, and stripping all of it can flood the funnel with poor-fit users who churn. They map friction across the whole journey (not just one page), prioritise removal by drop-off impact and value, and weigh conversion volume against lead quality — the goal is the right conversions, not merely the most.