“Good” and “bad” frictions in customer experience: Conceptual foundations and implications

Abstract

Businesses often strive for frictionless customer experiences, assuming that customers always desire seamless interactions. However, recent academic and practitioner discussions suggest that not all forms of friction are detrimental. Reconciling the conflicting views, we propose a framework that defines friction as simply the effort customers exert to complete tasks related to their consumption goals. Furthermore, drawing from the goal striving theory and customer experience literature, we identify and propose four types of friction based on dimensions of task desirability and task value: frustrating, constructive, preference-based, and rewarding. Our framework challenges the prevailing business practice of eliminating all friction, as evidenced by a topic modeling analysis of announcements related to achieving frictionless customer experiences. Instead, we posit that while frustration friction should be minimized, the other three types of friction offer opportunities for businesses to enhance customer value. Particularly, we caution managers that eliminating constructive friction (i.e., customer effort in low-desirability, high-value tasks) may hinder value creation. We also recommend that managers find opportunities to infuse rewarding and preference-based friction to enhance customer experience. By understanding these nuances, businesses can strike a balance between friction reduction and value optimization in their customer experience designs.