Create Frictionless Experiences to Turn Leads into Customers

As a customer, you do not want to waste time. You want things to be quick, easy, and priced according to value. When a customer has been researching, considering, and attempting to understand the market for a purchase, they're fatigued. They want their problem to be solved. They're closing in on the finish line, and this is not the time to add friction.

Friction for Your Customer

Friction affects the customer negatively. That last push, the two steps they anticipate before they're at the finish, is not the time for them to discover the 10 more steps you’ve created, because guess what? They're now working uphill. You’ve now added tasks to someone who was mentally prepared to begin using your product or service. 

To put it mildly, it’s not the best first impression. Momentum can be quickly lost, and you must find ways to ensure the customer maintains the momentum they’ve been building to try to solve their problem (which they believed you were capable of doing). 

In a simple take, listen to the words of James Clear, the habit and process specialist: "Make it easy"

When your customer has pushed past interest, and now wants to buy or sign up, it should be as quick and easy as a hot knife through butter. Many landing pages, form solutions, and onboarding journeys that currently exist are rife with friction.

The friction could be painful amounts of data entry, a lack of optimization for the mobile transaction, or just a boring experience. Imagine an excited customer with the desire to purchase your product, or benefit from your service, only to have that energy met with a mundane and extensive form.  

The faster you get someone in and using your product or service, the faster they'll have the "aha" moment. The customer’s positive perception of your product will be renewed and they’ll be motivated to keep using it for its value.

The longer you keep people waiting, the easier it is for distraction to grab their attention. A frictionless experience maintains the momentum and your leads will be turning into customers a lot faster.

Within certain web experiences, there are elements that need to be included, whether it is vital questions, authentication processes, or loading times. These compulsory elements aren’t the issue, but rather how they’re framed, and what additional content supports these mandatory steps. Current form solutions lack the ability to story-tell, to context-set, or even add additional sales copy to reinforce that customer decision. More often than not, those mandatory questions are investigated for removal when their place is guaranteed.

The customer activation process can be optimized. It is possible. The issue is creating a frictionless experience the right way.   

What Makes a Frictionless Web Experience?

A frictionless experience can look different depending on the assets and components you use. It could be easy to select buttons or multiple-choice questions that replace data entry. In a desktop and mobile experience, this does make a difference in how long a web experience takes to complete.

A more advanced example of frictionless web experience is conditional logic.

Conditional logic allows for segmentation of the people funneling through your web experience. This is achieved by creating a custom pathway that they are directed down, taking the right information from them to better discover their needs. This works to build their ideal customer profile in a matter of moments, thanks to a well-constructed conditional logic journey.

In conjunction with understanding your potential customer (thanks to a personalized pathway depending on their segment), you can accelerate them through the web experience faster. A frictionless web experience drives a customer to activation. Fewer tasks and your customer gets to see the value of your product far more quickly.  

Taking advantage of integrations is another way to reduce friction for your potential clients. Instead of having to go to an external application to book time with you for a demo, your experience could embed Calendly directly. The customer wouldn’t need to change tabs, or risk being distracted; they’ll book in a time that suits them, all while staying connected to your defined flow. 

Integrations are there to save time and steps. That could be a file upload feature for sending through cover letters or resumes in the recruitment process. It may be the inclusion of a document signing application that takes out multiple steps in ensuring a deal goes through with significant ease. 

Moving Forward

Change is coming. With the rise of zero-party data and decentralized marketing, customer experience will be king. This coincides with a growing value of data privacy thanks to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature, and Google removing third-party data from Chrome at the end of 2023. Customers will not be easily directed to your site, and when they do their attention will be measured in nanoseconds. If you’re looking for customers in the future, the core ideas you will be focusing on will be frictionless experience and engagement.

Ana Soliven is the growth marketing manager at Upflowy. With more than 10 years of experience in MarTech, Soliven is passionate about data-driven growth. Previously, she’s held positions at Hotfrog, Epsilon, OneSaas, and Momentumgroup.tech.