Friction
Friction refers to any element of your website that creates confusion, distraction, or stress for visitors, ultimately leading them to exit your page. These elements impede the user experience and hinder conversions. Examples of friction-causing elements include dissonant color schemes, excessive text, cluttered navigation menus, or landing page forms with an excessive number of fields. Identifying and addressing sources of friction is crucial for optimizing user engagement and improving conversion rates on your website.
Example
An example of friction on a website could be a lengthy and complicated checkout process for an e-commerce store. If customers are required to go through multiple steps, fill out extensive forms, and encounter unexpected fees or shipping costs along the way, it can create frustration and impede their ability to complete the purchase.
This friction may lead to abandoned shopping carts and lost sales opportunities for the business. By streamlining the checkout process, providing clear pricing information upfront, and minimizing the number of required fields, the e-commerce store can reduce friction and improve the overall user experience, resulting in higher conversion rates.