Behavioral friction

What is behavioral friction?

Behavioral friction is effort, delay, complexity, or another obstacle encountered while completing an action. The term is used broadly in applied design and should be tied to a specific process and measure.

What behavioral friction looks like

Extra form fields, unclear language, a required account, or a long trip can all add work. The burden can also be emotional: a process may require someone to explain something embarrassing in public.

Example: account creation at checkout

A shopper who is ready to pay may stop when asked to create an account. Guest checkout removes that particular requirement. Whether it improves completion, and by how much, depends on the service and the people using it.

Evidence from application assistance

In Bettinger and colleagues’ FAFSA experiment (2012), assistance with a streamlined application plus information improved outcomes; information alone did not. This supports the importance of the application process in that setting.

How to find and reduce unnecessary friction

Follow the process from the user’s side. Count the steps, watch where errors occur, and measure time and completion. Then test a specific change against the existing process. If a new shortcut increases completion but produces incorrect applications, that matters too.

Some effort serves a useful purpose, such as confirming a consequential action. The question is which obstacles are unnecessary for the person’s task.