4 Ways Friction Can Improve UX
by Nick Babich
When designers hear the word ‘Friction’ it immediately raises negative thoughts in their minds. Friction slows down interactions and reduces conversions.
Good design is frictionless design
Users should go from A to B in the fastest, smoothest and most efficient way. right? Well, not always. Friction can improve UX in some cases. Here are 4 ways friction can improve UX of your product:
1. Friction can prevent users from making bad moves
Show confirmation dialog for irreversible actions
Frictions can make user to stop and think about what they are doing. And this can reduce the risk of mistakes: people stop and analyze the outcome from the action they are going to take.
Friction makes user get out of auto-pilot mode
A strong example of frictions increasing safety comes with a dialog where the user must confirm important action. When a user sees such dialog they might “Was this really what I wanted to do?” Notice that the most prominent button here is “Cancel.”
Side note: Of course the apps we design should support Undo operations. But sometimes it’s impossible to introduce Undo feature due to business logic limitations or the nature of operation.
2. Friction can help users improve their skills
Education, Gaming
Friction increases cognitive load and it’s generally a bad thing when your design makes users think. But for educational products, friction can actually improve the final outcome. Most of us remember a time when we learn to ride a bicycle. It was a time of trials and errors. But since all of us had a goal—learn how to ride bicycle—the process education and friction that we had during the process was absolutely fine.
Games are another good example. In games, frictions sparks interest. No one likes games without friction because there would be absolutely no fun playing a frictionless game.
In game design, friction can turn from the pain points to exciting challenges.
But when it comes to actual product design, there’s a thin line between what users find exciting and what they find frustrating. Too low level of friction makes the game boring, while too high of friction makes the game too challenging and lead to stress.
3. Friction can make users feel good
Feelings of accomplishment (IKEA Effect)
People value things they created or built more than those created by someone else. IKEA Effect:
The more effort you put into something, the more you come to value it.
This principle works for IKEA products, and it works for app or website.
In essence: once you have put time and effort into something, you’re less likely to pull out of it.
People enjoy a sense of accomplishment because it helps us feel competent.
At the same time, it’s important to remember that IKEA principle works only when:
- User able to finish the task successfully.
- The reward users receive after accomplishment is superior to the amount of the effort they spend.
4. Friction can improve the quality of content generated by users
Friction can be helpful for website where users generate the content. Think about Product Hunt. If anyone could post a product on this resource, spammers would turn the experience into a nightmare for Product Hunt support team. That’s why the team carefully curates the content and people who can post.
Conclusion
Friction has a bad reputation, but it’s not inherently negative. Like any design tool, friction should be used in a proper context. Properly used, friction can be a very powerful tool for designing better experiences.
Have more examples when frictions brings benefits for UX? Please let me know in the comments!
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