ZERO FRICTION

FUTURE
Discover how improving customer
experiences can deliver new growth
opportunities for US businesses.
MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE
CONNECTED CONSUMER
The world is changing fast. Digital connectivity has improved
our lives for the better, and it has raised people’s expectations,
offering them every imaginable kind of choice. With mobile
devices in hand, consumers have more power, voice and access
to information than ever before. They’re engaging with brands
across multiple channels before making purchases and are less
willing to suffer any inconvenience or invest extra time to get
what they want. Once people make up their minds, they want
products and services immediately.

In this age of instant gratification, creating a good consumer

experience is essential. But many businesses are not keeping
pace. Across over 600 businesses studied in the US, it still
takes 22 clicks on average for people to complete checkout
across both online and on mobile.1 If companies are not
meeting expectations, people can easily move on. And 70% of
consumers say technology has made it easier than ever to take
their business elsewhere.2

Any additional effort, step or inconvenience in the purchase

journey is friction.

1“
Checkout Conversion Index Snapshot for Q2 2018,” PYMNTS.com, Nov 2018.
2
“Consumer Experience in the Retail Renaissance,” Salesforce and Deloitte Digital, Apr 2018.
IDENTIFYING FRICTION IN YOUR BUSINESS
Friction can occur offline and online, and can happen at all stages of the
purchase journey. It happens when people have to search for items in stores
or on an app, wait in long lines, enter excessive payment information or even
laboriously fill in details on physical or digital forms.

The more steps consumers have to take, the more opportunities there are for
friction. Across an omnichannel customer journey, friction can occur at multiple
touch points from discovery to purchase and even post-purchase. Online friction
can include slow website loading speeds, a nonintuitive user interface and poorly
designed search functionality.

Some businesses are already providing consumers with experiences that reduce
or eliminate pain points causing friction. These leaders are in turn resetting
consumer expectations, making them less tolerant of friction and more likely to
switch to another brand or abandon their purchases entirely.3 Businesses that lag
in optimizing their experiences stand to lose the trust of existing consumers, the
attention of prospective consumers and billions of dollars in potential revenue.

3
“Shifts for 2020: Mobile Service Economy,” Facebook IQ, Aug 2017.
REDUCING FRICTION IS A

$213 BILLION
OPPORTUNITY BUY NOW

In 2019, the projected opportunity cost of friction for businesses in the US

is $213 billion—and that is just for ecommerce alone. This friction will be
driven by slow checkout processes and bad user experience design, according
to web usability research company Baymard Institute. This represents an
immense opportunity for businesses in any industry to reduce friction and
grow their customer base.

Source: “40 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics,” Baymard Institute, Jun 2018.
“Retail Ecommerce Sales, US 2018-2022,” eMarketer, Oct 2018
 DISCOVERY THE JOURNEY TO
A ZERO FRICTION
FUTURE
Friction occurs during 3 distinct phases of the
consumer journey.
POST-PURCHASE

PURCHASE
DISCOVERY
Inspiration | Browsing

PURCHASE
Consideration | Checkout

POST-PURCHASE
Fulfillment | Post-delivery
 DISCOVERY
FRICTION
Consumers expect a smooth experience and well-rounded support across
every stage of the purchase journey. It begins with them first finding out Hi! I have a question
about the brand, business, product or service. At this discovery stage,
about this dress.
consumers want to find clear, concise, relevant information easily across
channels. Any pain point that prevents a prospective consumer from doing
so is a cause of discovery friction. No problem.
How can I help?
Businesses should adequately raise brand awareness through online and
offline channels and provide comprehensive information that is easily
accessible, localized and relevant to each individual market. This can help
prevent customers from losing interest and dropping off before completing
purchases. In a Salesforce global study across 15 countries, half of customers
surveyed say tailored engagement based on past interactions is important to
winning their business.4

4
“State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce, Apr 2018.
DISCOVERY FRICTION

DISCOVERY FRICTION AND PAIN POINTS

OCCUR IN 2 MAIN CATEGORIES:

INSPIRATION
People need relevant information about products and services—and how they
can address their needs. If ads are lacking, irrelevant or fail to target the right
audience across online and offline platforms, customers can’t discover what
they don’t come across or remain wholly unaware of.

BROWSING
Consumers can’t buy what they can’t find, and that includes if they
encounter difficulty accessing store locations, long website load times and
online or offline stock shortages that make it difficult to learn more about
the product.
 DISCOVERY FRICTION

HOW RALPH LAUREN

REDUCED DISCOVERY
FRICTION TO REACH
NEW CUSTOMERS
Luxury apparel and lifestyle company Ralph Lauren wanted to provide
frictionless shopping experiences that help people easily locate and
purchase the right items.

To find and attract new customers, the marketing team used Facebook’s
dynamic ads for broad audiences to reach people who may be interested
in the brand’s retail offerings, showing them ads for products relevant to
their activities and interests.

9.6x 88%
higher lift in decrease in cost per
incremental online incremental purchase
purchases
 DISCOVERY FRICTION
DISCOVERY
PAIN POINTS

DISCOVERY INSPIRATION BROWSING =Top friction points

Online and • Prospect unaware product/service exists • Items out of stock

in-store • Hard to discover new products

• Unclear proposition for customers
(e.g. marketing doesn’t accurately showcase a business’
• Prospect can’t touch or try products products or store doesn’t have what customers need)
• Lack of product usage advice
• No product reviews/ratings • Lack of assortment

• Negative reviews not satisfactorily addressed • Products not appropriately priced

• Can’t chat or ask for help

POST-PURCHASE

PURCHASE

Online only • Ads link to wrong page/product • Website doesn’t show which store carries products
• Website doesn’t show in-store stock availability
• Irrelevant ads/offers
• Content not mobile optimized
• Nonintuitive shopping app
• Too much personal information asked
• Long load times
• Bad search functionality
• Too few product images
• Product filters difficult to use
• Website lacks trust/legitimacy
• Retailer doesn’t verify seller’s legitimacy
• Store hard to locate/too far away

In-store only • Bad product shelving, hard to navigate store

• Store doesn’t match online promotions

• Short product shelf life
Source: “US Consumer Journey Analysis” by Boston Consulting
• Lack of parking spaces
Group (commissioned by Facebook IQ), Feb 2019.
 DISCOVERY FRICTION

“When you look at

shopping and retail, one
of the top issues people
BUY NOW have is with checkout.
Consumers are walking
around with a computer
in their pocket, so let
them use that computer to
complete the transaction.”

— JAMIE IANNONE, CEO OF SAMSCLUB.COM 5

5
Jennifer King, “The Future of Checkout Lies with AI, Scan and Go,” eMarketer Retail, Mar 2018.
 PURCHASE
FRICTION

Long wait times, clunky or inefficient point-of-sale systems, multiple

forms, limited payment options and transaction failures can all make
the online and offline path to purchase unnecessarily cumbersome.
Research shows that 61% of US digital shoppers have abandoned an
online shopping cart just because a site had errors.6

These pain points create purchase friction, and it is equally prevalent

in stores and in digital journeys when consumers experience unexpected
steps and processes, even after selecting a desired product or service.
Requiring consumers to travel long distances to reach outlets or even
navigate through complicated interfaces or complex directories are
common pain points.

Online Consumer Behavior: Optimizing the Journey for Today’s Multi-Tasking Shopper,” Namagoo, May 2018.
6“
 PURCHASE FRICTION

PURCHASE FRICTION AND PAIN POINTS

HAVE 2 MAIN CATEGORIES:

ORDER NOW
CONSIDERATION
As consumers consider which products they want, problems can steer them
away from purchasing. These include missing prices, unclear delivery options
and costs, shopping carts that don’t save items and even a lack of click-and-

61% collect options that allow shoppers to pick up pre-purchased items in-store.

of US digital shoppers
have abandoned an online
shopping cart just because CHECKOUT
the site had errors.7
Consumers may experience pain points that make it difficult to buy their
selected products or services, including a lack of cross-device or channel
functionality, hidden charges, difficulty completing payment information
fields or extra steps to complete a purchase.

Online Consumer Behavior: Optimizing the Journey for Today’s Multi-Tasking Shopper,” Namagoo, May 2018.
7“
 PURCHASE FRICTION

HOW KFC ATTRACTED

DINERS TO STORES WITH
LOCATION-RELEVANT ADS

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) wanted to encourage more people to

visit its brick-and-mortar locations in the US. The restaurant chain used
Facebook’s store visits ad objective to reach people on mobile who not
only like chicken and fast food, but who also were near store locations.

The ad’s call-to-action provided directions to the closest KFC, so

chicken lovers could easily get to their food.

27M 2.4M
people reached store visits driven by
the 8-month campaign
 PURCHASE FRICTION
PURCHASE
PAIN POINTS

DISCOVERY CONSIDERATION CHECKOUT =Top friction points

Online and • No option to buy online and pick up in store • Too many steps to complete purchase

in-store • Lack relevant product suggestions • Discount coupon not accepted

• Difficult to compare prices • Difficult to find discount codes/vouchers
• Prospect found cheaper options at other sites • Limited payment options
before checking out • Transaction delay/failure
• Can’t order out-of-stock items
POST-PURCHASE

PURCHASE

Online only • Unclear delivery options and costs • Prospect doesn’t trust online payment platform
• Shopping cart doesn’t save items for • Difficult to input payment information
return sessions
• Forced account creation for purchase
• Hard to update shopping cart items • Hidden costs revealed at checkout
• Credit card checkout not mobile optimized
• Transaction/browsing history not saved

In-store only • Price not clearly displayed • Long checkout lines

• Unhelpful, unknowledgeable staff
• Wrong prices between shelf and checkout
• Long wait time to try products
• No additional services (e.g. alterations)

Source: “US Consumer Journey Analysis” by Boston Consulting

Group (commissioned by Facebook IQ), Feb 2019.
 84%
of shoppers are unlikely
to shop with a brand again
after a poor experience8

8
“Last Mile Delivery: What Shoppers Want and How to #SaveRetail,” Convey, 2018.
 POST-PURCHASE
FRICTION

Once payment is completed, consumers expect rapid fulfillment,

status updates—including purchase confirmation emails and delivery
timeslots—and support for their product or service. Post-purchase
friction occurs when consumers experience impediments to receiving
products or services, or are unable to easily access guidance needed
to use or repurchase the product.
 POST-PURCHASE FRICTION

POST-PURCHASE FRICTION AND PAIN

POINTS HAVE 2 MAIN CATEGORIES:

FULFILLMENT
No matter the industry, fulfillment, customer support and service are essential to any
successful business. Consumers might face difficulties with a newly purchased product
or service, such as struggling with delivery tracking, missing packages or even damaged

52% items. A bad customer service experience increases the likelihood of customers
switching to a competitor. Accenture research shows that 52% of consumers have
of consumers have switched brands because of poor customer service.9
switched brands because
of poor customer service

POST-DELIVERY
Just as it is important for consumers to shop and browse on their own terms, it is equally
vital for consumers to be able to return their purchases easily and be rewarded for their
loyalty. Returns not accepted in stores, delayed or slow reimbursements and a lack of a
loyalty rewards program disrupt their overall experience.

12“Digital
9
Disconnect
- Accenture, DigitalinDisconnect
Customer Engagement,” Accenture, 2017.
in Customer Engagement, 2017
 POST-PURCHASE FRICTION

HOW KLM MADE

CUSTOMER SERVICE SOAR
WITH MESSAGING

The airline wanted to improve its customer service by making it

easy for customers and agents to have meaningful conversations on
social media.

KLM implemented artificial intelligence for its social media channels

to respond to messages. On Messenger, KLM engaged with
customers post-purchase, sharing flight information such as booking
confirmations, check-in notifications, boarding passes and flight
status updates.

40% 5-point
increase in customer higher average Net
interactions with Promoter Score on
Messenger Messenger than goal
 POST-PURCHASE FRICTION
POST-PURCHASE
PAIN POINTS

DISCOVERY FULFILLMENT POST-DELIVERY =Top friction points

Online and • Long wait for customer support • In-store returns not accepted
• Unhelpful customer support • Poor returns redressal process
in-store (e.g. no updates on return status)
• Limited customer support channels
• Limited customer support hours
• Lack returns policy/process information
• Returns not free of charge
• Slow reimbursement post-return
• Hard to create return labels
POST-PURCHASE

• No subscription option for repeated purchases

• No loyalty rewards
PURCHASE

• Unattractive loyalty offers

• Loyalty offers/gifts not personalized

• Difficult to leave reviews/feedback

Online only • Poor order/delivery tracking
• Slow, inflexible delivery arrangements
• Wrong item delivered
• Actual item differs from order

• Customer support doesn’t adequately address

negative feedback

In-store only • No assistance bringing purchases to vehicle

Source: “US Consumer Journey Analysis” by Boston Consulting

Group (commissioned by Facebook IQ), Feb 2019.
 STEPS FOR REDUCING FRICTION
While the opportunities, pitfalls and solutions around friction are clear, the question remains—where to begin?
We recommend 3 simple steps to reduce friction in your business.

1 2 3
MAP ANALYZE IMPLEMENT
Your top priority should be to know your consumers. Understand Once the results are in, examine the data and evaluate how Following the analysis, formulate a strategy that alleviates
who your consumers are and what has brought them to your these friction points affect your business. Dig deeper into the friction and improves the consumer experience.
business. Identify what steps they had to take to complete their findings to evaluate which friction point caused the biggest Find partners and experts who can work with you on this.
purchase journey and most importantly, what pain points they missed opportunity, most likely when most consumers While the process can seem challenging, continually testing and
encountered at each phase. dropped off. After determining which friction point caused learning will help you create better customer experiences.
the biggest revenue loss, calculate the projected business
Conduct a thorough review of your website and mobile data to growth if that were removed. Hold ideation sessions and
identify inefficiencies and where the biggest customer drop- workshops, and then prioritize areas that would have the
offs in your existing process occur. Consider customer surveys, most impact on your business.
ethnographic research and stakeholder interviews to supplement
those findings. When you understand what potential consumers
need and any obstacles they might encounter with your brand, you
can remove friction and make their experiences better.
CONCLUSION: HERE IS A CHECKLIST TO ASSESS FRICTION
A ZERO FRICTION FUTURE IN YOUR BUSINESS:
Do you observe a high percentage of drop-offs before purchase, but are
Now, more than ever before, businesses must take the necessary unable to identify the reasons?
steps to reduce and eliminate friction. Do you have a strong brand, but the market share or sales numbers do not
often reflect this?
Consumers who experience pain points are more likely to abandon
Do you see increasing complaints or negative feedback from your customers?
the purchase journey at every phase, or switch to a competitor that
promises a smoother, hassle-free experience. Simply put, multiple Are significant portions of your business processes manually driven?
sources of friction will negatively impact your bottom line. Ignoring Do you see your competitors offering more omni-channel and
these pain points can lead to higher marketing costs, loss of streamlined services?
customer loyalty and trust and a lower market share.

Where are the bottlenecks in your business? What obstacles are

your consumers facing?

Removing friction is no longer a nice-to-have option—it’s

a must for every business that wants to remain relevant
to the mobile-first, demanding shoppers who value speed
and ease. Businesses that successfully identify friction
and remove it will gain a competitive edge and create a
Zero Friction Future for their customers.
ABOUT
FACEBOOK IQ
Facebook IQ delivers the insights you need to understand
consumer behavior, drive more effective marketing and transform
how your business reaches people. Learning from the billions
of people on our platforms and the millions of businesses that
advertise with us, we provide insights into behaviors both on and
off our platforms across generations, markets, devices and time.
Our original research and interactive tools help you find insights
to inspire and inform your own campaigns.

See more ways to connect with the world at:

www.facebook.com/iq