Adding friction to increase revenue

Are you finding your new users dropping off and not converting to customers?

There are plenty of reasons for this.

Often, it’s because it takes too long to get to the product’s core value and the new users decide to leave.

As a result, most marketers and consultants will just suggest you remove friction.

I say: add it instead.

Here's how adding the right friction can lead to lower drop-off (and more revenue):

Before we get into it, here’s a newsletter I’ve been reading recently.

Drew is a Senior Growth Lead at Netlify. He writes an insightful newsletter on Product Led Growth.

He curates the best product growth posts on Linkedin (he’s featured me a few times 🙏🏾 - add me btw) and shares them in his newsletter. He provides commentary on these posts and makes them specific to a part of the user journey.

Worth a read!

Less friction alone isn't enough.

To get a user to complete a product action or upgrade, you need to motivate them.

You must excite or articulate value first.

Otherwise, users won't take the next step.

Adding some friction can give you the room to provide context and a reason for users to say yes.

Here are some ways you can add the right type of friction to motivate and increase your conversion rate:

1) Provide relevant data

Data doesn't lie.

So when a user is looking to achieve a goal and sees data about how to get there faster, it's compelling.

Especially if a user is considering whether to pay and become a customer.

Here Drops shows interesting data that learning a language happens faster if you are a customer.

I’ve provided examples below that show what the flows look like with and without extra friction.

You’ll see that adding more context can be helpful in these instances.

Less context

More context

2) Provide insight related to the goal

MyFitnessPal shows a clear goal at the end of sign-up.

Rather than just asking the user to upgrade, they first provide a clear date that the user could hit their goals.

Then they ask a user to upgrade. This lets the user know what they would need to do to hit that goal:

Upgrade and find out.

Less context

More context

3) Explain how it makes the experience better

During onboarding, you will likely want a user to fill in data so they are more likely to get product success.

Hinge could just ask you to add photos and videos.

But they know incomplete profiles don't see enough value and will likely churn.

So they let users know they'll have more success using the app if they fill out their profiles.

Less context

More context

4) Use Social Proof

Calm breaks up their lengthy onboarding flow with social proof related to the goal.

They show someone who benefitted from the product in a way the user cares about.

This provides some motivation for a user to keep filling out details.

And then hopefully for them, upgrade.

Less context

More context

5) Make it clear they will miss out

Notifications are your main way to communicate with an app user.

You get one chance for a user to agree to native Apple notifications.

Add an extra screen like Etsy does to get permission first.

If they say no, you get another chance.

Less context

More context

Adding friction for the sake of adding friction is bad.

For the most part, seek to remove it.

But when you are asking a user to do something important or make a costly decision, make sure you have motivated them enough.

If you haven't, don't be afraid to use extra product real estate so you can motivate more.

Like today’s newsletter? Let me know what you thought was the most useful.

When you’re ready, here’s I can help you grow:

Book a free 30 min strategy session to discuss potential areas of opportunity.

Get the Startup Growth Roadmap - my playbook of 25+ templates that's helped 300+ founders and marketers to scale their startups.

Hire me to audit your onboarding flow.

Cheers,

Theo