Understanding Friction in the B2B Customer Journey: When Is There Too Much…or Not Enough?

Friction is everywhere, it’s a force of nature, but it could be costing you pipeline.

In B2B, “friction” shows up in a dozen small ways: a CTA buried below the fold, a form that asks for a little too much, an interstitial step before the demo scheduler, a slow-loading modal, confusing navigation labels, or even subtle micro-interactions that interrupt momentum. On landing pages, friction might be a long form. In the journey, it could be an extra click to view pricing or a confusing step between the ad and the scheduler. In forms, it’s the classic debate: short = more conversions vs. longer = better quality.

The tricky part: friction is not inherently bad. Sometimes it’s a filter that protects Sales from low-intent leads. The difference has real revenue implications. Behavioral economists have even coined terms for harmful friction (e.g., “sludge”), showing how needless process steps materially suppress action.

The question isn’t “how do we eliminate friction?” It’s “where is friction helping, and where is it hurting?” That answer changes by offer, audience, traffic source, and funnel stage—and it won’t match your competitor’s reality.

Why friction matters more than you think (and the psychology behind it)

When we reduce friction, we reduce cognitive load and physical effort—both powerful levers in digital behavior.

• Choice complexity slows decisions. The Hick’s-Hyman Law shows that decision time increases with the number of choices. On pages with too many options, labels, or CTAs, people take longer to act (or don’t act at all). In complex B2B journeys, unnecessary branching can be especially costly.
• Motor effort matters. From a human-system interaction standpoint, the time to hit a target (e.g., tap that small mobile CTA) depends on distance and target size (Fitts’s Law). Small tap targets, crowded layouts, and fussy input controls literally take longer to use—which compounds drop-off on mobile-heavy paid traffic. Now on mobile devices, we’re used to scrolling with our thumbs (the goal can be to “stop the scroll” for many campaigns). For Desktop devices though, our brains have to actually send a signal to our hands to move the cursor to the spot we want to click. Any doubt or hesitation in the thought process means we’re less likely to move that cursor.
• Processing fluency shapes trust. People prefer information that’s easy to process (clear copy, simple layouts, readable type). High “fluency” can boost perceived credibility and reduce perceived risk—critical in B2B where the stakes (and perceived costs of a bad choice) are higher. So, does that mean you should strip out every hurdle? Not quite.
• Effort can equal value. Under the right conditions, a bit of effort increases perceived value or commitment—the “IKEA effect.” While you wouldn’t make a prospect assemble your value proposition, asking a serious buyer to self-segment or provide context can improve outcomes for both sides. The key is to earn that effort with a clear value exchange. Sometimes even asking for a small piece of information makes it more likely they’ll provide more information later on (aka the “Ben Franklin effect”).
• Friction can act as a quality filter. In B2B funnels, adding a qualifying step can deter tire-kickers while preserving (or even increasing) conversion among high-intent buyers—improving Sales acceptance rates and downstream win rates.

Practitioners see this play out in forms and funnels:

• Zuko Analytics’ large-scale form benchmarking finds field count isn’t a simple “more = worse” lever across industries; the relationship can be surprisingly flat, which suggests context and design quality matter as much as raw field count. 
• In controlled tests, adding a qualifying step has sometimes increased lead generation—by clarifying value and aligning expectations. One case reported a ~20% lift after inserting an extra step in a B2B software lead-gen flow. Another set of case studies shows two-step flows occasionally beating one-step forms. The “best practice” is not universal. At Directive we’ve seen forms that have suffered from “greedy marketer syndrome” – including too many fields, such as phone number and social links, or open response form fields to vague questions. While these may help with internal lead routing and marketing attribution models, it’s always important to ask “If I’m the customer, do I understand why you need this?”. Think of your own experience. When a form asks you how many employees are in your organization, do you think it helps you – or them?
  

Bottom line: friction is a double-edged sword. Remove the wrong friction and you lose lead quality. Add the wrong friction and you throttle pipeline. Leave the wrong friction and your paid dollars bleed out on high-intent pages. That tension is exactly why Conversion Optimization testing—not opinion—should arbitrate the right amount of friction for each journey. At Directive we have the battle cry “Tested practices beat best practices” – and with hundreds of tests across dozens of clients in the B2B space, we have plenty of tested practices to pull from and apply to every industry.

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What most teams do when they see friction (and why it backfires)

Many teams default to “make it easy, remove all hurdles.” Short forms. Fewer steps. Fewer questions. One-click everything.

That instinct is understandable—less effort often boosts compliance—but it can produce two failure modes:

1. Quantity over quality. You celebrate higher form fills, but SDRs report lower connect rates, AEs complain about no-shows, and close rates stall. The funnel becomes operationally expensive: more meetings booked, fewer that matter. (This is where your CAC quietly rises.)
2. Value signaling collapses. When the path is frictionless, prospects can act without intent. Without a small ask (e.g., role, company size, use case), your routing, personalization, and Sales discovery all suffer. You can’t match them to the right motion. Unless your company likes getting a bunch of spammy leads, less form fields and steps isn’t always better.

The inverse mistake—adding friction everywhere—also backfires. Long forms on top-of-funnel content, multi-step walls before ungated assets, or clunky schedulers on mobile can tank response rates and kill your paid efficiency.

What works is smart friction: make it easy to say “yes,” but ask for just enough commitment to (a) qualify fit, (b) route and personalize, and (c) protect the Sales calendar. The specifics vary by channel (Paid vs. SEO/Content), campaign type (TOFU vs. BOFU), and offer (demo vs. guide vs. pricing).

Just like your favorite nighttime infomercial, yes, surely there is a better way.

The Solution? Use Conversion Rate Optimization to calibrate friction (and pair it with Paid Media)

Here’s how we approach it in what we call CRO2 – the Directive Consulting approach to Conversion and Performance Optimization – and why it pairs perfectly with Paid Media and Directive’s broader Customer Generation methodology.

1) Map friction to intent and traffic source

Start by segmenting where users come from and what promise got them to click:

• Paid Search (high-intent): Reduce sludge (confusing copy, slow page speed, dead ends). Keep forms focused but include minimal qualifiers (e.g., role, company size, use case) that directly improve routing and demo quality. Test single vs. multi-step forms and calendar-first vs. form-first on bottom-funnel terms.
• Paid Social (mid-to-low intent): Consider progressive profiling or a two-step flow to earn the form. Tighten messaging match between ad and landing page to boost processing fluency and reduce bounce. Test “soft commitments” (e.g., select use case) before asking for full details.
• Content/Organic (research mode): Gate selectively. If you gate, keep early asks light and value-forward. Use micro-friction (topic selection, role) to personalize nurture paths rather than forcing full-funnel data too soon.

2) Identify “sludge” vs. “signal”

• Sludge: duplicate fields, unclear error handling, slow input masking, tiny tap targets, cryptic labels, extra clicks to view pricing or schedule, broken state handling on validation errors. Remove ruthlessly. (Think: respect for user time.)
• Signal: fields or steps that unlock better routing, qualification, and sales readiness—and that your Sales team actually uses. Keep these, but test how and when you ask for them (single step vs. progressive, optional vs. required, upfront vs. after value preview).

3) Design experiments grounded in behavioral science

When we visit a website, especially a landing page from a brand we may not be 100% familiar with, our brain goes through thousands of little micro-decisions “Do I like this button? Do I like that font? Does it look like they’re talking to me?” and “Boy, is this going to take a lot of work?”

Leveraging behavioral science and mental shortcuts (or heuristics) can tap into what users are thinking — no matter what your value proposition is. 

Here’s a few of our favorites that we use in our A/B testing program (every single test must have at least one psychological component before it gets approved, No exceptions.)

• Use Hick’s Law to simplify choice architecture (one primary CTA per view; clear pathways for “Talk to Sales” vs. “Learn More”).
• Apply Fitts’s Law to mobile-first UI (bigger tap targets, adequate spacing, sticky CTAs). 
• Increase processing fluency via clarity: plain language, high-contrast type, tight ad-to-landing message match, and obvious next steps. Let someone know that when they fill out a form, they will get a call from a human within one business day, not “soon”.
• Leverage the IKEA effect carefully: ask for small inputs that signal intent (e.g., “Which use case best fits your team?”) when you can return immediate value (tailored content, better routing, or a relevant demo path). 

4) Instrument for both conversion rate and lead quality

One thing that makes Directive Consulting different from other agencies is that we do not ship experiments without downstream metrics. In addition to page-level CVR, we track:

• Meeting show rate,
• Stage progression (SQL ➜ Opportunity),
• Cycle time and Win rate.
• Revenue Lift and its impact on LTV:CAC

Form analytics tools show where users abandon, which fields trigger errors, time-to-complete, and “hesitation” fields. While we don’t advise always using something like Hotjar (the size of the script can slow websites down) — adding in qualitative data measurements can help supplement the quantitative data from any website test.

5) Calibrate friction per offer (not one-size-fits-all)

• Book a demo / Pricing request (BOFU): It’s reasonable to ask for a bit more (e.g., team size or tool stack) if it improves the meeting and reduces no-shows—especially on high-intent paid keywords. But make sure every single question you ask is defensible – ask yourself “Given this visitor journey – is this a reasonable thing to ask?” Test calendar-first vs. form-first flows and two-step qualification (short step → scheduler).
• Product tour / Assessment: Keep the initial gate light. Earn additional details after value proof (e.g., results preview → “add context to personalize your plan”). (Econsultancy)
• Guides / Webinars (TOFU/MOFU): Consider progressive profiling over time, asking incremental, high-signal questions that sharpen segmentation without spiking abandonment. (CXL)

6) Pair CRO2 + Paid Media to turn tests into real pipeline

Friction strategy is inseparable from acquisition strategy. Paid teams control who arrives and with what intent; CRO ensures those users experience the right level and timing of friction to convert efficiently.

• Campaign-fit friction: Align form depth to keyword intent and audience maturity.
• Message match: Reduce cognitive friction by tightly mirroring ad promises on the landing page. This decreases cognitive load and lowers bounce before you even touch the form.
• Budget efficiency: When friction upgrades lead quality, Paid Media performance often improves (lower wasted spend on non-buyers, better LTV:CAC). Conversely, when friction is sludge, paid dollars underperform.

This is exactly how Directive’s Customer Generation approach connects the dots between acquisition, experience, and revenue—designing journeys that respect user psychology and maximize pipeline, not just page-level metrics. 

Conclusion: There’s no “optimal” friction—only the right friction for this campaign, audience, and offer

Friction isn’t good or bad by default. It’s a dial, not a switch. Your ideal setting changes with traffic source and intent, offer and stage, and even device and industry. The only reliable way to find it is through Conversion Rate Optimization—iterative, behaviorally informed experimentation that pairs tightly with your Paid Media strategy and the principles of Customer Generation.

When you calibrate friction with data, you don’t just lift form fills—you improve lead quality, Sales efficiency, and revenue predictability.

Contact us for a free 30 minute web audit of your B2B customer journey here