The paper that reframed customer service for a generation. Based on a study of more than 75,000 people interacting with contact centres or using self-service channels, the authors found that over-the-top customer service efforts make little difference to loyalty. What customers actually want is a simple, quick solution to their problem. The paper introduced the Customer Effort Score — a metric that proved to be a better predictor of loyalty than customer satisfaction or the Net Promoter Score.

The definitive book on the commercial case for removing friction. Building on the HBR paper, Dixon, Toman and DeLisi established that 94 percent of customers with low-effort experiences repurchase, compared to just 4 percent of those with high-effort experiences. Their finding was counterintuitive: reducing customer effort is a far more powerful predictor of loyalty than attempting to exceed expectations. Required reading for any coach who works on customer experience.

Price and Jaffe argue that being frictionless has become a strategic necessity — not a nice-to-have. Drawing on more than thirty practical examples from leading companies across four continents, the book explains how organisations can design products, sales, and support so that customer effort is reduced or removed entirely. It provides a methodology for looking at every customer interaction as an opportunity for improvement. A practical guide for coaches helping clients redesign how they serve.

Lemieux profiles founders and businesses reducing friction across their models — some through improved customer experiences, others by revolutionising their operations entirely. The book argues that reducing friction between people and their passions is the defining strategic challenge of modern business. It profiles organisations across retail, technology, and services, showing how the removal of barriers creates loyalty, advocacy, and competitive advantage.

One of the most cited pieces of research on customer experience and business outcomes. McKinsey found that customer journeys are significantly more strongly correlated with business outcomes than individual touchpoints. Customer satisfaction with health insurance is 73 percent more likely when journeys work well than when only touchpoints do. Companies that get the journey right can achieve revenue gains of 5 to 10 percent and cost reductions of 15 to 25 percent within two to three years. Essential context for any coach advising on the commercial value of friction reduction.

The most comprehensive ongoing benchmark of friction’s real-world cost. Forrester’s CX Index measures how well a brand’s customer experience strengthens loyalty across three dimensions: ease, effectiveness, and emotional connection. In the 2025 edition, covering 469 brands across 13 countries, 21 percent of brands declined in CX quality and only 6 percent improved — with North America hitting an all-time low. The data is sobering and makes the business case for friction reduction impossible to ignore.

The most nuanced and recent academic treatment of the subject. This peer-reviewed study challenges the assumption that all friction is bad, identifying four types: frustrating, constructive, preference-based, and rewarding. While frustrating friction should be eliminated, the other three types offer opportunities for businesses to create value. The paper also finds that too little friction can reduce customer engagement and loyalty — a finding that reframes the goal from eliminating friction to calibrating it.

Run Frictionless second edition gives coaches and founders a practical framework for building businesses that scale. Every purchase includes a free playbook and an online session with the author.