Friction. This is a term in the landing page optimization biz that we use from time to time. Whenever you ask someone to do something or to commit to taking an action on your landing page or website, there is friction.  It’s almost impossible to remove friction, it’s hard wired into our lizard brains, it’s there for a reason. Doubt creeps in, trust meters start buzzing and going off, trying to determine if this next step is the right action they should take.

Friction is doubt, it’s hesitation about moving forward, whether it’s entering in their home address, hitting the call to action button, or even a contact me form. That friction is the point where either it’s too much work and the doubt overtakes the visitor and they leave the process and exit the landing page or it’s just the right amount of friction and the landing page design and copy over takes the doubt and pulls them in a little further and they complete the action.

Friction sounds like this in the brain of most Real Estate leads; is this guy going to spam me? Is this a scam? Is my information safe?

Friction takes place at the moment of the capture process, typically a lead is on the landing page, they are starting to enter in their info in trade for whatever the lead magnet might be, a home valuation, an ebook, etc…

The best way to defeat this friction is to compel them with more information, not an essay of info, but short persuasive information that helps to reverse the risk that may be creeping in. Answer all of the doubts that they may have with some nice micro copy.

Friction: Is this guy going to spam me if I give my email?

Solve it with: Have a short little description under the email box saying “Your information is 100% safe. We value your privacy.”

Contentverve.com did a study where they used the word “spam” under a lead capture box on a landing page. The results decreased sign ups by 18.70%! Using the word spam created a negative priming effect. Priming is using copy or images that helps to “prime” the mind of the web visitor into the mindset that you are trying to convey and create. However this created the opposite which was negative priming.

However when they changed the micro copy wording to say-“We guarantee 100% privacy. Your information will not be shared.” They saw a dramatic increase of sign ups! By removing the word “spam” it took away the negative priming effect and helped to reduce the friction that visitors where feeling.

Removing friction is just one part of creating a higher converting landing page or lead funnel, but this is a great example on how to start. The key take away is to practice, test and measure in order to know what’s really working for you.