For years, the gold standard of digital experience design has been the same: removing friction. Designers tend to make the flow so smooth so that the user barely notices they are in it.
Lately, some of the best-performing digital experiences are deliberately adding steps. For example, onboarding quizzes have been added to improve personalization, and gamified check-ins to turn passive users into engaged participants.
This friction has been built because the wrong kind of ease has costs that don’t show up in your conversion dashboard. But when do we know that adding some friction can improve user experience? Here’s a practical framework to answer that.
Also Read: The Beginner’s Guide for Crafting a Seamless User Experience
What Is Intentional Friction?
Intentional friction is the deliberate introduction of a pause or a decision point within a user flow, designed to serve a specific user or business outcome. In the banking industry, intentional friction can be found as confirmation step before the transfer process to protect users from costly mistakes.
The key distinction between intentional friction and unnecessary friction is purpose. If removing a step leads to more errors, lower trust, or shallower engagement, then the friction is doing real work.
However, if removing it simply makes the flow faster with no downside, then it was just an unnecessary step.
When Friction Works: Three Scenarios Where the Extra Step Is the Point
In the right context, an extra step makes the experience worth having. Here are three cases where it pays off:
1. High-Stakes Decisions
When a process feels too easy for its stakes, people trust it less. In banking, healthcare, and insurance, a confirmation step before a high-value transaction or an approved medical procedure is a beneficial pause that communicates care.
In Indonesia’s digital banking landscape, where 67% of customers switch brands due to poor experience rather than pricing, this kind of trust-building friction is what keeps them.
2. Loyalty Onboarding
The easiest loyalty sign-up is a single email field. But the easier it is to join, the easier it is to forget. Ask 2–3 questions upfront, and the user has skin in the game. Add a progress bar or tiered challenge on top, and now they have a reason to come back.
This is where friction becomes a feature of the loyalty architecture itself. When Antikode designed gamified loyalty experiences for McDonald’s Indonesia, the layered engagement mechanics (stamp collections, tiered rewards, Ramadan-themed challenges) turned repeat transactions into a participation loop that users chose to stay in.
3. Physical-Digital Moments
QR check-ins at events. Stamp collections at restaurants. AR-activated packaging. These all ask users to do something extra, but the extra action is the experience.
Optimizing it away would remove the value entirely. The scan, the tap, the collect. Those micro-actions are what turn a user from audience into participant. Bintaro Design District’s digital stamp system, designed by Antikode, achieved a 36.2% conversion lift precisely because the friction of collecting and redeeming was the mechanic, the thing users came back for.
When Friction Hurts: Three Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Not all friction works. Here are three patterns where it costs more than it contributes:
1. Checkout and Payment Flows
Indonesia’s QRIS ecosystem and e-wallets like GoPay and OVO have trained consumers to expect one-tap payments. At checkout, every added step has a measurable cost.
This is where the classic UX instinct is right: the transaction moment is not the place to add reflection. The best thing you can do at checkout is stay out of the way.
2. Repetitive Authentication
Asking returning users for information you already have is not security. It’s an expensive mistake.
If someone has logged in, verified their identity, and used your product before, every unnecessary re-verification tells them: we don’t remember you.
3. Friction Disguised as Philosophy
Sometimes a brand adds a “moment of pause” or a “reflection screen” without a clear purpose. It looks intentional, but the user does not know why they are waiting, they just feel slowed down. If you feel struggle to articulate the user benefit of the friction, it probably should not exist.
A Decision Framework for Intentional Friction
Before adding any friction to a digital experience, run it through three questions:
1. Does this friction serve the user’s interest, or only ours?
If the pause exists to capture data you want but the user didn’t offer, that’s only extraction. Intentional friction works when the user benefits from the slowdown, such as fewer errors, better personalization, more informed decisions.
2. Does removing this step make the outcome worse?
If taking it away means more refund requests, lower-quality sign-ups, or reduced trust, the friction has earned its place. If removing it just makes the flow faster with no downside, it was just in the way.
3. Can the user understand why this step exists?
Transparent friction builds trust. “We’re verifying your identity to protect your account” is friction that feels like care. An unexplained loading screen with no context feels like neglect. The difference between intentional friction and bad UX often comes down to whether the user knows what the pause is for.
Also Read: Efficient UX Design: Why Clear Flows Lead to Higher Conversions
The Goal Was Never Zero Friction
The frictionless ideal was always a simplification. The real goal is an experience where every step earns its place. Where ease moves users forward and friction protects, personalizes, or deepens the moment.
The brands that get this right, across banking, loyalty, e-commerce, and F&B, build experiences people remember. And sometimes, the thing people remember is the moment they had to slow down.
Designing that balance takes judgment and it starts with questioning the reflex to optimize everything away. Looking to rethink how friction and flow work across your digital product? Start a conversation with Antikode.