The following are among such sources of friction.

Marketing and Sales Friction

• Low online visibility. With more than 90% of B2B purchases beginning with research on the Web, maximizing online presence is crucial for B2B vendors. Business buyers won't buy from vendors who lack visibility in search and social media.
• Insufficient or difficult-to-find information. B2B websites need to provide different types of information based on buyer personas, specific concerns or topics of interest, and different formats (text, images, video). Each member of the buying committee will have his or her own questions and unique information needs. Friction is created when such information is missing or hard to find on the vendor website.
• Mixed messages. Friction arises when, as your grandmother may have put it, "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing." Prospects are unlikely to buy if they get different answers and inconsistent messages from different employees or departments within your organization. That was less of a danger in the old days, when public interaction was limited to official "company spokespeople," but social media now makes virtually every employee "client-facing." Avoiding such confusion therefore requires strong leadership from the top, effective training, and use of internal social communication tools such as Chatter or Yammer.
• High initial price point. It's often easier to sell a customer a basic system at a low price point up front and add options later, than it is to sell a high-priced, full-featured offering right out of the gate. That makes price less of an issue, but it also reduces risk for the buyer. Many types of subscription-based software offerings are now sold this way. Taking that idea to the ultimate "no brainer" price point—free—many vendors in categories such as email services and social media monitoring employ a "freemium" pricing model, whereby customers can sign up to use a stripped-down, low-volume service for free, then down the road upgrade to various levels of higher usage volume, added-function, fee-based services.

Customer Service Friction

• Limited contact information. A "contact us" button should be one of the most prominent items on every page of a B2B website, and the contact page should include physical/mailing address, fax and phone numbers, email address (or addresses—preferably multiple, by department), and social media accounts. Consider an online chat option as well (but make it visitor-initiated, not an annoying pop-up box). Reduce friction by making it as easy as possible for prospective buyers to get in touch with you using their preferred communication method.
• Poor responsiveness (or nonresponsiveness) to questions. More than 80% of Twitter users say they expect a same-day response to tweets aimed at brands, but many B2B vendors fail to meet that standard. Clearly, that's a missed opportunity: 71% of buyers also say receiving a quick brand response on social media would make them more likely to recommend that brand to others. Response time matters regardless of the communication channel (social, email, phone, etc.); responding quickly builds confidence in your company. Slow response creates friction.
• Automated phone answering systems. Though efficient and convenient for vendors, these automated systems are universally annoying to callers. Provide both a main contact number and department-specific phone numbers instead. A human voice on the other end of the line can be both a powerful differentiator and a friction-reducer.

Product and Service Friction

• Partial solutions. The ability to buy a "whole product" (e.g., software, equipment, installation, and training services) from a single supplier, AKA one-stop shopping, reduces friction. That's why all-in-one travel sites such as Kayak, Orbitz, Expedia, TravelZoo, and Travelocity are popular. When the buyer is forced to piece together a solution from multiple vendors, friction is increased. B2B suppliers can address this issue via building, buying, or bundling approaches to create and support a whole product.
• Complex implementation. There is no way around expert on-site installation for certain types of products (e.g., machine tools or conveyor systems), but "products" should be delivered online whenever possible. Cloud computing, projected to grow at a 26% annual rate through 2016, is essentially delivering a server online. Software is increasingly being delivered as a service, along with integrated consulting; this model is nearly universal in the marketing automation software market, for example.
• Business disruption. The less disruption or interruption of business activities that a purchase entails, the less assistance or support needed from other departments (such as IT); and the less integration with other systems required, the easier a buying decision is to make. That is why software vendors are increasingly delivering their applications online and including pre-built connectors, where required, to other popular software suites.
• Complexity in use. Although many B2B products in areas such as technology, communications, industrial automation, and transportation are necessarily complex, that doesn't mean they have to be difficult to use. Good example: a modern automobile is unquestionably a complex piece of equipment, yet one can be operated by any teenager with a modicum of training. Better example: the vast majority of us have only a rudimentary understanding, at best, of the inner workings of a smart phone, yet any moderately bright grade-schooler can use one. B2B products should be as complex as they need to be, but as simple to use as possible.

Organizational (Business-Level) Friction

• High perceived risk. Vendor websites must not merely provide the information that various buyers need to make a decision, but they must also build trust. Unless your company is a "household name," your website needs to reduce perceived risk and should position your company as a safe choice by including complete contact information, certifications (such as Better Business Bureau membership), awards, customer testimonials, big-name client lists, and money-back guarantees.
• Lack of organizational transparency. In sales situations where vendors are unfamiliar and product differentiation is unclear or insignificant, buyers will seek broader information about the companies in order to arrive at a decision. In such situations, purchase decisions can be strongly influenced by the vendors' level of executive participation in social media. According to recent research, 82% of buyers say they trust a company more, and 77% of buyers are more likely to buy from that company, if its CEO and senior leadership team are active in social media.
• Employees aren't empowered to resolve issues. When a customers or prospects have an issue, they want it resolved. They don't care about an employee's job description or your company's organizational chart. When those things get in the way of solving problems, they become friction. Companies such as Nordstroms, Zappos, and Southwest Airlines are known for empowering their employees to resolve customer problems, no matter what they are, precisely to eliminate this type of friction.

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Recognizing the importance of minimizing friction, some vendors are now creating a Chief Experience Officer position to help those companies "not only develop services and products that are pleasing and useful but also curate...experiences with their people and their products to create (what they hope is) a unique brand."

As B2B competition becomes more global and intense, products become commoditized, quality is assumed, margins are squeezed, and unique value propositions become less unique, the overall customer experience will increasingly be what separates successful companies from column fodder. And identifying and minimizing friction, at all its potential points, optimizes the customer experience.

Key Takeaways

• The "consumerization" of B2B marketing is about reducing friction at all customer touchpoints. B2B vendors need to learn from friction-reducing techniques of consumer goods firms and retailers.
• Friction can be found, and must be eliminated, at every stage of the customer journey: in marketing (e.g., ease of finding information), sales (responsiveness), customer service, product/service design, even at the corporate level.
• Some firms are now hiring chief experience officers who can work across departments to reduce sources of friction for buyers.