Richard Lomax explores why frictionless customer experiences can sometimes make people more anxious, and how journey testing can help brands understand which moments to remove, and which ones quietly make the difference.
The airport car park with no barrier
A few weeks ago, I parked at my prebooked Manchester Airport car park.
Or at least, I thought I did.
I’d pre-booked the car park, driven up to the entrance and nothing happened… I drove straight in. No barrier, no ticket, no flashing green light just an open road inviting me in.
Now I’m sure there’s some system in place that recognises my number plate, maybe even an AI agent. It’s objectively more efficient, cars flow faster and less infrastructure to maintain. Less friction!
And yet I spent all my time in the airport and a fair chunk of the flight worrying whether I’d accidentally parked in the wrong car park and was about to return to a hefty fine! It was a tiny moment in the customer journey, but it changed how the whole experience felt.
That’s because the old barrier didn’t just control access. It provided reassurance.
When friction provides reassurance
The barrier lifting was a moment of confirmation:
You’re in the right place.
The system recognises you.
When brands streamline customer experiences, they often focus on removing friction. But not all friction is bad. Some friction performs an important psychological role. It gives people confirmation, confidence and a sense that the process is working as it should.
In customer experience research, we often hear people say they want things to be easy, fast or seamless. But what they sometimes mean is that they want things to feel certain.
There’s a difference.
That difference matters, because businesses often optimise for efficiency while customers are quietly optimising for certainty.
Why confirmation cues matter
Take shopping with Amazon. It feels like they send you 47 emails just to spend a fiver on some kitchen gadget.
Rationally, it’s unnecessary. But emotionally, they’re incredibly useful. Every notification reassures us the process is progressing normally.
What else have we seen in our customer experience research?
We see this tension in customer experience research all the time. In one Mustard project for a construction client, customers became anxious when they didn’t receive an automated confirmation email after placing an order. Even if a human responded a few hours later, the silence in between created uncertainty about whether the order had actually gone through.
For another client, we tested a new travel app. While users appreciated the autocomplete feature when journeys were left incomplete, they still wanted a notification confirming it had happened. They didn’t want the app making changes in the background without their knowledge.
The same tension applies to ticket barriers, payment confirmation screens, delivery updates, check-in emails, app notifications, or the little green light that indicates your hotel room has locked behind you. These interactions don’t just serve a functional purpose, they reduce ambiguity.
Automation, AI and the risk of invisible journeys
The irony is, the invisible systems are technically better, but when processes disappear, users can lose the cues that help them understand what is happening.
Once again: Businesses optimise for efficiency. Customers optimise for certainty.
The result can be experiences that look smoother on paper but feel more stressful in real life.
This is especially relevant as more brands move towards automation, AI and passive verification systems. The more invisible the process becomes, the more carefully brands need to think about reassurance.
How journey testing helps brands make the difference
Sometimes the best user experiences aren’t the ones with the least friction.
They’re the ones that make people feel confident they’ve done the right thing.
The challenge is knowing which moments to remove, and which ones customers quietly depend on. That’s where journey testing comes in. Methods like accompanied journeys, mobile ethnography and diary studies help uncover the hidden reassurance cues people rely on.
The tiny moments that rarely show up in operational metrics but can make or break an experience.
Need to know which moments matter in YOUR customer journey?
The difference is not always made by the biggest touchpoint, the slickest interface or the most advanced technology. Sometimes it is made by a small moment of reassurance that tells the customer: yes, this has worked; yes, you are in the right place; yes, you can stop worrying.
Want to understand which moments really matter in your customer journey? Get in touch with Mustard, we’d be delighted to help.