Frictionless Behavioral Benchmark · 125 stores audited · live data

The State of E-Commerce Friction

Name: Frictionless Behavioral Benchmark
Creator: Frictionless
License: https://frictionlessai.net/terms

Behavioral economics benchmarks from a research audit of 125 e-commerce stores (DACH + selected international DTC brands). Where the average store fails psychologically, which friction patterns are most common, and how your store compares. Methodology grounded in Kahneman, Cialdini, and Baymard research.

Sample size: N = 125

Methodology: 7 friction categories · 23+ patterns

Updated: live

Methodology note. The Frictionless Behavioral Benchmark is built from automated friction analysis of public-facing pages of e-commerce stores — originally a DACH-focused dataset, now expanding to include international DTC brands (Allbirds, Casper, Gymshark, Glossier, Brooklinen, Warby Parker, Harry's, Ritual, Peloton, Magic Spoon, Quip, Outdoor Voices, Cariuma, Patagonia, Dr. Martens, Anker, Boohoo, Govee, and others). Major direct-to-consumer brands and mid-tier shops. Each store contributes one data point (its most recent scan); duplicate scans of the same store are not double-counted. The dataset grows continuously as more stores are added to the research and as users initiate their own scans via frictionlessai.net. All benchmarks are reported in aggregate; individual store scores are not published.

For full pattern definitions and research citations, see our 23 Friction Patterns Framework and the Forced Account Creation Study (88% prevalence).

Built and researched by Enrico Böker (B.Sc. Wirtschaftspsychologie, FHM Bielefeld). Methodology and API documented in /developers.

Section 01 · Score Distribution

Where do most stores fall?

Frictionless Score from 0 to 100 across all 125 scanned stores. Higher is better. Most stores cluster between Critical and Poor — meaning they leave significant conversion on the table.

Average Score

54.8

across 125 stores

Median Score

56.0

50th percentile

Top 10% (P90)

68.0

healthy stores threshold

Bottom 10% (P10)

38.4

critical-friction stores

Critical (0-24)

2 (1.6%)

Poor (25-49)

34 (27.2%)

Fair (50-74)

85 (68.0%)

Good (75-100)

4 (3.2%)

Section 02 · Friction Category Prevalence

Which psychological frictions are most common?

Across the 125 stores in the dataset, this is the percentage where each WHY category was detected as a HIGH or CRITICAL friction. Trust signals and decision clarity are the most consistently absent.

Value Ambiguity

39.2%

0 critical 49 high 95.2% any-severity

Urgency Absence

37.6%

0 critical 47 high 95.2% any-severity

Friction Anxiety

33.6%

7 critical 35 high 96.0% any-severity

Trust Deficit

26.4%

18 critical 15 high 82.4% any-severity

Price Resistance

26.4%

3 critical 30 high 95.2% any-severity

Decision Paralysis

18.4%

0 critical 23 high 96.0% any-severity

Mobile Friction

2.4%

3 critical 0 high 95.2% any-severity

Section 03 · Top Friction Patterns

The 15 most common friction patterns

Specific patterns Frictionless detects most often, ranked by prevalence across the 125 stores in the dataset. Each maps to a behavioral mechanism with documented research basis.

Pattern

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