Great deals are happening online during Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but the BEST deals are actually happening during other parts of the year. In this episode of The Frictionless Experience we have the pleasure of hearing from Mike Lively, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Slickdeals. Mike walks us through the significance of Seasonality, one of the Five Friction Forces, in the online shopping experience.With over 10 million monthly users, Slickdeals ranks among the top 10 most-visited sites during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With so much site volume and business at stake, Mike preaches load testing, monitoring, and preparation to continuously optimize the customer experience, not only during seasonal bursts, but consistently throughout the year.Mike shares the proactive strategies his team has mastered to prepare with other departments in the company for peak periods and how they leverage testing and user behavior analysis to create personalized, frictionless experiences.Join us as we discuss:How retailers and eCommerce sites can get ready for holiday and seasonal shopping days, like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon Prime Day. Ways to prevent third-party tags from causing costly performance issues and customer friction to ensure reliable user experiences.The value of ongoing testing and planning to convert more visitors and retain customers throughout the entire year. The significance of Core Web Vitals in optimizing website performance and user experiences.

If you don't know where you're going to spend your next marketing dollar, then you don't fully understand your business. In this episode of The Frictionless Experience, we have the pleasure of hearing from Mark Friedman, an expert in digital and eCommerce strategy and host of The Marketing Playbook podcast. With an impressive background working with and consulting for renowned direct-to-consumer brands, including Eddie Bauer, Brooks Brothers, Steve Madden, Speedo, Calvin Klein and Hanover Direct., we dive deep into Marketing, one of the Five Friction Forces, and its impact on the customer experience.Mark takes us through his fascinating career journey, how he’s revolutionized marketing and business strategies for the digital age and drives eCommerce demand.Join us as we discuss:Tracking marketing performance and attribution in today’s multi-channel environment.Challenges and opportunities to handle peak traffic periods and optimize customer lifetime value.Implications of heavy promotions on customer perception and the friction that can arise in the return process.Key insights on directing website traffic, load testing, and the significance of post-order monetization and customer retention efforts

Is it more important to quickly execute site speed optimizations or focus on getting them right before launch for a better customer experience?Join us and Kenny Goldshvartz, Digital Strategy and Solutions guru at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, as we dive into how he approaches Speed, one of the Five Friction Forces in digital experiences.According to Kenny, site performance is not just about Speed, but about balancing the Five Friction Forces and reducing digital friction to create seamless, reliable experiences. We explore the impact of Speed on bookings (a critical metric in the tourism and hospitality space to maximize occupancy rates and average booking value), the customer journey, and conversion rates. Come along as we discuss:Measuring friction, site performance, and user experience through A/B Testing, Core Web Vitals, and analytics.Evaluating different experiences on desktop and mobile, and the challenges of blending digital and physical experiences to meet customer expectations.Working together across an organization to identify and resolve friction, turning finger-pointing into transparent cross-team collaboration.If you enjoyed Part 2: Speed in our series on the Five Friction Forces, stay tuned for Part 3: Marketing.

Have you ever encountered a usability or functionality issue on your website or app that caused a customer to abandon the page?Join us and industry rockstar, Mike Shady, former Senior Vice PResident of Online for Lowe’s, as we tap into his extensive omni-channel retail and eCommerce experience delivering significant business growth and customer loyalty improvements. We explore how Usability and Functionality, one of the Five Friction Forces in digital experiences, affects customers transacting on your site and mobile app. Mike shares the many successes, and trials and tribulations, of growing a prominent online business by billions of dollars, adding thousands of functionality improvements, and establishing the company as a leader in home improvement.Join us as we discuss:Creating frictionless digital and physical shopping experiences for customers by using a customer-first mentality.The importance of aligning actions with customer needs to avoid costly ripple effects hurting conversions and brand reputation.Delivering on promises made online and ensuring the overall experience meets customer expectations to maintain customer loyalty.If you enjoyed Part 1: Usability and Functionality in our series on the Five Friction Forces, stay tuned for Part 2: Speed.

Join co-host Nick Paladino and Chuck Moxley for The Frictionless Experience. This podcast delves deep into the world of user-centric enchantment to revolutionize your digital success. We’ll talk about what digital friction is, why it's important to eliminate it, and how to identify friction so that you can get rid of it. Because life is too short for slow websites and clunky user interfaces.Thanks for tuning in to The Frictionless Experience, brought to you by Blue Triangle—the podcast where we give you tools to slay the digital friction standing between you and your customers. Never miss an episode; subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Want to learn more about The Frictionless Experience? Check out our blog. Connect with Chuck Moxley and Nick Paladino on LinkedIn.