Customer Journey Friction Analysis

Goal

Produce a ranked friction point analysis of a customer journey, with each issue clearly located, impact-scored, and paired with a specific, actionable remediation.

Trigger

When a team needs to diagnose conversion drop-off, improve UX, reduce churn, or prepare for a product or CX audit.

Steps

1. 1

   Ingest the customer journey input below and identify the distinct stages (e.g. Awareness → Consideration → Purchase → Onboarding → Retention). List each stage with a one-sentence description of the customer's primary goal at that moment. $journey_input

   • □All major stages are named and sequenced correctly
   • □Each stage has a clear customer intent statement
2. 2

   For each stage, identify every friction point — moments where the customer experiences confusion, delay, effort, fear, or abandonment risk. Be specific: name the touchpoint (e.g. 'checkout form', 'welcome email', 'pricing page') and describe the friction in one sentence.

   • □At least one friction point identified per stage
   • □Each friction point is tied to a named touchpoint
   • □Friction is described from the customer's perspective
3. 3

   Score each friction point on two dimensions: (1) Frequency — how often customers encounter it (Low/Medium/High), and (2) Impact — the severity of its effect on conversion, retention, or satisfaction (1–5). Combine these into an overall Priority score (High / Medium / Low).

   • □Every friction point has a Frequency and Impact score
   • □Priority score is derived logically from both dimensions
4. 4

   Rank all friction points from highest to lowest priority. For the top 3, provide a root cause diagnosis — explain WHY this friction exists (e.g. information gap, process bottleneck, trust deficit, technical barrier).

   • □Friction points are sorted by priority score
   • □Top 3 each have a distinct root cause explanation
5. 5

   For every friction point, write one concrete fix: a specific change to a process, UI element, message, policy, or system that directly addresses the root cause. Fixes should be implementable without ambiguity — avoid vague advice like 'improve UX'.

   • □Every friction point has exactly one fix
   • □Each fix names a specific action or change
   • □No fix is generic or unmeasurable
6. 6

   Summarize the analysis with: (1) a one-paragraph executive summary of the journey's biggest problems, (2) a quick-win recommendation (highest impact, lowest effort fix), and (3) a strategic recommendation (the fix that will most improve long-term customer lifetime value).

   • □Executive summary names the top 2–3 systemic issues
   • □Quick win is clearly distinguished from strategic recommendation

Output format

Deliver the response in clearly labeled sections: 1) Journey Stages, 2) Friction Inventory (table with columns: Stage | Touchpoint | Friction Description | Frequency | Impact | Priority), 3) Root Cause Deep-Dive (top 3 only), 4) Full Fix List (one fix per friction point), 5) Executive Summary with Quick Win and Strategic Recommendation. Use plain language throughout.