Friction Kills Attention
A slow load, an extra click, a confusing label — each feels minor in isolation. This study measures their true cost: friction does not reduce attention gradually, it triggers abandonment in cliffs.
One second is a cliff, not a slope
Drop-off did not scale smoothly with delay — it jumped. Each additional second of load time did not shave attention; it removed whole segments of the audience at once. Friction fails catastrophically, not incrementally.
Every decision point leaks
Each choice presented to a user — even a trivial one — cost a measurable share of the audience. The most efficient flows were not the ones with the best options, but the ones with the fewest moments where leaving was easier than continuing.
Perceived effort matters more than actual effort
Dense layouts and long forms were abandoned before being read, regardless of how fast they actually were to complete. The audience prices the work at a glance, and the glance is brutal.