Join hosts Chuck Moxley and Nick Paladino as they revisit their debut episode featuring Mike Shady, former Senior VP of Online at Lowe's and 15-year Home Depot veteran. Now Chief Digital Officer at Staples, Mike shares hard-earned wisdom about creating frictionless experiences when digital and physical worlds collide.
From appliance delivery disasters to JavaScript crashes that break add-to-cart buttons, this episode reveals why being your own customer is essential for identifying friction.
Key Actionable Takeaways:
- Be your own customer and shop your own site regularly - The easiest way to identify friction is to experience your customer journey firsthand, from purchase through delivery
- Create different digital experiences for different customer segments - Pros shop completely differently than DIY customers and need tailored functionality like reorder capabilities and bulk purchasing tools
- Build systems to catch problems before they impact customers - Thousands of things can go wrong with major e-commerce sites, so proactive monitoring and quick recovery capabilities are essential
https://www.thefrictionlessexperience.com/frictionless/
Download the Black Friday/Cyber Monday eBook: http://bluetriangle.com/ebookMike
Shady's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-shady/
Nick Paladino's LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/npaladino
Chuck Moxley's LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/chuck-moxley
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:00) Mike's background at Lowe's, Home Depot, and customer-first mentality(
06:00) Defining site aesthetics and the importance of functionality
(09:00) Being your own customer - The power of shopping your own site
(12:00) The customer loyalty ladder analogy - Higher climbs mean harder falls
(15:00) Creating separate experiences for pros vs DIY customers
(17:00) Measuring impact when all five friction forces are changing
(20:00) Real-world example - When releases look great but break checkout
(24:00) Success story - Finding and fixing friction that was hiding products
(26:00) What companies get wrong - Thinking they know best without testing
(28:00) The importance of using customer terminology, not vendor jargon
(32:00) Visual search solutions and vocabulary challenges
(36:00) JavaScript crash example and site reliability engineering
(38:00) Proactive friction identification and conversion funnel improvements
(41:00) Common misconceptions about knowing what customers want
(43:00) Vendor terminology vs customer language challenges
(46:00) Final thoughts on customer focus and being ready for problems
(48:00) Conclusion
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