Fast is not always smart

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” (Probably not) Mark Twain

It is not ignorance that messes with your experience design. It is confidence. The dogma that faster is always better, friction is bad, and seamless is the holy grail.

But confidence has a dark side. Overconfidence built the Titanic. It wrote “Reply All.” It is why we buy gym memberships in January only to discover that February has stronger opinions on Apple TV. At Future Platforms we may have cracked the code on keeping people going past that point… but that is a story for another post.

So what if the real driver of conversion is not the frictionless flow but the carefully placed pause?

Strategic Hesitation Your New Superpower to Convert

Here is what most UX teams are told: get them in, get them out, no distractions. The assumption is that velocity equals value. But what if the real prize is not speed, but clarity, reassurance, or delight?

Sometimes slowing a user down at checkout, during onboarding, or at confirmation gives them the space to reflect, trust, and commit. Of course, these pauses cannot be random. They need to be informed by the right insights and carefully crafted so they serve a specific purpose.

Booking.com, for example, tested adding an extra step at checkout. Conversion went up. By slowing the flow, customers gained clarity and confidence. They found reassurance in being given the chance to reflect more carefully and to understand more clearly what they were actually buying.

Driven by completely different insights, a major UK online grocery retailer also saw conversion rise. Instead of shaving off seconds, they reintroduced the joy of browsing with recipe inspiration and mix-and-match ideas. What first looked like distraction became a driver of engagement and satisfaction.

The lesson is simple. Not all friction is waste. Sometimes it is where the value lives.

Seamless is a Commodity. Surprise is a Strategy.

Here is the problem with everything working perfectly. You forget what you just did. When every brand uses the same design system, the same templates, and the same voice assistant, the result is sameness. Predictable. Safe. Boring.

The brain craves contrast. We remember what breaks patterns, what slows us down just enough to feel. Surprise, texture, oddity, or humour do not just delight. They convert.

Seamless, on the other hand, can be soulless. It can also feel non-empathetic, stripping away the human cues and emotional signals that make people feel understood. The pursuit of smoothness alone often creates efficiency at the expense of connection.

Seamless, on the other hand, can be soulless. It can also feel non-empathetic, stripping away the human cues and emotional signals that make people feel understood. The pursuit of smoothness alone often creates efficiency at the expense of connection. I wrote about this in my earlier piece “Don’t Bore Me to Death With Your Digital Experience,” where I argued that frictionless often risks being personality-free and forgettable. But again, context and purpose matter. What looks boring at first glance, such as an extra confirmation step, might actually be the reassurance someone needs to feel confident about their choice.

My Closing Tribute to the Pause

So next time you think of doing it fast, seamless, and with fewer steps, think twice and give meaningful, strategic pauses a chance. Smoothness can flatten meaning. Friction, when placed with intention, adds depth, memorability, and trust.

Seamless is not only a commodity, it is often soulless and non-empathetic. It risks treating people as transactions rather than as humans who want to feel reassured, surprised, or just find a little joy.

The brands that win are not the ones who rush you through, but the ones who make you pause, feel, and feel listened to, even when you never spelled it out.