Content by Anthony Dockrill
What if I told you your day and almost every decision you make is shaped by something you’re normally unaware of? Have you ever wondered why you made a particular decision when it might not have been in your best interest, or why you let an opportunity slip through your fingers? There may be more going on than “I messed up” or “I am lazy.”
This quality is something you sometimes use to your advantage, but it’s often used against you.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about friction.
Why do you play your favourite album from Spotify when the CD is on the shelf two metres away from where you’re sitting? Getting up off the sofa and walking over to the shelf and then over to the CD player is just too much friction. Even if the CD may sound better and you can hold the artwork in your hand, that’s not enough to make you get up when compared to the lack of friction in hitting a button on your phone.
Because you won’t get off your sofa has major implications for you and beyond because an algorithm is now often in charge of your music choices, but also because of your decision to hit the button on your phone artists are now finding it harder to make a living.
It’s sobering to think of how often we make key choices in our professional and personal lives that are not about what was the best decision, but the one that had the least amount of friction.
If you’re a broadcaster and you find yourself wondering why your producer has lined up the same old guest to talk on a particular topic, it’s not because they’re lazy — it’s because the guest in question answers their phone and knows their brief. Finding a new guest means researching, making a number of calls and vetting… and then being responsible if the new guest doesn’t perform. Calling the same guest has, from every angle, the least amount of friction.
Thinking about friction can change the way you think about your role as a broadcaster. For instance, telling your listeners you’ll put more details of a topic on your website is a good service, but how many listeners actually click on the website to look for these details after broadcast (assuming you put them there in the first place)? There is simply too much friction for this to be effective for you or the listener.
Wouldn’t it be better to have a WhatsApp (or similar) group and say “we just posted that to our WhatsApp group”? It’s in the moment and the steps to access this information are far simpler. In short, you’ve removed a great deal of friction for you and the listener.
There are times where you may want to increase friction. It’s one reason why complaints often need to be in writing and they also need to explicitly express that they’re making a formal complaint. This is friction to make life simpler — for you. But be careful: this kind of friction can be maddening.
I recently had to end a streaming subscription. Was it easy? No — not at all. Will I renew my subscription with this company in the future? Probably not, based on my experience.
Radio has tended to be a very low-friction medium. It’s on whenever you require it, and accessing it is normally as easy as turning a knob and hitting a button in your car or in your home.
Unfortunately, this world is quickly disappearing. Radios in the home are being replaced by Bluetooth speakers, and modern cars may have radios, but they’re now on a screen and accessing other audio offerings now has similar or potentially lower levels of friction. There are many battles radio will have to win to have a strong future. One of the key battles will be removing unnecessary friction so that radio remains a fixture in people’s connected lives.
In this new world, having great content and a range of services is only half the battle if your competitor has worked out how to have less friction than you do.
Don’t be the CD on the shelf.
Anthony Dockrill is a Digital Producer at Pod Jam and the former Program Director of 2SER FM Sydney.
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