It’s a really good idea to use foreshadowing to maximise the potential of positive moments. But foreshadowing isn’t just for the good stuff, it’s really good at mitigating friction too.

Let’s say that bad experiences are on a scale. At one end are experiences at that are, at their very core, simply just bad. Nothing would make them better. At the other end are going to be bad experiences that are bad by circumstance; the right thing at the wrong time for example. We can call this end of the spectrum the ‘accidental bad experiences’

Well, it seems to me to be pretty negligent if you’re giving your customers bad experiences that could have been avoided. But how do you avoid them?

Foreshadowing the friction can go a long way to making the friction disappear. Running a marathon is hard, and people expect it to be hard. They anticipate it. And then when the friction arrives, it’s not friction, it’s just ‘a marathon’ – it’s normalised.

The trouble comes when your customers don’t know what the future holds and they’re expecting walk in the park, and then suddenly they’re running uphill. That gap between their expectation and their sudden reality is a really bad experience.

But you do know what the future holds, after all, it’s your product, and you’re the expert, and you’ve done this many times before with many customers.

If you were to foreshadow the hill from the start, then when it arrived your customer would be prepared. They know it’s coming, they know why they’re climbing it, and if you’ve foreshadowed the exceptional view from the top of the hill they might even be looking forward to it.

Foreshadowing the friction is an excellent way to improve customer experience.