Experts Exchange’s revenue had been predominantly made up of subscriptions to view content behind a paywall. In an effort to gain better Google SERP placement, management decided to remove the paywall. The result was better SEO ranking and an increase in traffic but was also met with a decline in subscriptions. The “Question Page” is Experts Exchanges highest trafficed page but on average users spend less than an a minute there. Creating “friction” in the question body would help to increase subscriptions.
The friction in the question content, re-enforces who Experts Exchange is while also creating a sense of urgency in an Exclusive Deal, a small discount on 1 year subscriptions. Lifetime value for a 1 year subscription is more valuable than a short term monthly subscription. This is considered soft friction as the user can still see the content behind the white overlay hiding content.