“Ease is everywhere. Rarity comes from difficulty. And rarity creates value.” — Steven Bartlett
The conventional wisdom in product design, customer experience, and service delivery is: remove all friction. Make it easier. Reduce the steps. Streamline the process. The easier something is to access or use, the more people will want it.
This is true — most of the time. But Steven Bartlett identifies a crucial counterintuitive exception: sometimes, friction creates value.
The luxury industry has known this for centuries. Hermès has waiting lists for their Birkin bags not because they lack manufacturing capacity, but because the wait is part of the value. The exclusivity, the difficulty, the sense of having earned access — these are features, not bugs.
Research shows that people place significantly higher value on things they have assembled, built, or worked for themselves compared to identical items that required no effort. This "IKEA effect" demonstrates that effort investment creates emotional ownership — and emotional ownership creates perceived value. The friction of assembly is part of the product's value proposition.
Friction is value-creating in specific contexts:
When scarcity signals quality: Difficulty of access signals desirability. A reservation requirement at a restaurant implies a quality worth waiting for. An application process for a community implies members worth being among.
When effort creates ownership: Things we work for, we value more. A business plan you struggled to develop feels more precious than one handed to you. A skill acquired through practice feels more personally owned than information passively consumed.
When exclusivity is part of the product: Some products and experiences are bought partly for the signal they send — and that signal requires that not everyone can have them.
When the process IS the product: A challenging initiation, a difficult qualification, or a rigorous vetting process can be the experience that creates loyalty and belonging.
Ease removes all barriers — including the barriers that create value. Strategically consider whether adding friction could increase perceived value, create emotional ownership, or signal quality worth having.
The question is not “should I add friction?” but “where does friction serve the value proposition, and where does it simply create obstacles?”
Friction works when:
Friction hurts when:
Look at one product, service, or experience you offer or participate in. Ask:
This principle applies far beyond luxury goods. The most loyal communities are often the hardest to join. The most valued content is often the most demanding to engage with. The most meaningful relationships involve effort and reciprocity — not just easy access.
When you make everything immediately available to everyone with zero effort required, you signal that it costs nothing — and things that cost nothing are worth nothing in the economy of perceived value.