Overview

Website visitors often encounter frustration points that can lead them to abandon their tasks, leave the site, or fail to convert. Mouseflow automatically detects and tags these frustration points, called friction events, to help you identify pages or sessions where users face difficulties.

Each friction event has an assigned point value, which contributes to an overall friction score. This score helps you quickly assess the intensity and impact of user frustration on specific pages or session replays.

Friction Events

Mouseflow provides seven unique friction events to track common frustration points:

Click-Rage

Definition: Triggered when a user repeatedly clicks on an element within a short period, usually signaling frustration or an attempt to interact with something unresponsive.
Use Case: Click-Rage can indicate that a CTA isn’t working, or that users are drawn to a non-interactive area thinking it’s clickable.

Click-Error

Definition: Applied when a click triggers a JavaScript error, potentially signaling a broken button or a malfunctioning element.
Use Case: Helps you identify CTA buttons or interactive elements that are not functioning as intended. Ideal for quality checks and debugging.

Bounce

Definition: When a user navigates from Page A to Page B, then quickly returns to Page A.
Use Case: Indicates a potential issue with page relevance or usability, or that users are performing price comparisons or content checks.

Speed-Browsing

Definition: Triggered when a user rapidly navigates through multiple pages. The friction tag appears on the first page in the sequence.
Use Case: Shows whether users are skimming content or quickly searching for specific information.

404 Error

Definition: Occurs when a user lands on a page with a 404 error, signaling a broken link or missing content.
Use Case: Broken pages can disrupt user journeys, making it essential to identify and fix them to improve user retention and conversion potential.

Dead Clicks

Definition: Applied when a user clicks on an element that appears interactive but does not produce any action, such as images or text that resemble links without being clickable. Note that Dead Clicks only apply to non-clickable elements, excluding actual buttons and links.
Use Case: Dead Clicks highlight areas where users may be confused or disappointed by unresponsive elements, allowing you to adjust design or add visual cues to make your site more intuitive.

Custom-Friction

Definition: A customizable tag that you can apply to any event that you consider a sign of user friction.

For Technical Users: Setting up a custom friction event requires adding JavaScript code to your site. You’ll need to define the logic for when these friction points should be triggered, guaranteeing that only relevant events are tagged.

How to Set Up:

Add a custom friction event by calling _mfq.push(["addFriction", "5"]); in your website's code.
To give the event a specific name (for easy reference in reports), include an additional argument, e.g., _mfq.push(["addFriction", "10", "example-name"]);.

Friction Score

Each friction event is assigned a specific score, and the total friction score for a page or session helps you prioritize areas needing immediate attention.

Friction Event	Friction Score
Click-Rage	5 points per unique element
Click-Error	2 points per event
Bounce	2 points per event
Speed-Browsing	1 point per event
404 Error	5 points per event
Dead Clicks	1 point per click (one point per unique element per pageview)
Custom-Friction	Flexible (based on your set-up)

Viewing Friction Events in Session Replay

You can view friction events directly within the Session Replay:

Page View Summary: Click on the number of page views in a session to see the type and count of friction events per page.
Timeline Markers: Friction events appear as icons along the session timeline. Hover over them for a brief description of each event.

Session Replay Playback: During playback, friction events will be highlighted at the exact moments they occur. You can open the session replay and see exactly where on the timeline certain friction events occur (incl. click-rage, click-error, and custom-friction) as well as a description of the event as you hover over its icon.

Viewing Friction Events in Heatmaps

The Friction column on your Heatmap list provides a quick view of the average friction score for each recorded page. This score is calculated based on all friction events on a page.

How Friction Scores are Calculated
The friction score for each page is an average of all friction events logged on that page. Pages with high friction scores often signal user challenges or confusion, allowing you to prioritize these areas for immediate attention.

Watching Session Replays with High Friction Via Heatmaps

Each friction entry in your Heatmap list includes a tooltip with direct links to session replays associated with high-friction scores.

Hover over the friction score and select "Click to see session replays" to watch where and how users experienced difficulties. This lets you pinpoint exact pain points on your pages, helping you make targeted improvements.