You're a bad marketer if you still believe that fewer clicks to conversion means better performance. The "remove all friction" advice is wrong. I used to think the same way. The shorter the path to purchase, the better the conversion rate. Then I started doing the opposite. Adding more friction, not less. We extended our VSLs from 60-90 seconds to 3-10 minutes. We wrote 2000-4000 word primary texts on static ads instead of 3 sentences. We added more steps to our funnels before showing offer pages. Every time we added useful friction, performance improved. Understanding this changed everything for me. Here's why it works: It doesn't make sense to show someone an offer page if they're not ready to buy yet. You need to move them through all stages first. Each piece of friction educates them, qualifies them, or builds trust. By the time they see your offer, they actually want it. My hypothesis is that retention is also better. People are better educated on what to expect and why consistent use gives them the long-term outcomes they're hoping for. The key is that friction needs to be useful. Not random extra steps that annoy people. Every step should guide them closer to understanding why they need your product. Ofcourse this isn’t true for every product. A $19 impulse buy doesn’t require a complex funnel and 10 min video ad. Every product requires its own buying experience based on price point, complexity, and how much education the customer needs before buying. But for any product that requires trust, education, or commitment, adding useful friction will definitely make you more money.