In this episode of The CX Equation, hosts Chantelle Casey and Mark Clydesdale speak with Sam Stern, Senior Manager of Service Design at LinkedIn, to challenge the idea that all friction is bad. Sam explains how intentional friction, when designed thoughtfully, can create emotional resonance, improve memory, and strengthen customer loyalty. From the IKEA Effect to the Enterprise Pause, he shares practical frameworks for distinguishing good friction from bad and applying it across customer and employee journeys. The conversation explores why effortless experiences often feel forgettable, how contrast drives recall, and where slowing down, through human interaction or key decision moments, can turn routine transactions into meaningful, memorable experiences. Key takeaway: Designing intentional friction at the right moments transforms routine interactions into memorable experiences that build trust and long-term customer loyalty.

In this episode of The CX Equation, hosts Chantelle Casey and Mark Clydesdale speak with Sam Stern, Senior Manager of Service Design at LinkedIn, to challenge the idea that all friction is bad. Sam explains how intentional friction, when designed thoughtfully, can create emotional resonance, improve memory, and strengthen customer loyalty. From the IKEA Effect to the Enterprise Pause, he shares practical frameworks for distinguishing good friction from bad and applying it across customer and employee journeys. The conversation explores why effortless experiences often feel forgettable, how contrast drives recall, and where slowing down, through human interaction or key decision moments, can turn routine transactions into meaningful, memorable experiences.

Key takeaway: Designing intentional friction at the right moments transforms routine interactions into memorable experiences that build trust and long-term customer loyalty.

What You’ll Learn:

How to distinguish good friction from bad friction
Why the "effortless experience" mantra can backfire
The peak-end rule and how to use contrast to drive memory
How to redesign employee experiences to improve customer outcomes
When to keep human interaction despite efficiency gains
Practical friction points where design matters most

Sam Stern is a service design leader focused on improving customer and employee experiences through intentional design. As Senior Manager of Service Design at LinkedIn, he leads initiatives that enhance end-to-end journeys for members, customers, and colleagues, with an emphasis on creating meaningful and memorable interactions. His work explores how thoughtful friction can strengthen trust and engagement. Sam is also the host of the CX Patterns Podcast & Newsletter, where he shares insights on customer experience strategy, and a published instructor on LinkedIn Learning.

Mark Clydesdale is the Head of Strategic Consulting at Tap CXM and a customer-obsessed marketing strategist who turns messy data and competing P&Ls into clear, scalable personalisation. He’s best known for championing relevance and bringing a strategic perspective on the importance of relevance in personalisation. Having worked across sectors from telco and banking to retail and media, Mark bridges the gap between customer insight, decisioning, and real-world execution.

Chantelle Casey is the Principal Solutions Architect at Tap CXM and a marketing operations and MarTech leader who builds the plumbing that makes personalisation work at scale. She specialises in unified customer views, decisioning, and “next-best-everything” logic. Currently, her focus is on supporting clients in transforming their business to best, optimising their customer experience, improving their agility, and developing better ways of working that are insight-driven and customer-focused.

Episode Resources:

Sam Stern on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Website
Chantelle Casey on LinkedIn
Mark Clydesdale on LinkedIn
Tap CXM Website