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friction Onboarding Guide

Welcome! This guide walks you through friction’s 6-phase onboarding process to get your brand tracking set up in minutes.
6-phase onboarding journey: Brand Discovery, Industry Detection, Subcategories, Competitors, Brand Prompts, Commerce

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Onboarding Overview

The onboarding process takes approximately 5-10 minutes and consists of 6 phases:
1

Brand Discovery

Enter your brand name and website for AI-powered discovery
2

Industry Detection

Confirm or select your industry category
3

Subcategory Selection

Choose 1-5 relevant subcategories for focused tracking
4

Competitor Collection

Add 1-3 competitors for benchmarking
5

Brand Prompts (Optional)

Create custom brand visibility prompts
6

Commerce Prompts* (Optional)

Set up e-commerce tracking prompts

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Phase 1: Brand Discovery

The first step uses AI to discover and enrich your brand information.

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What You’ll Do:

  1. Enter Brand Name: Type your brand or company name
  2. Enter Website URL: Provide your main website URL
  3. AI Analysis: friction automatically discovers:
    • Brand logo and favicon
    • Brand description
    • Social media presence
    • Industry signals

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Tips for Success:

Use your primary brand domain (e.g., friction.com) rather than subdomain URLs for best results.

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What Happens Next:

After confirming your brand details, friction creates a preliminary brand profile and moves to industry detection.

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Phase 2: Industry Detection

AI analyzes your brand to suggest the most relevant industry category.

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How It Works:

  1. AI Suggestion: friction analyzes your website and suggests an industry
  2. Confidence Score: See how confident the AI is in its suggestion
  3. Manual Override: You can choose a different industry if the suggestion isn’t accurate

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Available Industries:

Technology

SaaS, software, IT services, tech products

E-Commerce

Online retail, marketplaces, DTC brands

Finance

Banking, fintech, insurance, investments

Healthcare

Medical devices, healthtech, pharmaceuticals

Professional Services

Consulting, agencies, B2B services

Consumer Goods

CPG, retail products, consumer brands
Industry selection affects the subcategories available in the next step and influences AI prompt suggestions.

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Phase 3: Subcategory Selection

Choose 1-5 subcategories that best describe your brand’s focus areas.

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How It Works:

  1. AI Suggestions: Get intelligent subcategory recommendations based on your brand and industry
  2. View All Categories: Browse all available subcategories if AI suggestions aren’t sufficient
  3. Custom Subcategories: Add your own subcategories if needed
  4. Selection Limits: Choose 1-5 subcategories (minimum 1, maximum 5)

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Selection Strategy:

If you’re new to AEO, start with 1-2 core subcategories where your brand is strongest. You can always expand later.
Most brands benefit from 3-4 subcategories covering their main product lines or service areas.
Use all 5 slots if your brand operates across multiple distinct areas or you want maximum tracking coverage.

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Phase 4: Competitor Collection

Add 1-3 competitors to benchmark your AI presence.

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Adding Competitors:

  1. Enter Competitor URL: Type the competitor’s website URL
  2. Automatic Discovery: friction fetches their logo, name, and basic info
  3. Add Multiple: Add up to 3 competitors* (minimum 1 required)
  4. Edit or Remove: Easily modify competitor list before proceeding

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Choosing the Right Competitors:

1

Direct Competitors

Start with 1-2 direct competitors who offer similar products/services to the same audience
2

Aspirational Brands

Consider adding an industry leader you aspire to match or surpass
3

Focus on Relevance

Choose competitors active in your specific subcategories rather than general industry giants
You must add at least 1 competitor to proceed. Competitive benchmarking is core to friction’s value proposition.

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Phase 5: Brand Visibility Prompts (Optional)

Create custom prompts to track how AI models respond to queries about your brand.

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This Phase is Optional

You can skip this phase and use only the system-generated prompts from Phase 4, or you can create custom prompts tailored to your specific needs.

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What You Can Do:

  1. Get friction Suggestions: Click to fetch the system-generated prompts created in Phase 4
  2. Create Custom Prompts: Write your own prompts from scratch
  3. Edit and Refine: Modify suggested prompts to match your needs
  4. Save & Continue: Save prompts and continue
  5. Skip: Move directly to Phase 6

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Prompt Examples:

"What is [Your Brand]?"
"Tell me about [Your Brand]'s products"
"How does [Your Brand] compare to [Competitor]?"
"Best [product category] for [use case]"
"Is [Your Brand] reliable?"
Start with 3-5 core prompts that represent your most important brand queries. You can add more later from the Visibility page.

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Phase 6: Commerce Prompts* (Optional)

Set up e-commerce and purchase intent tracking.

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This Phase is Optional

Skip this phase if you don’t sell products online, or if you want to focus on brand visibility first. You can always add commerce tracking later.

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What You Can Do:

  1. Get Commerce Suggestions: AI generates e-commerce-specific prompt recommendations
  2. Add Product URLs: Include links to product pages or shopping platforms
  3. Create Custom Prompts: Write commerce-focused queries
  4. Complete Onboarding: Save prompts and finish setup
  5. Skip: Move directly to the dashboard

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Commerce Prompt Examples:

"Where can I buy [Product Name]?"
"Best place to purchase [Product Category]"
"Is [Product Name] worth buying?"
"[Your Brand] vs [Competitor] for [use case]"
"Reviews of [Your Brand] products"

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Onboarding Complete!

After Phase 6, you’ll enter your dashboard.

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What Happens Immediately:

1

Dashboard Access

Access your fully configured dashboard
2

Brand Selection

Your newly created brand is automatically selected

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What to Do Next:

Explore Your Dashboard

Review your brand health metrics and insights

Add More Prompts

Expand your prompt library for deeper tracking

Review Competitive Analysis

See how you compare to competitors

Run Your First Experiment

Test content variations to improve visibility

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Onboarding Best Practices

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Before You Start

  • Official website URL
  • Brand name as you want it tracked
  • List of 2-3 main competitors
  • Understanding of your industry/category
While you can rush through in 5 minutes, taking 10 minutes to thoughtfully complete each phase yields better results.
Consider what you want to track:
  • Brand awareness?
  • Purchase intent?
  • Competitive positioning?
  • Specific product queries?

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During Onboarding

Don’t overthink Phase 5 & 6: These phases are optional. You can always add prompts later from the Visibility and Commerce pages. Focus on getting through onboarding first.
Don’t close the browser: Onboarding state is saved, but it’s best to complete all phases in one session to avoid confusion.

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After Onboarding

1

Review and Refine Prompts

Visit the Visibility page to review, edit, or add more prompts.
2

Set Up Competitors

Review your competitor list in Settings and add more if needed (up to 10 total).
3

Explore All Features

Take time to explore Analyze, Commerce, and Experiments features.

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What’s Next?

Dashboard Overview

Learn about your AI performance command center

Define Brand Prompts

Master prompt creation and management

Competitive Analysis

Understand competitive benchmarking

Run Experiments*

Test and optimize your AEO strategy
*Feature availability and limits depend on your subscription tier. View pricing for details.