As technology is evolving, users have to keep up with updates and effectively learn how to use new features. Developers and designers spend countless hours making UI/UX pleasing and simple, so why doesn’t that occur in blockchain products?

To put it simply, the crypto community generally functions in a simplistic mindset when it comes to design. Many web3 products, exchanges, wallets, etc have basic designs with a lack of guidance for new users. The learning curve to buy crypto, send it to a wallet, convert assets, and purchase tokens or even NFTs is steep. 

Aside from the major players, the crypto industry needs to generate easy-to-use features to improve user engagement. Currently, in the DeFi space, many platforms have used very nostalgic designs mimicking the early internet days. For new users attempting to use liquidity pools and staking, navigating a bland webpage with no direction is a terrible experience. 

Since many organizations in the crypto space are competing with platform adoption amongst current users, onboarding new users is not prioritized.

 If major players in the space began researching bottleneck issues with onboarding users alongside UI/UX, the space can grow at a rapid rate. At Fueled we provide in-depth analysis of market research, design elegant experiences, and effective growth management. 

Our team of designers has worked with some of the biggest brands outside of the blockchain space, and we can lead innovative organizations to further success. With a handful of blockchain-related projects under our belt, it is easy to elude client satisfaction regardless of which industry we are tackling.

In-app tutorials

A great example of a web2 resource that effectively builds a tutorial is Grammarly. Grammarly is a cloud-based typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity. For beginners, it creates a template describing how to use the product with the content itself containing various spelling and punctuation errors. This leads the user to use the tool directly to become acquainted with the service. If web3 products could adopt similar techniques that have already been proven successful, the entire industry would benefit. 

Imagine MetaMask (top-ranked Eth wallet), creating an onboarding experience that can be viewed continuously within the web or mobile app. Widely adopted products are a great way to test these theories since high volumes of new downloads can be tracked and studied faster than a new product in the market. 

Onboarding products such as chameleon and userguiding could be easy ways for wallets and even exchanges to guide their new users and create teachable moments for current users on their platforms. 

Leaders in Education 

Coinbase is viewed as the first widely adopted crypto exchange in the U.S and is still leading in the growing landscape. After Coinbase’s IPO, it has shifted its focus on branching out into NFTs, traditional asset management, as well as creating sub-exchanges such as coinbase pro for advanced traders. 

Amongst the widespread tools Coinbase provides, the platform also has earned and learned portals. Coinbase Learn has created an educational hub for users to learn about certain products and cryptocurrencies. The ‘learn’ portal is a blog-style series of tutorials, updates on current news, and tips/tricks. 

On the other hand, Coinbase earn provides learning opportunities in the portal and incentivizes users by rewarding tokens. Users can learn about a token project and then earn up to $5 for answering quiz questions and even more for making a referral to a friend. This learn-to-earn model is recreated within other platforms but Coinbase is a solid example of how to onboard and educate users. Although coinbase has also evolved to be a powerhouse in the web3 space, certain aspects can be adjusted. 

Coinbase provides various dashboards which list assets alongside the user's wallets. There are some instances where navigating to the personal wallet can be difficult, perhaps to distract the user from removing money from their wallet. Even though the application is easy to navigate, tutorials on using wallets, verifying ID, and setting up security settings should be accessible at all times. If a platform such as coinbase adopted these solutions, it could create a precedent in the web3 ecosystem.

Could exchanges do better? 

FTX is possibly one of the largest exchanges based in the U.S and has the fastest-growing user base. The organization has led some of the largest sponsorship deals such as linking a multi-year partnership with the Miami Heat NBA team. Aside from gaining exposure with the marketing tactics, FTX has somewhat weak onboarding experience. Various organizations have how-to guides, and FTX has also mimicked their competition. 

All major web3 platforms have a social media presence as well as a youtube channel with a wide range of content. Looking further into FTX, their youtube channel contains podcasts, promotional content, and a handful of tutorials. Most of the critical tutorials are created by youtube influencers whom most likely aren’t paid. The community-driven aspect of how crypto content is distributed can change as major organizations leap to fund education and onboarding. 

BlockFi is a mobile investing and banking platform that enables users to invest, store and leverage their crypto assets to earn money. It has been listed as one of the largest funded pre-IPO companies in the web3 space, but recently has faced turmoil due to all funds not being efficiently collateralized. At the surface level, the product was very attractive to users with the block credit card and mobile app. As BlockFi rebounds back to the surface, adopting various UI/UX enhancements would be vital to consumer retention.

As the Web3 space continues to grow, platforms must put adoption at the forefront of their roadmap. This will aid the growth of new users and also help platforms retain them as well. Just as in the early internet era, there was a massive push for educational content beyond books and courses for typing. Web3 can tackle the adoption learning curve by simplifying its products to become consumer friendly and implementing better user research.