What's the best way to onboard new users and developers to your Web3 project?

Initially, it’s crucial to have clear goals for what you aim to achieve with your Web3 project. Once you have defined the essence of your project, you will gain a solid understanding of your target users. It’s essential to design your application with the least Web3-savvy person in mind, rather than creating an app exclusively for Web3 natives. Your value proposition should encompass your user-centric app’s benefits, your core values, and the identity your project stands for.

When crafting your value proposition, I would advise to exclude the term "Web3" completely. Users generally don't need to understand the underlying technology, whether it's blockchain or traditional solutions. Focus on solving their problems and highlighting the benefits in a way that resonates with them, without delving into technical specifics. Take inspirations from the presentation of iPhone by Steve Jobs back in the days.

Explain the value proposition like would you do for any product, web3 or non-web3: 1/ Who is your product meant for? 2/ What customer pain point are you solving and why is it important? 3/ What is unique about the way you solve it? In short, talk about the "what" and the "why" rather than the "how" (underlying technology - e.g. web3, decentralization, Zero Knowledge Proof, etc). While it may be cool to throw around the buzzwords, it might end up confusing or even alienating your audience and will inhibit mass adoption.

It's essential to clearly articulate the unique benefits of your Web3 project. For instance, in a blockchain-based voting system, I emphasize its transparency and security features over traditional voting methods. This helps new users and developers understand the project's relevance and potential impact.

To attract and retain users and developers, clearly articulating your Web3 project's value proposition is key. Focus on explaining the problem you're solving, the unique benefits you offer, and how you stand out from the competition. This message should be simple, direct, and tailored to your audience. Leveraging a variety of channels like websites, videos, blogs, and social media can effectively disseminate your message, ensuring it reaches and resonates with the intended audience, thereby building awareness and interest in your project.

Make the entry process as straightforward as possible. For example, in a DeFi application I worked on, we streamlined wallet setup and integrated user-friendly tutorials right at the start.

Your project should be designed with the least experienced Web3 user in mind. Make the onboarding process as straightforward as possible by minimizing, yet better avoiding, the use of Web3 jargon and guiding users through your app as if it were a traditional Web2 app. This approach requires cutting-edge technology, which is evolving quickly. Your focus should be on adopting the latest technology while designing the onboarding process from a user’s perspective.

In Web 3, where decentralized platforms and blockchain applications are still emerging, providing an excellent UI/UX is a key factor in attracting and retaining new users, ensuring they can harness the benefits of these technologies without frustration or confusion.

Following measures collectively enhance the onboarding experience, making it seamless for users and developers entering the decentralized ecosystem. - Foster a supportive community - Use onboarding wizards - Reduce technical jargon - Enable progress tracking - Ensure mobile accessibility introduce incentives - Establish regular feedback loops for continuous improvement - Offering clear documentation - Intuitive interfaces - Accessible educational resources

Onboarding starts in public for web3 projects, starting on socials. For projects, begin to blend user onboarding by connecting social audiences, capturing within community platforms, leveraging AMA and events to guide the use and expectations of project U/X, If possible interface between community and the dApp to enure that user, profile and FAQ segments of user onboarding is encaptured and supported by your community audience.

Play a smart game. The market changes so fast that you need to keep up with interesting rewards programs to maintain interest. Design a program that evolves over time, maybe divided into different "seasons", so that new users don't frustrate as "it's too hard to try and catch up with the leaders".

For many projects, airdrops, staking rewards, and loyalty benefits are the three pillars they should focus on as they are fairly 'easy' to implement. On top of that, giveaways are the easiest, most beneficial, and wide-focused marketing method there is right now. Depending on the target audience and the revenue that will be created by it, getting a lot of new users via giveaways on social media can be achieved by spending a couple hundred bucks. If you want the majority to start using your service, make it worth it. The time of the ideals is over. Users want to make money in an easy way. Provide staking rewards and distribute airdrops so people will hodl the asset longer.

The best reward is always an awesome Web3 project itself. Incentives and rewards like airdrops are mostly primed to be dumped as soon as they land in users’ wallets. People are jumping from one airdrop to the next, leading to a pump-and-dump scenario that doesn’t benefit your project. However, airdrops can be attractive for a protocol. Expanding the period of incentives and rewards over a longer time, closely tying them to your product, can entice users who have real interest in your project.

It is undeniably a challenge to rely solely on rewards as the main value proposition, as this approach can easily backfire. Educating the community about the project becomes crucial in emphasizing that the true value lies in the benefits derived from using the product, rather than just the rewards. While rewards may attract initial users, the long-term focus should shift towards highlighting the inherent advantages and utility of the product. This approach fosters a community that is genuinely interested in the product itself, its features, and how it can address their needs, rather than being solely driven by tokens, money, and price fluctuations.

Education is the most crucial aspect of web3 marketing. Let education not be laden with technical jargon nor overly focused on decentralization. Engage your potential buyers in the education process, prepare captivating, interactive content, and utilize gamification... Educate them through play, through entertaining content. And remember. All your educational content should be understood by your mother or a 10-year-old child. Remember to ask plenty of questions. This way, you'll pinpoint which parts are clear and which need further illumination.

Develop product simulators that allow users to practice without using real assets. This can be especially useful for blockchain and crypto-related applications.

I believe market education is key, but as I always say and contrary to popular belief, an intuitive UX/UI will beat any educational effort any day

Educate, educate, educate. If you are building something that is revolutionary, you are convinced of the success. But why would a new user be convinced if they do not understand the solution, or worse, the problem. Explain the problem thoroughly, provide a solution, and keep on explaining the importance of the solution. If you can convince someone of a problem being a problem, you can offer them the solution. Also, provide updates along the 'Why, How, What?' formula. If users understand why you are doing something and how you are doing this, you will have brand ambassadors for life. Pro tip: share insights via direct communication such as Discord and Telegram groups, or Twitter Spaces.

Acknowledging and celebrating the accomplishments within your Web3 project community is pivotal for fostering a vibrant ecosystem. Highlighting user and developer stories, sharing impactful testimonials, and showcasing real-world applications demonstrate the value your project offers. Recognizing and honoring contributors not only shows appreciation but also cultivates a sense of belonging and commitment. Events, forums, and networks serve as great platforms to broadcast these achievements, amplifying your project's reach to a wider audience. By sharing successes and empowering contributors, you build a supportive community that inspires innovation and growth within the Web3 space

Did something great? Share it! Faced a problem and solved it? Share it. Pro tip: do not only share updates from your main business account. Have employees and partners (re-)share your updates from their perspective. If you are able to spend some money on influencers, have them share updates as well! Not sharing = no progress. Even things that look like small achievements to you can be a big step forward for your project. A slick image and 3 well-thought-out sentences can make a major difference in someone's attitude towards your project. Showcasing your service or product can be done by taking up recent or viral news. "XYZ happened. With our service, you would have been protected" The problem and solution become apparent in an instant.

In the realm of Web3, the iterative process for onboarding new users and developers is not just beneficial; it's critical. My experience has shown that the most successful projects are those that adapt rapidly, integrating feedback loops into every stage of user engagement. By closely monitoring user interactions and leveraging data-driven insights, we can refine onboarding flows, making them more intuitive and effective. Learning from peers and adapting their best practices can accelerate this improvement. Yet, the unique challenge lies in balancing innovation with simplicity, ensuring that while we push the boundaries of what's technically possible, we also remain accessible to non-experts.

Feedback = king. Especially feedback from your target audience or beta test groups. These are the people you will be selling the service/ product to and will be daily using it. How many companies started with an idea, only to find out there was no demand for it? Or they did not implement user feedback, which let customers to move to a competitor. Run a simple Twitter poll, send a newsletter with an incentive for people to answer your research or provide additional benefits or early access to people who will test your product. If you are still in a test phase, and do no have access to big quantities of data, this is the way to go!

Use partnerships. Web3 is the most community driven industry out there. Build relationships and partnerships with other Web3 companies and offer their users an easy way to use your platform as well. With Defi and tokens you can even incentivize users of another Web3 application, or another Web3 community, to try your solution as well.

Create clear, step-by-step documentation and tutorials tailored to beginners. Use simple language. Make sample code and demo apps available to help developers get started quickly. Provide incentives like airdrops, bounties, or grants to motivate engagement. Actively engage new users on Discord or social channels. Answer questions and offer support. Write blog posts and guides that explain key concepts for non-technical audiences. Simplify UI/UX as much as possible to minimize confusion. Create an inclusive and welcoming community that is patient with beginners. Automate onboarding flows as much as possible to streamline the process.

User Experience: Design, iterate, improve, and repeat. To achieve widespread adoption, we must address this pain point. It is impractical to require users to connect a wallet, remember the seed phrase, switch networks, and so on. When you use a traditional app like Uber, do you know about its tech infrastructure?

From a user standpoint, a key challenge is overcoming the negative perceptions that surround Web3 & NFTs. To address this, it's crucial to focus on solutions and benefits, rather than the underlying technology. A prime example is Nike's .SWOOSH initiative, which effectively communicates the advantages of digital ownership & rewards, without getting deep in the weeds. This approach not only highlights the benefits but also sparks interest amongst everyday consumers. The success of .SWOOSH can be partly attributed to its intuitive user experience... a critical factor in attracting new users. By focusing on solutions and user experience rather than the intricacies of the tech, your project becomes relatable and accessible to a wider audience.