We’re excited to announce the launch of despark (and our blog!). despark aims to usher in an era of easily accessible, powerful user research for web3. This blog will cover a variety of topics related to web3, user research, building great products, and, of course, despark itself. We hope you’ll join us for the journey!
So, let’s get rolling - Why is now the time for despark?
Web3 UX is broken
It’s not a controversial take.
Anyone who has ever bridged funds between blockchains, had a little too much money in their hot wallet, or actually been scammed understands it implicitly - most of web3 UX is bad. Some of this is due to the stakes involved - everything is a little scarier when there’s no do-overs. There also hasn’t been much of a focus on web3 UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) until recently. For good reason! Everyone’s been busy breaking technological barriers and changing the way the world works. But the next 100 million users will require a better UX.
And don’t get me wrong, there’s glimmers of hope! As we explored Gamestop's NFT marketplace, it was clear they tried hard to ease the purchase process, building the bridging of funds to LoopRing right into their checkout. That’s progress! But we’ve got a long way to go.
So how do we solve this?
Talk. To. Users.
It’s the mantra of every web2 company. To build a product users want, ask the users what they want.
Major design changes, big features, and new product releases all involve lots of user feedback. This comes in many forms! Two recent examples we've seen (out of many, many possibilities):
- User onboarding flow - A company wanted to put their onboarding flow designs in front of potential users (that weren't currently in their ecosystem). They validated that they actually made it through the flow, that the users understood what’s happening, and that they didn't object to any wallet access or data it was deemed necessary to collect.
- Better menus - A larger company realized users were getting lost in their menus. It was time to switch up their information architecture. But what’s optimal? They ran a card sort with users and let the users figure out what made sense based on their existing knowledge. And importantly, they made sure to include new, existing, and potential users!
There's no need to wait until it’s getting coded - Figma has great prototyping functionality! You can mock up some basic designs, link them together in figma or another design tool, and put it in front of users.
Just how good is that idea?
User research isn't just for feedback on existing or in development products either. Marketing teams, executive teams, and research teams should also be considering user research as they develop products in web3. Whether you’re a DAO, an established web3 company, or just web3 and crypto curious, user research can help validate your ideas.
The crypto world is complex and constantly evolving. People don’t agree on what “web3” even means. In the dynamic environment, it’s critical to understand the ground truth - what do users want? Does your idea/feature resonate with them? Who in particular likes it or doesn’t like it?
Even if you don’t have a concrete idea - chatting with users in web3 can help you get a sense with where the value is. It’s important!
despark
So it’s time for despark. Web3 is expanding. Web2-native companies are exploring launching products on the blockchain, and web3 companies are hiring more product managers, marketers, and non-engineers. despark is here for those folks and everyone else.
despark can help you and your company talk to web3 users. We’re differentiated from web2 user research firms in a few crucial ways:
- We’re powered by wallet and blockchain analytics. despark can help you truly understand your potential users (as well as easily identify them!).
- We support anonymity for users. Anonymity is part of the ethos for web3. Without anonymity support, you won’t be able to reach a sizable portion of early adopters.
- We’re laser-focused on Web3. Our users are specifically drawn from folks using, curious about, or interested in web3.
We’re excited about the future of web3 and can’t wait to help accelerate the next generation of web3 products. If you’d like to learn more, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
