How WE3 saved budget by conducting User Research in the Web3 project
Epic Web3 Weekly Newsletter
Heyo, Web3 build3rs 👋
This is the Epic Web3 Newsletter — a weekly dose of best practices & insights from the top industry experts to help you boost Web3 products.
🎉 Finding your crew: How to build a high-performing team in Web3?
There are about 25K job openings on web3career right now alone. The Web3 market is still immature, it lacks experienced candidates — companies have to hire Web2 talents and nurture them into Web3-minded. This affects the performance: non-onboarded candidates perform poorly and leave.
This problem has to be solved. And our experts know how-to.
Join our upcoming event prepared with HUMANS to find out:
— What’s the right onboarding for new hires in Web3?
— Where to find professional crypto-minded employees?
— How to train high-performing Web2 specialists to become crypto native?
— And more.
Sign up for the Epic Web3 subscription to enjoy this and other virtual events. Extra benefits: access to the token-gated chat with Web3 founders & your own NFT.
🧑💻 An outsource product team is more efficient than one in-house product manager. Learn how WE3 uses this model to help launch Web3 projects.
Today’s Newsletter is brought to you by WE3, an outsource product management platform for products in Crypto & Web3.
In Web2, a product manager role has just recently started to gain traction. In Web3 their responsibilities are just beginning to be regulated. The situation is similar to those days when this role was all new, and companies did not understand why they might need it at all.
What does a PM profile look like in Web3?
It can be similar to that in Web2, but with its own specifics. In Web3 product manager should:
Have a broader range of skills (due to the numerous interactions with communities and various collaborations);
Be proficient in User Research and have strong intuition (there is obviously much less user data in Web3);
Communicate even better (again, due to the large number of discussions on social media).
However, a rapidly changing context and the market immaturity poses a challenge for companies — what does an ideal candidate profile even look like? Incomprehensible and blurry. We see that in Web3, the number of available positions exceeds the number of applicants, and the high salaries of PMs further complicate and increase the cost of the hiring process.
Read more about this in the article by Lenny Rachitsky.
WE3 as Product Hub spin-off
Product Hub has created a successful model that replaces product managers in Web2 organizations. Instead of one product manager, there’s a team of several specialists of different levels – they work much more effectively and are less expensive than a single PM.
In 2021, we made the first project in crypto to test how this model can be applicable to the Web3 environment. The problem arose when even seasoned PMs lacked the knowledge needed to comprehend some crypto-specific subjects. So we decided to slightly change this model by bringing an expert — a crypto native with extensive experience in the industry. Despite being deeply involved in a project, they serve more like advisors for the product team.
How does it all work?
After the initial meeting, we start choosing the right team and developing a project plan that is tailored to the tasks for each product. The project is always led by senior PMs with experience in cryptocurrency, and an expert who’s always in touch.
The team conducts interviews with a client, as it is important for us that the WE3 team is recognized as a client team so that we can fully comprehend one another's needs
Real case study: How we helped to launch a crypto swap app and save client's budget thanks to user research
Our client wanted to create an app that allows users to reduce their time-to-crypto and make their first contact with the cryptoeconomics as easy as possible.
The task was challenging, as such major players like Zerion and Binance would fall into competitors. It was clear that the potential audience included Crypto Naive users (less than a year in crypto) and Observers (studying the market, but not yet investing in it), but what exactly they needed and what user pains they had was unknown.
First step: Running in-depth interviews
According to the standards for these two segments, we chose respondents for our initial round of in-depth interviews that showed us what obstacles users face.
Obstacles for Crypto Naive users:
Technical difficulties in using platforms;
Information overload;
Lack user experience (the need to use multiple apps);
The main obstacles for Observers who haven’t yet chosen how to enter were their lack of understanding of cryptoeconomics and the difficulty in understanding how everything functions. They were looking for strategies to access the crypto world quickly with an opportunity to receive personal assistance from an expert.
You can order an in-depth interview with the team for your Web3 product.
Second step: Quantitative research & feature prioritization
We decided to use quantitative research and the Kano methodology to prioritize features.
The client’s database was incorporated in addition to the users from the in-depth interviews and the SurveySwap respondent base because the client had a relevant product. Finally, we got a list of features that could be potentially included into the app.
The top 3 included: portfolio tracking, crypto wallet, buy & sell crypto option:
Third step: Analyzing results
We decided to test the hypothesis of a crypto investment app with a simple interface, training and buy/sell tips. As those were essentially absent in the crypto channels (Discord, Twitter, etc.), we created a landing page and examined the traditional traffic channels. The test resulted in a very low CTR, and we failed to validate the hypothesis.
This case demonstrated that in order to avoid blowing the budget, it’s better to first conduct user research and define possible user needs. As a result, we were able to save the client money on the app development budget.
Have an idea to test but lack resources or knowledge? 👇
WE3 will assist you in improving your product and help with:
— Investigating ideas for viability in Crypto & Web3;
— Building business models and identifying the intended product category;
— Writing a whitepaper and calculating tokenomics;
— Organizing NFTs launch and promotion;
— Building a team (including development for blockchains),
— Testing hypotheses and launching a successful product.
We handle everything mentioned so that businesses don't waste time seeking full-time experts and dealing with PMs turnover. We complete product management duties more affordably and effectively.
For more info you can visit our website we3.codes or contact us at e@we3.codes to discuss how we can improve your product.
Everything in Web3 is fast-evolving. And we can’t leave you without up-to-date news — so here's what we got on the menu today:
🎉 Ethereum Merged! Now what?... The massive overhaul of Ethereum known as the Merge has finally happened — they say it’ll reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%. However, ETH is down ~7% since the big event. So let’s see where it all brings us next.
🤑 Doodles did what?! The NFT creator raises $54M in funding and $704M in total valuation.
☕️ Starbucks NFTs are here! The company announces their Starbucks Odyssey experience where customers can earn and purchase NFTs that unlock new benefits and coffee experiences.
That’s the end for today! We’ll be back on Monday with another batch of intriguing content.
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Cheers,
The Epic Web3 team