ProcketCrypto

Research Methods

Secondary research, survey, interview, affinity mapping, empathy mapping, persona development, guerilla testing, usability testing

Role

UX Researcher, UX and UI Designer & Usability Tester

Tools

Figma, Adobe illustrator, Marvel, Google forms for survey, paper pencil

It's a story about how a strong UX research process influenced product journey and ensured user insights were effectively translated into design decisions.

Problem Statement

Despite blockchain's 15-year existence, widespread adoption remains elusive due to complex user experiences and a lack of trust.

User Goals

PocketCrypto wants to empower newbies in the crypto world to confidently navigate the complexities of cryptocurrencies and NFTS and become trusted partners in their financial future by prioritizing usability, education, and community-building.

Business Goals

PocketCrypto aims to expand its users, revenue via crypto/NFT trading, and uphold its reputation as a trusted crypto wallet.

Quick view of final prototype.

Don’t worry it shows up at the end as well.

Buying a crypto

Creating new wallet

Onboarding

Since I was still in the exploratory stage, I wanted to spend time thoroughly understanding the context of the problem space. Why is the product viable?

  • Crypto market cap: $923 billion, peaking at over $1 trillion in 2021.

  • Rapid growth: 425 million crypto users, primarily aged 26-41.

  • Evolving usage: Millennials view Bitcoin as a secure asset, and crypto activities extend to staking, lending, and payments, yet security and trust pose adoption challenges.

Based on some initial desk research I found, Usability was a significant problem in the world of crypto. This helped formulate my research objective.

Background

One of the biggest challenges facing many crypto apps is usability & security. For many people, the process of buying, selling, saving and using cryptocurrencies is confusing and intimidating. 

Research Objective

Understand what the pain points and challenges of a new and experienced crypto user.

21 users participated in the screener. And amongst those we were able to select 6 potential interview participants. 

The interview data revealed several key themes influencing user adoption. 

Understanding user’s perspective!

The notes, observations and quotes from the interviews where further distilled using Empathy mapping to better understand user’s pain points, goals, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. These helped feed into the personas.

Novice User

Experienced User

All the above research was distilled down into two powerful user personas!

By keeping these personas in mind throughout the design process, it helped us create a crypto application that catered to a wide range of users, from crypto enthusiasts to newcomers.

How Might We….

The HOW MIGHT WE statements were developed to provide clarity and focus for the whole life of our product. These HOW MIGHT WE statements translated user needs into actionable design goals. So every time we thought of an idea or a new feature we ran it past our How Might We statement. 

Ideation process explored various ideas: Crypto Wallet, Crypto Payment, Crypto Gift Card. Chosen solution aligns with key aspects targeted for resolution as well gives monetization opportunity.

Ideation

How the research informed design

  • User-Centered Design: Focus on building features that directly address user needs.

  • Persona-Driven Design: Create user flows and prototypes catering to both users types.

  • Content Strategy: Develop clear and concise educational content within the app.

  • Prioritization: Prioritize features addressing security and basic education needs.

  • Testing & Iteration: Use research findings to guide user testing and refine the design.

Turning point in the design phase!

  • In the initial phase of design, we conducted guerilla testing using hand sketches to gather user feedback using Marvel app. 

  • The insights obtained from this testing proved crucial, as they highlighted users' preference for a practical wallet that integrated educational features, rather than just an educational app and a simulator. It also made us think about how we could retain users once they are equipped with all the education and practice using a crypto wallet.  

  • Thus, we went back to the drawing boards and started to work on a crypto wallet app that was easy to use, secure and trustworthy and integrated supportive features like Learning and Community support for user engagement.

  • The decision to center our app around the wallet aspect also provided an opportunity for monetization and recurring user engagement.

Information Architecture

The information architecture of our app is designed to provide a user-friendly and intuitive experience for newbies in the crypto world. The app's IA revolves around 3 key features: Crypto Wallet, Community, and Learning Module.

Key user flows developed to test with the users

  • Prioritized user education and the simplification of complex concepts, additional guidance to clarify unfamiliar terms and their application. 

  • Landing page, was intentionally crafted for clarity.

  • Supporting features such as News, Community, and learning resources were tested and developed.

  • A robust onboarding process was designed to ensure that newbies could easily navigate and utilize the app.

Several critical issues were raised in the two rounds of the usability testing.

For next 6 weeks we worked on the design and created a working prototype that was ready for usability testing. 5 users with various levels of experience with crypto were recruited for usability testing. All usability testing were moderated and conducted remotely using zoom meeting. 

The goal for the research was to test the ease of use of three main user flows.

  • To evaluate how easily a first-time user can set up a new wallet on the app.

  • To evaluate how easily a user can buy crypto on the app.

  • To evaluate how user engages with the Learning & community features.

Usability Testing Issues & Key Insights

Issue: Novice users were confused by the initial wallet setup screen, expecting traditional username/password authentication instead of a recovery phrase.

Recommendations: Introducing a "Learn More" option to explain the purpose of the recovery phrase within the wallet creation flow significantly improved user comprehension. This provided optional additional information without overwhelming experienced users.

Issue: 60% of the users struggled to initiate the buying process on the "Buy" screen due to an unexpected flow. They attempted to enter the purchase amount first, expecting to then select the payment method.

Recommendations: The user flow was adjusted to align with the screen's visual hierarchy, allowing users to select the purchase amount first, followed by selecting the payment method. This change improved user intuition and streamlined the buying process. 

Issue: Users expressed a lack of motivation to complete the learning modules. While they recognized the value of the content, the absence of incentives and progress tracking hindered engagement.

Recommendation: A reward system and progress tracker were implemented to increase user motivation and completion rates. This aligns with the app's goal of educating users and empowering informed investment decisions.

Final prototypes!

Buying a crypto

Creating new wallet

Onboarding

Learnings & achievements

  • Designed a user-friendly crypto wallet app for crypto newcomers.

  • Simplified complex crypto concepts through content writing for easy understanding.

  • Conducted in-depth user research with 20+ participants.

  • Integrated supportive features, Community, Learning for user engagement.

  • Created working prototype in figma for user testing.

  • Led usability tests with 10 participants, reducing onboarding confusion by 50%.

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