How to Make Cryptocurrency more Attractive to New Users with KoinStreet: a UX Case Study

Client: KoinStreet
Task: Website redesign based on research
Time Constraint: 1 week
Tool: Adobe XD

C O N T E X T

As a new user looking to get started investing in digital assets, it can get overwhelming. The internet is overrun with educational resources on cryptocurrency. Barriers for entry to a lot of these markets are high because of the technical complexity of digital currency and the need for solid general computer literacy. In addition, the security factors and lack of institutional fail-safes with digital assets can be a deterrent to a new user.

P R O B L E M

Although the inception of blockchain was meant to be inclusive, the lack of financial and technical literacy, coupled with an overabundance of information, can exclude many individuals from investing in digital assets.

G O A L

Re-design KoinStreet’s landing page to attract users who are new to investing in digital assets. The landing page will need to be clear in message, succinct, and engaging, while building trust in the user. It also needs to provide easy access to information without inundating the user.

R E S E A R C H

Heuristics Analysis

I began my research with a heuristics analysis; ultimately the whitepaper was difficult to locate on the website, the UI was haphazard and unfinished, Information about insurance/API Secured funds was lacking, and the landing page did not show the major selling features of Koinstreet. The embedded video was massive and hard to miss and contained most of the information.

Survey/Usability Test

I conducted a usability test on Koinstreet.com and surveyed 10 users, ages 16–45.

“Would you use koinstreet? Please be specific.”

“Without clicking on anything, can you identify the purpose of this website?”

One experienced crypto user indicated that he would not use the website because he did not know the reputation, details, and security features of the website.

An intermediate crypto user indicated that she was not keen on the gamification aspect, as other resources on the internet seemed more helpful.

6 out of the 10 users had 0 experience with cryptocurrency, while 4 out of 10 users had intermediate-advanced level of experience with cryptocurrency.

2 individuals stated that they were not familiar with the terminology of “digital asset.”

5 out of the 6 individuals without experience indicated that they would use this website.

All of those individuals with previous experience with cryptocurrency indicated that they would not use this website based on security reasons or having previous experience and trust with another platform. However, most enjoyed the learning aspect of the platform.

K E Y · T A K E A W A Y S

1. Users who are newer to cryptocurrency are more open to using this platform; experienced users may not be as keen
2. Focus on sorting through overwhelming information so that users can quickly access information that they need — i.e., search bar or chatbot
3. Emphasis on fail-safes on the website — users need to know that they are not losing anything in the process by making an investment
4. Lean into the educational feature — most individuals identified the learning component as attractive
5. Highlight the copy trading and social aspect on the landing page, not just in the video

C O M P E T I T I V E · A N A L Y S I S

1. Coinbase was irrefutably the most popular platform, as it has been around the longest. It was also very user-friendly to the beginner.
2. Binance had too much going on. Yes you could probably find that one thing that you’re looking for, but a general technical knowledge of digital assets seemed to be necessary to navigate the site
3. Kraken is another similar platform. They utilized predetermined scenarios for easy selection and had beautiful UI.

D E S I G N · P R O C E S S

Persona

Based on my research, I identified Johanna as a persona. She is new to the cypto world and wants to start investing in cryptocurrency. Her pain point is that she is inundated with information. She desires a comprehensive platform where she can trade and learn, and also provides security.

User Flow/Sketches

Iteration

I removed the search bar and added a chatbot feature. I had sketched out a search bar without the chatbot feature, but I interviewed a few individuals who stated that chat bots were fairly useful when the website contained a lot of information so that you could quickly get to the information needed.

Initial Mock-Up

Iterations

I made a couple iterations to the mock-up based on feedback from 3 people.

The chatbot with fixed scroll initially covered the bottom menu.

When testing the initial mockup, one user still indicated that they did not see incentive to jump over from Coinbase. They indicated that financial incentive only would allow them to consider using this platform. I made changes to the Social Hub section to highlight the financial incentive that the “experienced trader” would receive. Now on to the Adobe XD mockup.

Final Mock-Up

Current market prices for digital assets were on pretty much every competitor site that I visited. I included the video component because 4 users indicated that the video feature was attractive. I made sure to first include the term “cryptocurrency” instead of digital asset, as some users were unfamiliar with the terminology.

As mentioned previously, security/trust was not mentioned on the Koinstreet landing page, but deep within the Whitepaper. I added the security paragraph for that reason. Further, the banner with the stats would also instill trust in the user.

The social hub is also being highlighted on the landing page; whereas it was only really mentioned in the video before.

The banner with the stats would also instill trust in the user. The cards: although this website will cater to predominantly new crypto users, intermediate and “top ranked traders” would need to participate in order for the copy trade functionality to work properly. I utilized these three options below because I figured for the beginner, there would be a more extensive onboarding process, whereas for the advanced trader the option to let others follow your trade would be an exclusive option.

Video of Re-design

C O N C L U S I O N · O U T C O M E S

1. Explore how Koinstreet can incentivize experienced users of crypto to join and effectively capture that persona — there are so many resources out there that does the same thing. Coins 2 Learn has a “copy your mentor” feature and websites like Reddit specifically have channels so that individuals could copy trades for free.
2. Based off of feedback from a day trader, adding a Cryptocurrency trading simulator (such as that of Coins 2 Learn) may help mitigate risky trades
3. More usability testing on mockup — flesh out onboarding process for the beginner, intermediate, and advanced user
4. Consider adding a glossary of terms —the level of crypto literacy required to make an informed decision seems pretty high.