From Gigs To Mass Adoption: How User Experience Affects Mainstream Adoption In Web3 Projects

Despite the uptrend in Web3 adoption over the past three years, the market is still relatively small. Around 20% of Americans own cryptocurrency, with the vast majority still needing to understand the basics of blockchain technology, based on a survey by Morning Consult.

"For all of its technological brilliance, the Web3 space is infamous for its lack of polished and smooth user experience. And that is very much a hurdle for widespread adoption", said Leonard Dorlöchter, Co-Founder of the blockchain platform peaq. While some people have Web3 exposure, others don't, which makes "maximum user-friendliness an absolute must", he added.

Here are three reasons why user experience will be a deciding factor in determining who wins this space and when.

Mitigating Excessive Complexity of Web3 Technology

The complexity of Web3 technology can be a significant barrier to entry and deter potential users, limiting web3 adoption to those already familiar with crypto.

"To counter this, platforms should simplify user interaction, making it feel like using a regular app or website. For example, Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) tools indicate a step in this direction, allowing users to create wallets via email or phone, offering a web2-like experience", John Camardo, Director of Products of the blockchain development company Horizen Labs, told me.

"Fiat onramp solutions, such as Stably Ramp, which lets users buy stablecoins (e.g. ZUSD) with mainstream payment methods, including credit cards and ACH, and Paypal's partnership with Metamask, which simplifies crypto purchases, are also aiming to simplify complex processes. These integrations ease the process of acquiring crypto for on-chain dapp interactions", John added.

Even though more and more people are realizing that they pay with their data, privacy, and ownership for the convenience of Web2 services, many are still happy to pay this price. And Web3 has to do better on this, polishing off its interfaces to become more approachable.

Building Trust Through User Experience

Traditional businesses already have a level of trust that they simply need to sustain. Web3 companies need to first earn that trust, which they can do by offering a winning user experience.

Alan Vey, Founder of the tokenization platform Aventus, said to me in an interview, "Trust is paramount in the digital space. Users need to feel confident that their data and transactions are secure. The quality of centralized services has led to users expecting fast, reliable, and user-friendly interfaces. Any friction in the experience can push users back to more familiar centralized platforms."

So, the UX quality of Web3 platforms is about more than just aesthetics or ease of use. It's making advanced technology accessible and trustworthy for the everyday user, which is essential for Web3 to transition from niche to mainstream.

Alan added: "However, most decentralized Web3 platforms to date have extremely poor UX, geared towards developers or those deep in the Web3 world.

For the technology to expand, it must be treated as infrastructure, meaning the complexity must disappear from the UX. Enabling users to interact with Web3 services using methods familiar to them – for example, allowing them to buy and sell digital collectables using USD and common payment methods like credit cards or Apple Pay, or logging into their accounts with email addresses instead of wallet addresses."

Paradigm Shift to Digital Ownership

Web2 has had decades to catch on with users – people are familiar with usernames, passwords, and subscriptions. The UI is very well established.

"Web3's primary paradigm shift – to digital ownership – means that there is no central authority to help reset a password and that true personal responsibility is required", said Mike Schaiman, Co-Founder and CEO at digital agency Gen City Labs. "Those aren't easy things to convey through a user interface, and no one has done a good job of this yet. When they do, and when web3 becomes an invisible part of the experience, that's when broad mainstream adoption becomes possible", he added.

The Web3 businesses that weather the storm are those that listen to their consumers, integrate desired changes, and continuously refine what they offer to the world.

"It isn't enough to provide a functional platform. Web3 needs to go above and beyond Web2 competitors in terms of their UX to infiltrate mainstream markets", said Charles Chow, Marketing Director at the global enterprise technology platform Lumen Technologies.

Experts agree that despite Web3 platforms moving towards a more user-friendly interface and better experience, there's still a long way to go. The global Web 3.0 Market is projected to grow from $0.4 billion in 2023 to $5.5 billion by 2030. While it indicates a positive trend for the blockchain market, Web3 companies need to go above and beyond Web2 competitors in terms of their UX to infiltrate mainstream markets.

Darya Korzun contributed to the article

This article is from an external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga's reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.