Blockchain technology has been touted as a game-changer for various industries, from finance and supply chain management to healthcare and real estate. However, despite its potential, the mass adoption of blockchain technology has been slow. There are several barriers that have prevented widespread use, which we will explore in this article.
What is blockchain technology?
Imagine you and your friends have a notebook that you use to keep track of all the games you play and who wins each game. Whenever someone wins a game, you write it down in the notebook and everyone can see it.
Imagine that instead of just one notebook, you have many notebooks that are all connected together, and everyone in your school has a copy of these notebooks. Every time someone wins a game, they tell everyone in the school and everyone writes it down in their own notebook. That way, everyone has a record of who won each game, and nobody can cheat by changing the information in their own notebook.
This is how a blockchain works. It’s a network of computers (or “notebooks”) that all have a copy of a shared record (or “ledger”). Whenever someone wants to add something to the record (like a new transaction), they tell everyone on the network and everyone adds it to their own copy of the ledger. And just like in the notebook example, nobody can cheat by changing the information in their own copy of the ledger, because everyone else on the network can see what’s happening and would notice if something was wrong.
Benefits of blockchain technology
There are many benefits to using blockchain; however, those most worth considering include:
- Blockchain is decentralised, which means that no bank or entity controls blockchain. Therefore, there is a much lower risk of a single or collusion of entities to secretly manipulate the rules for their benefit. There is no need for enforcement from a governing body because blockchain is enforced by computer code that doesn’t allow for anything but what it was programmed to do (Burnett, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance)
- Blockchain technology creates a record that is encrypted end-to-end and can’t be altered, preventing fraud
- Personal data is anonymised and information is stored across a network of computers rather than on a single server, addressing privacy issues and making it difficult for hackers to view data
- Blockchain creates an audit trail that documents every step in an asset’s journey, providing instant traceability with its customers
Many industries and customers can benefit from blockchain; for example,
- Financial institutions and their customers can enjoy a faster and less costly clearing and settlement process
- Healthcare providers can use blockchain technology to ensure the security of patient records and privacy
- Blockchain can help nonprofits and government agencies create unchangeable records that make sure everyone follows agreed-upon rules
Unfortunately, blockchain technology has not yet reached mass adoption. While there has been significant interest and investment in blockchain over the past few years, its widespread use is still limited. Although there have been early adopters of blockchain technology, many others have been slower to integrate it into their systems. While progress is being made in addressing these barriers, it may still be some time before blockchain achieves mass adoption.
How does UX influence the mass adoption of blockchain?
Problem 1: Motivation to change
Average internet users are satisfied with their current online services and don’t have an understanding of the benefits blockchain services offer. When social media and online banking is working well for users, they have no reason to seek out or adopt blockchain equivalents.
To encourage users to shift towards blockchain, a clear user benefit needs to be established. Many people are unaware of the standards like ‘Non-corruptible, privacy-focused, Anti-Censorship, Fault proof and Future proof’ (Internet of Blockchain Foundation, 2019) that form the pillars of blockchain technology. Furthermore, they are unaware that these standards do not currently exist in their current traditional centralised services.
At Bunnyfoot, we can help investigate users’ attitudes towards blockchain services or products through discovery research and product-market fit testing. We have successfully worked with several companies looking into utilising blockchain technology, helping them validate early stage concepts before allocating budget to new product development.
Problem 2: The Challenge of Onboarding
Despite an overall lack of motivation, a growing segment of the population has shown interest in blockchain services. However, these people are often beginners looking for a starting point in their journey, and the process of gathering resources to understand blockchain technologies can be lengthy. Time spent and frustration can be barriers to adopting a technology, as a once keen user can lose interest in the topic.
Information needs to be readily available for potential users of all different levels of blockchain expertise. For example, a platform with tutorials divided by knowledge level and topic would drastically enhance the accessibility of blockchain basics.
With the assistance of Bunnyfoot, testing can be carried out with inexperienced blockchain users to investigate how effective a product or service is at onboarding new users. Critical issues can be identified and expert advice offered to minimise friction and create a smooth onboarding process.
Problem 3: The Usability Problem
Blockchain platforms can be described as made ‘by developers, for developers’ due to a focus on functionality, maintenance, and stability. This focus often results in neglect of usability, efficiency and accessibility, which are crucial to the user experience of a service.
Usability issues with blockchain technology can be divided into general UX issues and domain-specific UX issues.
General UX issues
General UX issues refer to problems that can be encountered on any platform when standardised guidelines are deviated from. These issues have been explored through qualitative analysis of reviews of mobile cryptocurrency wallets (Voskobonjnikov et al, 2021).
For example:
- The inaccessibility of funds due to apps freezing or crashing
- Interface problems such as typos, colour schemes, and inconsistent icons
- Poor interface design resulting in monetary losses – for example, a user sending transactions multiple times by mistake due to the interface design.
Domain-specific UX issues
Domain-specific issues refer to the experiences that only occur on blockchain services, which include issues like:
- Tedious wallet installation that often involves having to download additional applications or waiting multiple weeks to be verified
- The installation of a wallet that does not support the user’s cryptocurrency or sending of an unsupported cryptocurrency, resulting in funds being ‘stuck’
- Incorrect balances being displayed
- Overall lack of guidance for transactions and the recovery process
- Misconceptions surrounding the way blockchain functions, such as believing a wallet provider can influence transactions or that a transaction can be cancelled
Poor UX dramatically threatens the mass adoption of blockchain technology- a slight glitch or bug has been enough to result in users leaving reviews accusing an app of being a scam. Furthermore, poor UX could result in more serious consequences for a user, such as irretrievably lost funds.
It is important to include UX in the process in order to uncover usability issues as early as possible. Bunnyfoot offers services such as expert evaluations and iterative rounds of user testing to address these issues. A combination of user testing, expert evaluations, and emotion and persuasion evaluations can shift a poor blockchain experience to one of greater trust and less frustration.
There are many hurdles in creating a paradigm shift towards mass adoption of blockchain, but a poor user experience doesn’t have to be one of them. Research can be carried out at various stages of blockchain technology product development. As mentioned throughout this article, Bunnyfoot can offer;
- Discovery research
- Product-market-fit testing
- User testing
- Expert evaluation
- Emotion and persuasion evaluation
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