April 12, 2023

The most ill-defined word in crypto - ‘Users’

Discover how many active ‘users’ you have and retain.

What does ‘user’ mean?

The term "users" is one of the most ill-defined words in the crypto industry today. What exactly do we mean by this? Before we dive into this question, take a moment to consider: how do you define a user of your dApp? It's not as simple as it may seem at first glance. You could classify a user as:

  1. Someone who has visited your dApp
  2. Someone who has connected their wallet to your dApp
  3. Someone who visits multiple pages or clicks buttons on your dApp
  4. Someone who has made a transaction
  5. All of the above

Each of these options has its own issues. For example, someone who only visits your dApp hasn't engaged enough to be considered an actual user. At ARCx, we've put a lot of thought into this issue and have decided to break down users into three categories:

  1. Visitor - someone who has visited your dApp
  2. Connector - someone who has connected their wallet
  3. Transactor - someone who has made a transaction

Discover how many users you really have

To determine your actual number of "users," check the Engagement page on the ARCx Analytics dashboard. Users are classified into three categories: Visitors, Connectors, and Transactors. This method provides a clearer understanding of the activity within your dApp.

The tab is particularly useful for identifying Daily Active and Monthly Active Users, as shown in the image above. It is a good practice to monitor this tab for unhealthy trends.

Note: A useful feature of this tab is the ability to filter by individual web pages in your dApp. This provides a more detailed view of where wallet connections and transactions are occurring.

A look into new ‘Users’

To achieve continued growth, it is important to attract new users to your dApp. To track this, navigate to the ‘New Users’ tab. As shown in the image above, we focus on new Connectors and Transactors.

It is generally good practice to monitor the 'Monthly New Users' tab in addition to others, as we want to ensure a steady inflow of new users. Consistent numbers in this tab are what we're looking for.

The ARCx Analytics dashboard allows you to apply filters to all tabs. While we'll cover these in more detail in a future article, they are useful for segmenting users based on on-chain characteristics or by campaigns they were acquired from. For example, if you want to see if the new users you're acquiring are high value, use the net-worth filter and select the higher net-worths.

The Most Important Metric

It's important to have active and new users, but retention is the most crucial metric to track once you see steady increases in these numbers. To analyze retention, go to the retention tab on the ARCx Analytics dashboard. There, you'll find a table that shows how many users are using the dApp over time, broken down by cohort. Cohorts refer to users who started using the dApp during the same time period. For instance, you can see how many users who started using the dApp in January were still using it in February, March, and beyond. Once you understand your retention rates, you can use this information to make improvements. If you're struggling with retention, check out our guide to increasing conversion and retention, available at <LINK HERE>.

Conclusion

In conclusion, tracking and understanding user engagement is vital for the growth and success of any dApp. By breaking down users into specific categories and monitoring their activity, we can gain a better understanding of our audience and make informed decisions to improve retention and attract new users. The ARCx Analytics dashboard provides a helpful tool for analyzing user engagement, and with careful monitoring and data analysis, we can create a better user experience and drive the success of any dApp forward. If you're interested in using ARCx Analytics, please visit our website below.