Forward This To Your Normie Friends

How did you get into NFTs? Were you the first of your friends that stumbled upon a tweet that ruined your sleeping schedule? Did your cousin’s success with flipping jpegs for profit pique your interest?

Maybe, you were forwarded this email, in which case you’re probably wondering: what even is an NFT? How are people making this magic internet money?! Don’t fret newbies, we have just the thing for you here.

Whatever the gateway experience, NFTs are proliferating fast. 

In the last half of 2021, NFTs embedded itself deeper into mainstream consciousness with household name web2 brands partnering with native web3 projects and renowned celebrities (SHAQ.SOL, anyone?) hopping onto the jpeg bandwagon. Just as we wrap up the first quarter of 2022, NFTs have generated $12 billion in trades across chains which is a slight boost from Q3 2021’s $10.67 billion trading volume. Notably, NFT activity on blockchains other than Ethereum are gaining traction, with the number of sales on Solana increasing by 34% compared to last quarter. This signals an NFT market that is expanding and garnering adoption across the board. Every day, new people join the NFT space, making onboarding both necessary and critical. We believe that as more people collect NFTs, the majority of this growth will gravitate towards projects with a lower barrier to entry. 

👀 What will bring the next droves of people: 

• Familiar things but make it web3. Like gaming! There’s great potential here but it won’t take off overnight. Boundaries like cost and education persist, while mass adoption is contingent on convenience.
• Intuitive user interfaces. Imagine the day we reach the iPhone level of understanding with NFTs, where we are ready to go without a manual. As crypto products improve user experience and become more intuitive, the complexity of user onboarding decreases. 

Although there's a growing interest around NFTs, they remain niche: 25% of U.S. adults are familiar with NFTs, while only 7% are active users. Does this mean that we have an onboarding issue? NFTs are still in their infancy and so are corresponding onboarding processes. Attempts of better onboarding exists but the quest for better on-ramp for new users remains an ongoing pursuit.

🛠 Some issues to tackle with NFT onboarding:

• Abundance of information, no central location. How will someone with 0 knowledge of NFTs have the knowledge to navigate Twitter and Discord (where information on NFTs are found)? 
• Normies need more support. Unlike onboarding for DAOs (newbies, DAO = decentralized autonomous organization and it’s a method of collaboration in a trustless environment) which attract crypto-native people, NFTs have a wider appeal. NFTs extend to people who have never bought cryptocurrency.  
• Not everyone can afford to buy an NFT for alpha. Certain NFTs act as a ticket into groups and initiatives that offer invaluable insider knowledge. Heck, NFT “experts” are propping up and even these cash grabs have a high barrier to entry cost-wise. 
• Ideal experiences… are ideal. Retention is correlated to a good experience. Early successes leave people hooked. And, if a newbie feels welcomed in the Discord server that they just joined… that’s a good experience.

📓 Onboarding Best Practices

When some new entrants ask about NFTs, they’re actually asking which NFTs to buy. It’s a fair question to ask but as the ol’ adage goes: do. your. own. research. Those that look to be spoon fed investment advice are likely the same people that end up being an influencer’s exit liquidity. Rather than directing them to the next-big-ponzi, onboarding needs to focus on building confidence by giving users the skillset to choose which NFTs to buy. Successful onboarding helps newbies develop self-efficacy through a fundamental understanding of NFTs, to participate fully in the ecosystem with the confidence to move, learn and thrive in the land of non-fungible tokens.

A major key to onboarding is inclusivity. At this nascent point in time, we can’t completely move away from the developer-centricity predominant in crypto products. What we can do is use simple language and elaborate on the slang and jargon we can’t help but use. What helps is to reference concepts already known. In our Playbook, we drew analogies from everyday life to break down new concepts. Familiarity breeds confidence. We should also be aware that general estimates of most NFT communities are 80%+ male and we need to be welcoming to everyone, not just crypto/tech/finance bros. In the same vein, we should also question certain practices that may not be as friendly to newer entrants. For example, whitelists lowers the barriers to entry for new entrants who may not have the connections to get offered a place or time to grind for a spot, and it favors those already in the ecosystem (note: nothing wrong with WL but it advantages some more than others). 

We created the Magic Eden Playbook as a starting point for newbies. Most newbies think that NFTs are beyond them. Why would anyone pay top dollar for a jpeg? Let alone make a killing?! We get it. It’s daunting. It’s confusing. But, anyone can get into NFTs. We crafted the Playbook with empathy, with absolute beginners in mind and drew from our collective NFT wisdom. If we do our job right, the Magic Eden Playbook will help you build your confidence and encourage you to take the next step: learning by doing.

🪄 Solana Miami Hacker House Recap

It was an absolute blast putting a face to your colorful pfps. We also caught up with individuals and projects making moves in the Solana NFT ecosystem. Check out their interviews here:

🪄 What’s Happening?

• Magic Eden co-founders (Jack, Sidney and Zhuoxun) talk about manifesting a home for the next-gen of digital creators on Ep.104 of the FTX Podcast.
• Recently, we introduced an upcoming drops page on Magic Eden where users can upvote collections they’re hyped for. Now, your upvoted projects will populate a carousel on your homepage!
• Upgrade alert: How you make offers got a fresh UI lift! To a more seamless bidding experience.

🪄 Congrats, this week's top performing collections on ME! (4/6-12)