When it comes to tech businesses, there is often a chasm between a developer and a user. Developers focus on the goal and tend to overlook something crucial for a customer — usability. Nowhere is it as noticeable as in the crypto industry. For the longest time, the whole crypto area was very professional-oriented, so when the time came to widen adoption, most products were not ready to simplify what they do and why. This is slowly changing today, but even as the industry adapts to suit newer users, there is still the issue of usability. For a Bitcoin mining app, it becomes a matter of accessibility.
Understanding Usability
Regardless of what the app is designed for, it is a product. In a market filled with apps and flashy promises, it’s important to balance a dignified sleek look with ease of use — something that many projects and businesses learn only in the process. When it comes to a complicated enough topic, such as Bitcoin mining, usability becomes a paramount element for several reasons.
- User Satisfaction. A pleasant experience encourages users to return and continue using the app. In comparison, an overcomplicated interface brings the opposite result. Similarly, usability affects retention rates.
- Productivity. The easier it is to navigate through all the tasks and features, the better results users get. That translates into loyalty and desire to spend money and support the product.
- No need for training. When you’re dealing with a topic like cryptocurrencies, one of the main goals is to educate users, and make sure they know the risks and the rewards. A simple app helps focus on what truly matters and skip the how-to manuals.
- Competitive advantages. Users would always choose the app that’s easier to use, even if a more complicated one offers better prices.
- Support. The easier the app, the less need users would have to turn to support, freeing its time and efforts for more important issues.
As we see, user experience can bring an advantage in the market, especially among the closest competitors. That’s something that Bitcoin mining app developers have to pay special attention to.
What Makes an App Usable?
No amount of theory can reflect the point as well as an actual example, which is why we take a look at the GoMining app – one of the leading names in digital mining. GoMining created a digital miner — an NFT that mines Bitcoin. The company is dealing with not one but two complex topics: mining and NFTs, while the project’s target audience is not necessarily tech-savvy.
There are several core principles behind the app’s success.
- Simplicity. The app is simple and easy to navigate. The menu on the side is self-explanatory with every feature listed right there. Users don’t need to leave the app, search for definitions or explanations, and get lost on the way back. Everything a user needs, they can find right at their fingertips.
- Consistency. Visual consistency plays two important roles. It helps to make navigating through the app more intuitive. Similar to how we are used to a floppy disk icon representing the “save” feature or “settings” button looking like a cog. It applies to a unified design as well: fonts, colors, elements, and even headline photos in the news section.
- Feedback on actions. Button color changes after an action, loading screens: these elements let us know what is going on. Was the action successful or does a user need to try again? This transparency makes users feel in control of the app, and that’s a very important issue. Some apps also utilize sound effects for that.
- App maintenance. Designing the app to be secure and error-proof is important. But there are no perfect apps, so providing the option to recover after errors is a way to make the app easier to interact with. Undo options and confirmation dialogs can play an important role.
- Flexibility and Efficiency. The app has to consider the needs of both experienced and new users. Adding multiple features that cover all bases is a way to do it. By adding clarification to actions and even simple features, developers recognize that not everyone is on the same experience level, but newer users are still heard.
GoMining utilized all the elements listed above, to build a wholesome ecosystem within one app. With wallets, cross-chain bridges, mining farms, marketplaces, a Bitcoin mining game, and even a crypto launchpad.
Testing and Working With Feedback
There is a concept of quickly getting married to an idea and refusing to change something that works well. In the tech market, it often creates tension between developers, UX/UI designers, and marketing departments. But before the biggest ego wins, it always makes sense to look at the user. At the end of the day, the goal is to make a user happy with the product. So it’s their opinion that has to matter. Hearing and understanding users’ grievances and being able to turn them into workable solutions is a skill that can be developed. One of the ways to do so is to step out of your comfort zone and try to understand an entirely new topic. During this experiment, take mental or physical notes of everything that bothers you, needs clarification, or makes you want to quit. This is how a new user might feel when facing loads of new information.
Breaking it up into manageable chunks can simplify the process. And that’s the lesson we can take and apply to the process of developing and polishing an app.
Usability has to be a key issue before and after the app’s launch but an “after” doesn’t happen without a “before”.
Bitcoin mining is a complicated topic. It’s a preconceived notion that cryptocurrencies are too technical for most users. The GoMining app brings digital Bitcoin mining to a vast audience by combining affordability denied by traditional mining, and usability unavailable for owners of physical rigs. Because the app walks a user through every step, the project manages to open Bitcoin up to new people. Which, if you think about it, normalizes the use of cryptocurrencies in general.
