Designing for Trust in Web3: Lessons from the User Research Field - Sasha Tanase Luca

Transcript

[Music] Hello [Music] everyone. Um, let's just make sure that my remote works. Yes, lovely. Um, so yes, today we're going to talk about trust in web 3 and all its messy layered forms. uh from design signals to risk management and gut feeling caution. And what I would like you to remember is that this isn't a rule book or a checklist. Uh and you don't need to tick every box. Think of it more like a field guide

or let's say Prague's restaurants guide. Uh it's imperfect. It's evolving and it's full of lessons for the from the research trenches. So I am Sasha Tanas Luca. I am the co-founder of web 3 UX which is a user research panel and currently I'm working at thesis. Uh I have the role of the research ops and thesis is the studio behind me fold tbtc threshold network and acre and um you can see on the left side this is how my colleagues see me when I say that I am the user's

voice. So why does trust matter? So here you can see these are the Oxford and Cambridge definitions for trust. However, in web 3, trust is a little bit different. It has a little bit of a different definition. So let me tell you something that is going to resonate with anyone uh who's used a cold wallet, who had their funds stuck in a bridge. I hope you don't. uh or stared at an approved button for 15 minutes. Trust is not about what your brand says. It's not about a feature badge or the phrase

non-custodial in your headline. It's about this. Someone out there is holding their future in Bitcoin or Ether and that's their backup plan. That's their gray pound. That's their bet against the system. So when they hear connect wallet, it's not a casual decision. It's existential. With Bitcoin, I'm thinking multiple times before doing anything with it. This quote stuck with me because this isn't about UI or UX patterns. It's about fear. Fear of loss, fear of scams, fear of never getting your funds

back. And you, the builder, the developer, the designer, the researcher, the BD, you are sitting on the other side of this trust cliff. Okay? But you don't have to take my word for it. Um, we didn't invent this story. Uh, we have uncovered it over the past four years. my team and I, we've sat down face to face, screen to screen with more than uh 150 people and people who just hold Bitcoin and Etherlike religion, people who've bridged assets

across sketchy daps, people who lost money, and people who trust no one anymore. We spoke with builders, skeptics, first-time users, and hardcore DeFi users. And across all of them, the same things came back over and over again. It's not about APY. It wasn't even about decentralization. It was about trust. Trust earned, lost, rebuilt, questioned, and sometimes given blindly to people who just look trustworthy.

So, let's break this down one layer at a time. Trust is the hardest currency in web 3. Bitcoin and Ethereum users have an emotional relationship with their assets. Losing BTC is a significant fear. Trust is deeply personal. You have to understand that for a lot of people in web 3, their Bitcoin or Ether reserves are just like their pension funds. And that's why they are just like trust final boss. It's elder ring but for web 3. Uh they are extremely skeptical, extremely cautious, will take much more time to do research if anything will catch their

eye. So let's learn about visual and UX trust signals. If it was built hasty and it looks bad, it's probably a scam. Now, this is both hilarious and completely serious because when when someone says that, what they're actually saying is, "I have no idea what this protocol does, but I've been through enough rugs to know what a scam usually looks like." And that's the thing. In web 3, we've trained users to trust their gut. Not our docs, not our

audits, their gut. And that means that if your font is a little off, your button is maybe feeling too slow, your layout reminds them of a rug that they have maybe lost 2K, they're out. So design isn't just aesthetics, it's a survival filter. And here I would like to present you some um examples of protocols that are doing really really good with visual UX trust signals. For example, Zapper here has very good clean design, no hype, fast load, immediate uh visual

credibility. We also have llama swap that has simplicity and clear labels and they are just prioritizing clarity over complexity which is a big win in UX. And then we're going to talk a little bit about uh jobs to be done. Can I have a raise of hands of anyone who knows what jobs to be done is? Okay, nice. Much more than I expected. So for the other ones who don't know uh jobs to be done is a UX framework that focuses on how users hire a product to solve their problem. Um so for example if a user a user will buy a

drill not because he wants a drill but because they need a hole in the wall to hang a picture. So it's about the why behind the what. So what I would like you to remember from this is that first impressions matter and as a user I want the website and interface to feel clean and legit so I can trust it's not a scam. So let's learn about trust through transparency and verifiability. Proof of reserves. This is convincing me. So, I love this quote because it's rational and it's opposite of the gut check. It's a user saying, "I

don't want hype. I want evidence." This is more like the researcher mindset, the checklist person, the I read the white paper person. And in Web 3, they're not rare. They're everywhere. Because once you've been burned, you start looking for signs of life. Where are the audits? Who verified this? Can I see the smart contract? Can I check the reserves? So, Mezo is doing a very good job with their Dune Dune dashboard. They have like public onchain metrics. They have verifiability through transparent user activity. So, you can check

everything. Lido as well. They have all of their audit reports made public. They have their validator stats onchain and they have a an open protocol data and TBTC bridge from threshold network is also doing a very good job because they have live minting flow with verifiable checkpoints and you can easily see the BTC to TBTC conversion process in real time. So what I would like you to remember is that real proof builds real confidence. Show me audits and explain how it works so I know my money is safe

and the risks make sense. Social proof and community endorsement. Most of the projects I use are recommended by someone I trust and I'm sure you also do the same. And this quote tells us something critical. Web3 doesn't really have onboarding. It has whisper networks and people who are building squad goals. So trust begins in the group chat. There's no app store, no customer reviews, no trust pilot, just Telegram groups, Discord friends, Twitter

followers. So when someone uses your product, it's often because they saw something else using someone else using it. A wallet address, a screenshot, a Twitter account, a shared success story. So in this space, reputation spreads like wildfire. And it only takes one negative signal, a glitch, a sassal or a coffee zilla tweeting about your some shady mechanism you have in your protocol. That's enough to burn it to the ground.

And this is an example of uh trust through transparency and verifiability. TBTC and a do a very good job. We have clear TVLs, easily accessible protocols, histories and onchain data. And also the um reputation we have Sasal and Cello. I think everyone knows who Sasal is. He's a pro-eminent influencer with impeccable reputation. And the thought here behind is that someone like him would never stake his reputation and be associated with a scammy protocol for example. And then

MEO does also a very good job because it has community anchored language and downto- earthth written explanations. So trust is social and a user would think I'd rather hear from trusted people than guess what's real re referrals help me skip the BS protocol and team reputation has there been an exploit is the team good questions aren't optional they're instinctual So people want to

know people want to know who built this. Were they around for the last bull market? Did they disappear during the last hack? Did they run with the money? Are they building in public or hiding bei behind avatars? And if you think being super anonymous is cool, think again. To users, it's a red flag. Unless you've earned the trust over time, make sure you display other like make sure you have at least one person from the team public.

So, make sure you display other teams who have integrated their product in their protocol because no sound protocol will want to be associated with a a scam. Therefore, you will gain validation and the web 3 sleuth has always one eye on your team's history. So, beware. So, these are very good examples. We have thesis team, threshold network team. They're just showing everyone. You can verify their LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHubs, whatever you want. And I would like you to remember that it's important who's behind this.

And as a user, I need to know who's running it and see proven track record before before I commit serious fs. So this thing emotional trust behavior I think is one of the most important patterns that I have noticed and you probably may have noticed it as well. Participants will deposit small amounts at first so that they can build trust with your network over time or your protocol. And this one actually hit me because it's not just about being cautious. It's about strategy. It's about control. It's about surviving an

ecosystem where the margin of error is razor thin. So when when someone sends a small transaction, that's not a shrug. It's a stress test. They're not testing your UI, your gas estimates, or your latency. They're testing you to see how your product behaves when it's holding their value. They don't call it a test transaction. For them, it's let's see what happens. So, we have very good examples from MEO because they have easily accessible testnet uh tokens and they have a very they offer a very low risk on boarding option to for their users.

And then we also have threshold network um and their bridge and it's very nice how they are uh preventing error and helping users to back out if they feel like things are not safe for them. Uh so I would like you to remember that users start small and then they scale and what they're thinking is like let me try with a small amount first. If it holds up, then I'll reconsider and probably go bigger. So, let's talk about risk perception and fear. Bridges are scary. Not

confusing, not clunky, not experimental, scary. And that's the level of emotional gravity we're dealing with. These aren't UX complaints. These are trauma responses. Users have watched funds disappear into bridges with no clear receipt, no progress bar, no confirmation message, just a silence silent void. And even if your code is secure, if the experience feels unstable, you've lost them. In web 3, uncertainty feels like theft. So, how do we counter that? Show users what's happening at every moment.

Tell them what's next. Tell them what just happened. Give them a chance to back out before they panic. And this is an example from Meobaro. It has very clear transaction receipts, clear transaction info. Um also upfrontness on the risks. So let's say if I have a very low risk profile and I consider that this is not working for me, I will back out with no strings attached. And what I would like you to remember is that transparency beats hype. Worry me about risks and explain the high yields. I don't want surprises

or shady fine print. So let's talk about research, learning, and education. I read everything before doing anything. So here's the beautiful paradox. Users want freedom in web 3, but they also want guidance. So they don't need a financial advisor, but they will really love a glossery. They don't want you to treat them like babies, but they would want a walk through and they will appreciate it. And the best users aren't lazy.

They're learners, but if your product makes them feel dumb for just asking questions, you've lost them. So, show them the flow. Use simple language. Respect their curiosity. And we have some good examples of Zerion, how they have public onchain metrics, and they're just teaching everyone about all of their product, what their product does. We have pawn finance here with their single source of truth and aggregated educational materials. Very nicely done.

And uh also we have MEO uh with their user documentation. It's just written with supern normal humans not only for solidity devs. We're not all solidity devs. And it just offers a complete walkthrough. So make it understandable. Give me plain language and inapp guidance so I don't need to be a dev to use it safely. And we have talked about all of these um important qualities and um sections of trust. I would like us to talk a little bit about the trust

journey. And this is how actually trust works. It's not a single moment in this emo it it's it's just an emotional arc from landing on your website to that tiny test transaction to deciding whether to recommend it. Trust builds quietly and breaks loudly. Your product leaves or dies in these five moments. So we have discovery, research, first use, continued use and we all hope for that advocacy. So in web

3 everything we build exists in this tension between risk and reward. We say decentralized but we ask users to trust our smart contracts. We say self-custody, but we ask them to sign with a hot wallet. And that's fine. That's fine if we're honest about it. If we design with care, not just cleverness. Because trust isn't built through branding. It's built through behavior. It's built in the way your DAB handles errors, in the way your copy explains what's happening. It's whether or not someone feels safe handing over their life games. So don't just build

for functionality. Build for human fear, for doubt, for caution, for people who've lost money and are trying not to lose it again. In this space, trust isn't a side quest. Trust is the product. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Can I Okay, cool. Thank you so much. Do we have any questions? Okay, I guess not. Perfect. It means that I have delivered the best. Oh, there's a question there.

Sure. My bad. Sorry. It's not really a question. It's more like thank you. as a UX person, a UX researcher, this is music to my ears and I just want to hear from you how can we create a swarm of interest for UX research in this interesting in this industry somehow do you have any takes on h how we can create more uh yeah researchers or yes how to make people kind of understand how important it is um so I think through reports and through public speaking and through just displaying how research is actually

impacting your product. Um like I I remember uh I think three years ago I was in Amsterdam at Devcon connect and I was talking about why is important to um add design before you actually write your smart contract because the smart contract just dictates the UX. And there were a lot of solidity devs there and they were just like I didn't I didn't never think about that. So it's important to just go teach educate and show the actual results. And I think the more we show the results the more people

will be on boarding. And also I think this is something that is very very near and dear to my heart. We're all working in an opensource space where code is open sourced but no one is actually showing their uh research audits or their research reports. I think we need to become more open source in designer research as well. I think if we want to if we're going to do that more and more people will learn just like they learn coding. So yeah, I hope this is answering your question. Thank you so much.

Okay. Thank you. Another round of for a plus. Oh, and by the way, if you scan this QR code, you can get the slide deck. Sir, what? If you're scanning the QR code, you can have the slide deck. It's everything there. Thank you so much. Cool. Next talk will be in seven minutes. Okay. [Music]