DEV Community

Cover image for Simplifying the user journey for consumers of Web-monetized content
Uchi Uchibeke
Uchi Uchibeke

Posted on • Updated on

Simplifying the user journey for consumers of Web-monetized content

Journey into Web Monetization

Web Monetization is a new Web Services (API) that allows users to stream a small amounts of micropayments to the website they are looking at via their browser or other web user agent. webmonetization.org has all the technical details of the technology for those who are curious. However, this article aims to simplify the concept of Ad-free content supported by the user via realtime micropayment. Hence, this is suitable for technical people and UX designers, PMs, and other stakeholders looking to understand alternative revenue sources and how the consumer journey can evolve to provide the best consumer experience.

For context, I am a Software Engineer in the Blockchain and FinTech space. But, I have an Interactive Systems Design (CS + Psychology + Arts) background, and I spent four years learning and working on how to combine CS with Psychology and Arts to provide the best user experience. So, bringing that experience to Web Monetization is exciting for me!

The Web Monetization space today

From the lens of a consumer, they go through a few phases in their consumer journey. I highlight some of them below:

Discovery

How do content consumers find out about Web Monetization? For most people hearing about Web monetization, their first contact point is the webmonetization.org. Although the website explains the concept and API in plain language, potential consumers who are not in tech or even those outside the Blockchain/Crypto might not understand what this technology is all about. Do the content and explanation instill trust? Or doubt?

'Web-Monetized' is not a consumer-facing language because it does not speak to the benefits of Web monetization; neither does it provide consumers with an easy way to remember/share the technology.

Could we simplify the terms or adopt a more consumer-friendly name to describe Web monetization? What does Web monetization mean for users? And how could that be applied to the name we adopt for the API?

Evaluation

After discovery, do users understand what web monetization is? For those who visit the landing page, what is their Web Monetization opinion from a consumer perspective? How does the explanation of web monetization make users feel? Do users who are passionate about supporting creators get inspired and find creators to support? Do users who dislike ads get convinced to discover more content? Because most of the available content is relatively functional and developer-focused, beginner consumers feel like the technology is not ready to start enjoying. With Coil's content focused on partnerships and platforms, consumers are directed to these platforms, but for some, the value proposition is still not clear.

Screen Shot 2020-10-01 at 9.15.04 AM

Could webmonetization.org be improved to include a focus on consumers and focus on Creators? Could there be other sources for highlighting and showcasing Web monetized, AKA user-supported, or ad-free content?

Decision

After a user learns about Web Monetization and gets convinced about the potential of relying on Web Monetization for content consumption, how easy it is to make that decision and leap to get on board? Coil has done a fantastic job of getting consumers to subscribe. The process is seamless.

Opt-in

After subscription, getting started with enjoying Web monetized content is still a little bit complicated. You either need a Browser extension for Desktop or the Puma Browser for Web. Currently, users have to hunt for the browser extension to download it, and after installing the extension, they still need to know where it is in the browser to log in and activate it.

Retention

After set up, do consumers find enough ad-free web-monetized content? How do we help them filter out and quickly discover web-monetized content? Consumers will continue to pay a subscription fee if the content they find out is useful and matches their expectations. We retain consumers when we give them options. And let their options give them more options.

Better Web Monetization for content consumers

To make web monetization accessible and easy to break into, consumers' user journey needs to be concise and easy to follow. At every stage in the process, descriptions and concepts should be explained in terms that content consumers understand. For example, web-monetized content could be worded as user-supported content or ad-free content for a content consumer.

The table below highlights some areas of the content consumer journey and recommendations for improvement:

Phase Status Recommendation
Discovery ⚠️ For consumers, rebrand Web Monetization around consumer benefits (i.e., Reader-supported content, Ad-free content?)
Evaluation ⚠️ Create customer-centric, content-driven landing page and newsletter of web-monetized content
Decision Coil handles this well. Affiliate program for providers in the system?
Opt-in Improve documentations around Puma browser and the Web Extention because for someone new to extensions, it is hard to install and setup
Retention - Create browsing tools that highlight Web monetized content in realtime from search results

Table: Recommendations for improving the user journey for consumers of Web monetized content

What you can do

In summary, Ads Suck, privacy is at a tipping point. Passion economy/creators rules. Web Monetization is the future because it gives people optionality and allows them to support creators, so creators still get paid. Conde Nast in it's Vogue Magazines are web-monetized, Wired, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and many others are Web-monetized. So what stopping you?

This article is a call to action for Developers, Designers, Product Managers, and others interested in the space to continue to build and especially build more with the content consumer in mind. I am happy to chat about the work I did with Paul Sieka to understand the space better and build better onboarding and retention for both Consumers and Creators (A creator-focused article coming soon!)

READ ON!

Top comments (2)

Collapse
 
louiechristie profile image
Louie Christie

Also,

I think if the coil plug-in and Puma Browser blocked "cookie notifications" like Hush Noiseless Browsing oblador.github.io/hush/ but with improvements funded by monetization, that would be a killer feature.

We shouldn't need cookie notifications anyway, if a site is ad-free and funded by monetization.

I would be willing to collaborate on this feature.

This comment also cross-posted here: forum.grantfortheweb.org/t/noisele...

Collapse
 
louiechristie profile image
Louie Christie

Nice article Uchi!

I agree. I’ve been thinking about this a lot.

I think we need a search engine that is only for monetized content.

I’m sick of Googling for a cooking recipe and getting bamboozling websites so full of ads and pop-ups that it’s hard to find the actual recipe e.g. Easy Tahini Recipe – Better Than Store-bought

We could put a positive spin on it. It could be called the “ad free web”, or perhaps the “quality web”, or “creator’s web”.

I’m a developer myself and might be interested in contributing to such a project.

Alternatively, I notice runnaroo.com/ doesn’t have an option to only show monetized results. If they did, then job done, and I’d use it.

Louie

This comment also cross-posted here: forum.grantfortheweb.org/t/simplif...