OpenSea & Coinbase NFT
An NFT Marketplace Teardown
NFT marketplaces: The official handshake between creators, collectors, and flippers.
When well-executed, a marketplace can also be a hype-building community that fuels the NFT space in a synergistic loop. A creator launches a new project. The community flocks with hype and chatter. Sales skyrocket. This success reels in more fans and empowers the creator to restart the loop with their next big mint.
But that’s a pipe dream. First, we need marketplaces to get the basics right.
One of the main challenges of all things web3 is the ever-growing barrier to entry.
Between the jargon, acronyms, and complex systems that make it all happen, simply understanding what “all the fuss is about” can feel like summiting Everest. Now compound that with feeling competent enough to invest your hard earned money in NFTs. What we have is simultaneously a user experience nightmare and goldmine.
If there was ever an arena that could benefit exponentially from a simplified user flow, blatantly obvious calls-to-action, and crystal clear copy (and microcopy), it would be the NFT marketplace. There’s a lot to digest here, so let’s take a look at how the OpenSea native app and Coinbase NFT mobile websites are faring. We are going to focus on the home/landing page and NFT detail pages.
Home
Right out of the gate, we can see stark differences between the two.
What they have in common, however, is that neither is telling us much of anything. OpenSea is attempting to communicate slightly more, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Coinbase has opted to dive head first into a full-width NFT feed.
OpenSea: Hierarchy & Microcopy
The hierarchy in play here opts to lead with rather large category buttons for browsing, taking up roughly 25% of the real estate. The 4 cropped NFTs (or collection art) in the background of each button are too obscure to add value.
These filter buttons are then followed by the following horizontal lists: Notable Drops, Trending Collections, Hot Items, Expiring Soon, and New Top Sellers. The challenge here is the fact that the differences between many of these groupings are not clear. What is the difference between notable, trending, hot, and top sellers? Could something be “hot” because it is “trending”? A top seller is also trending by default, right? Maybe?
The answer is “who knows?” because the NFT cards display the exact same metadata (creator, item name, price, and likes). This makes the segmentation seem frivolous or just plain confusing.
Coinbase NFT: Fake Personalization
The core challenge or curiosity with Coinbase’s approach is highlighted within the first 200 pixels of the page. On your first visit to the site, without signing up or in, Coinbase implies that you are viewing a customized feed just “for you”. Personalization is one of the most powerful tools in product design. By asking or identifying what a user is most interested in, you can significantly increase their conversion rate. Put simply, if you know what they want, they will do what you want.
Unfortunately, Coinbase has shown their cards by making it blatantly obvious that this is in fact not a customized feed. They know nothing about me or my interests. This results in an entire feed of “random” NFTs as opposed to an exploratory experience that allows the user to choose their journey.
Two points for Coinbase, though. They have taken the extra step of explaining the category with a small amount of additional copy. It is now crystal clear that “Trending” is a measure of increased attention over time.
NFT Detail
Yet again, the two have nearly nothing in common.
This goes to show just how nascent NFT Marketplaces are. Two experiences are selling the same items and yet there is no clear consensus on the most important data points to display. This is where the opportunity lies for web2 standards to make their way into web3.
OpenSea: All About the Details
OpenSea understands the importance of this moment in the user journey. The purpose of a product detail page is to provide the user with all of the information needed to make an informed purchase. An NFT detail page is no different. Some of the minutiae may be different, but the core is the same: brand, item name, price, description, and specs. OpenSea has that figured out, for the most part.
Opportunities for improvement lie in the order the information is disclosed. As alluded to above, the price of this NFT is not visible before scrolling. Not only is it a scroll away, but it is also beneath less critical information like a “+ more” button (that did not actually reveal more text in this case), how many people have favorited this NFT, and the sale timer. None of these items are more impactful for a purchase decision than the current price.
One positive subtlety that is often overlooked is the unprompted fiat conversion. Displaying the ETH price alongside USD is a small step towards providing clarity for NFT/crypto newcomers.
By default, the accordion menu containing the collection description, properties, blockchain details, and price history are all collapsed. This is a solid call for all of the sections except the NFT’s properties. These properties directly inform the rarity level of the NFT, which in turn, is likely to affect the token’s price. In an inverse scenario, a potential buyer can use this data to quickly see that a steeply overpriced NFT is actually very common. OpenSea makes this very simple by calling out the 1 of X factor of each property and assigning it a rarity tier.
The final and most obvious opportunity is likely already in the works. Pushing users to the web experience at this critical junction is a recipe for conversion disaster. Not only does it complicate analytics data tracking, but it also takes the user out of “the zone”. The web version of OpenSea is nothing like the mobile app, making the shift incredibly jarring. A temporary fix could include opening the URL within an iframe to keep the user in the app. Once you send your users to the browser, you’ve lost them to the worldwide web.
Coinbase NFT: Less Can be More if the Less is Enough
To cut straight to the point, Coinbase has missed the mark here. There is not enough information here to validate whether this is a good buy. At this moment 140 ETH will run me about $270,000 USD. Is this NFT worth that price? Coinbase does not tell us or even begin to give us the tools to figure it out.
At the micro level, we are missing the brilliantly helpful fiat conversion. Also, the label “Current Price” implies that the price will change frequently via bidding/offers, but that does not appear to be the case since the CTA simply says “Buy Now”. The price is the price and adding “current” to it is unnecessary.
Using prime real estate near the top of the page for a Seller ad is less than ideal. If I have landed on this page, I am much more likely to be a buyer than a seller. So not only is this card in the way of more critical information, but it is also not the most relevant message for the buyer persona.
Collection, Created by, and Owned by are consuming much more space on the page than they need to. The wallet ID could be stacked just below Mutant Ape Yacht Club and the current owner of the NFT should be listed nearby.
Most disappointing is the Attributes section. Unlike OpenSea, there is no mention of how unique or common each attribute is. The attributes are simply describing what is in plain sight: yellow background with a beanie and a bone necklace. Without the stats, this information does not aid the purchase decision.
Wrap-Up
While OpenSea outshined Coinbase NFT, there is still room to improve upon the experience.
Web2 birthed and evolved the modern shopping experience time and time again. In order to reach massive levels of adoption, NFTs will need to lean on web2 eCommerce best practices to draw in newcomers to the space. If a potential buyer is left feeling confused, uneasy, or misled, they will simply take their wallets elsewhere.
Stay tuned for the next installment: NFT Marketplace Redesign.