Increasing engagement with BitTorrent Tokens (BTT)

ROLE
Sr. Director, Product Design

TEAM
1 Product Designer
1 Sr. User Researcher

DURATION
2 quarters

GOALS
2X open rate for BitTorrent Speed
1M wallets created
2X users at +5% Mb/s download

Overview

BitTorrent Web is a native browser-based torrenting application designed for sharing media through peer-to-peer connections. It includes BitTorrent Speed, a cryptocurrency-powered digital wallet that allows users to transact with BitTorrent Token (BTT) in exchange for faster download speeds.

Problem Statement

Low engagement with BitTorrent Speed was a significant issue. Although users could access BitTorrent Speed directly within BitTorrent Web, only 2% of users opened the app, and just 5% of those users went on to create a digital wallet.

Research

Survey

We initially launched a survey within BitTorrent Web to measure user interest in BitTorrent Speed. Additionally, we collected emails through the survey to better target participants for future interviews and testing.


NUMBER OF RESPONSES
1,748

EMAILS COLLECTED
86

Findings from the survey:

User interviews

To deepen our analysis, we reached out to survey participants across a range of responses to set up user interviews. In total, we interviewed 10 users across two cohorts — 5 who were actively using BitTorrent Speed and 5 who expressed interest in cryptocurrencies but were not using BitTorrent Speed.

We organized the feedback into an affinity map and identified the most common themes:

For users actively using BitTorrent Speed, themes we found:

  • Confused why BitTorrent Speed opened in a new browser tab

  • Interested in viewing BTT “spendings” and “earnings”

  • Control over which torrents spend BTT for faster downloads

For users who expressed interest in crypto, but not actively using BitTorrent Speed, themes we found:

  • Not aware of BitTorrent Speed

  • Better education and onboarding about how/why to use BitTorrent Speed

  • Hesitancy to set up a digital wallet

I use BitTorrent Web once a week and have no idea what BitTorrent Speed is

Design

Ideation

Based on the key findings from the survey data and interviews, we identified 3 areas to explore, formed hypotheses, and finalized solutions we wanted to test.

Solutions

EXISTING

To access BitTorrent Speed, users click the Speed icon in the top right corner of the header. The only description of the feature is a small popover below the icon during onboarding, with no incentive or CTA.

Once clicked, the app opens in a new browser tab where users are greeted with a dashboard and no guidance on what to do next.

To create a wallet, users must click on the Wallet section in the primary navigation to get started.

PROPOSED

Contextual popover
First, we designed a popover to nudge users at a key moment in their journey during their first torrent download, when engaging with Speed could provide the most value.

Clear messaging encouraged users to “Boost their download speed,” supported by an incentive and strong CTA. An illustration and animation added clarity and delight, serving as a visual cue to attract and engage users.

Navigation and label
Next, we moved the Speed icon from the top right area, typically reserved for secondary and tertiary account-level options, and placed it in the primary navigation bar.

In addition, we added a label to provide additional context and importance as a section in the app.

Integration, onboarding and naming
We integrated the Speed dashboard directly into BitTorrent Web, delivering a more seamless and cohesive user experience.

In addition, we introduced messaging to reinforce the value to users, as well as an onboarding system to guide them and highlight Speed’s features.

Lastly, we rebranded the standalone app as BitTorrent Wallet, shifting its focus to crypto management.

Prototype

Before implementing design changes in production, we followed up with participants from our previous research who had used BitTorrent Speed to test a clickable prototype.

All 5 participants were able to complete tasks and navigate the prototype successfully, as well as preferred the integrated version of Speed compared to the existing one.

Iteration
Based on feedback from the test participants, we added a walkthrough screen for the first-time user experience to ensure peace of mind about the security of BitTorrent Wallet.

Development

Split testing

After the prototype testing commenced, we created a plan for testing the changes in development. We decided to run 3 sequential split tests — navigation, popover, and integration respectively. Running the tests separately allowed us to focus on individual design changes, that way we had a clear signal on the factors affecting the outcome.

TEST 1: PRIMARY NAVIGATION (A/B)

For the first split test, we moved the Speed icon to the left sidebar along with a label, and retained the existing popover during BitTorrent Web onboarding. To recap, the hypothesis was users would engage at a higher rate because the sidebar was designated for ‘features’ or primary sections opposed to secondary/tertiary settings area in the header.

Results
After running the test we achieved a 250% increase in open rate which came out to a 7% for the B version of the test. The result was statistically significant.

TEST 2: CONTEXUAL POPOVER (A/B)

We achieved a nice CTR bump with the first test without sacrificing the overall experience, so we went ahead and released the navigation change to 100% of users. The second test was the new control against the contextual popover design, hypothesized to engage users at the right moment in the user journey, and entice them to interact at a higher rate with better messaging and CTA.

Results
After running against the new control at 7%, we saw a BitTorrent Speed open rate increase of 185% which came out to a 20% open rate for the B version.

TEST 3: INTEGRATION + ONBOARDING (A/B/C)

The first two tests were fairly low effort to execute, and yielded great results at the top of the funnel from an engagement standpoint.

For the third group of tests, we migrated the existing components from Speed into the BitTorrent Web UI, allowing users to interact directly with Speed without leaving the app. In addition, we added new walkthrough screens and tested two different types of onboarding systems — a traditional wizard-style tour ending with a CTA to set up a wallet, and an action-based system + tour where setting up a wallet was required for users to continue using Speed.

INTEGRATION

Results
With the new integrated version of Speed, we saw the average time on page increase by 8 seconds, and a decreased bounce rate by 50%.

ONBOARDING

Results
Both B and C versions tested better than control but the action-based system, version C converted 66% better with our activation metric (creating a wallet) than the wizard-style tour, version B.

Final results

SUCCESS METRIC

2X open rate for BitTorrent Speed

ACHIEVED METRIC

10X open rate for BitTorrent Speed

SUCCESS METRIC

1M wallets created

ACHIEVED METRIC

1.5M wallets created

SUCCESS METRIC

2X users at +5% Mb/s download

ACHIEVED METRIC

3X users at +5% Mb/s download