Awareness/Interest

The customer journey begins when a user hears about cryptocurrency from their friends or online and is interested in learning more. The typical user will begin searching online about topics including how to buy Bitcoins, exchanges, wallets etc. Coinbase will be discovered mostly through word-of-mouth as it is one of the more well-known methods of buying Bitcoin or as one of the top returns from a Google search about buying cryptocurrency.

Engagement / Evaluation

For the initial interaction with consumers and the Coinbase platform, users will be drawn to the site for a need to exchange, invest, or sell their already existing cryptocurrency. Users will go to the website, with their subsequent actions being driven from pre-existing needs.

Once the user has completed a transaction at Coinbase, they can either decide whether or not they are sufficiently pleased with their experience. This can be due to ease of use, clarity of instructions prompted, UI, or financial implications such as transaction fees. From there, the user can make the decision as to whether or not they wish to continue using Coinbase as their cryptocurrency exchange platform. If they wish to remain as an active customer, they will continue trading/investing using this platform; otherwise, they may chose to research other cryptocurrency platforms based on more appealing features.

Onboarding / Purchase / Delivery

Once the customer is ready to purchase, they first need to create a Coinbase account and get verified. The verification process typically involves uploading an ID or drivers license, and then waiting for one to two weeks until Coinbase reviews and officially accepts the verification. The customer can use certain parts of Coinbase before they’re verified, but cannot buy or sell cryptocurrencies until they’re approved. This process introduces some more variability in the customer journey, since customers may potentially sign up to be verified then start having second thoughts before they’re officially able to start purchasing.

After the customer has been verified, they are able to purchase cryptocurrencies and deposit them directly into their Coinbase wallet. At this point, the customer has transitioned from a potential customer to a paying customer, but is still just at the beginning of their journey. Every Coinbase purchase comes with fees and high risks (due to the volatility of most cryptocurrencies), so customers may still be hesitant to keep buying cryptocurrencies through Coinbase, even after they’ve made their first purchase.

Customer Support

Customer Support is a major part of the consumer journey when interacting with Coinbase. People are sensitive to the customer experience when it comes to their finances and it can be the decision maker for whether a customer will return to the same platform or not. Due to people being used to sub second transaction confirmations when dealing with banks, the lag times of crypto transactions can be unsettling. For instance, the rise in popularity of bitcoin led to transaction times increasing exponentially with some people needing to wait upwards of 24 hours to confirm their transaction. Coinbase also serves as an online store of cryptocurrency. This has led to hacks that have caused people to lose large reserves of their crypto assets. The manner in which customer support acts at these times has a huge bearing on the ability to retain customers. With the massive rise in demand, Coinbase’s immediate goal is to decrease support response time to <6 hours (<2 hours for large balances). Thus, whenever a customer encounters an issue that is mentioned above, they can email Coinbase for account specific enquiries or call them for more general enquiries.

Jai Nanavati