User Research and Activation Plan to engage new token holders in Lido DAO Governance by OpenUX

Projects
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TL;DR

We propose an in-depth user research project for Lido, targeting token holders with 100k-1M LDO who are not active in governance. The project aims to find a way to activate new voters and discover missed channels for communication with them. Involves outreach, interviews, creation of behavioral personas, and an activation plan. Total cost: $24,000. However, if we are unable to locate this user cohort, the project will be terminated, reducing the total cost to $10,950.

Overview

The core team at Lido are working to design an on-chain delegation solution (and other improvements) to encourage governance participation. OpenUX wishes to support the team in this effort, by conducting robust user research with a group of users traditionally difficult to get feedback from; those token holders who own 100k-1million LDO but who do not currently participate in governance.

OpenUX will conduct end-to-end user research with profiled participants, in order to address the core research questions and assumptions that the Lido team has, and support the team with confident decision-making around the design of the Lido governance experience, and leading to an activated and informed pool of governance participants.

  • We’ll publish the findings and work with the Lido core team and the wider community to generate novel solutions and ideas that not only improve engagement, but set the benchmark for protocol governance.

High level research questions OpenUX will answer

These are example questions only, and will be refined during the scoping phase of the user research engagement.

  • What can we learn about 100k-1M LDO holders who don’t take part in governance, that will help us activate this audience in governance?
    • What types of behaviours do they exhibit outside of Lido?
      • What work do they do, where do they hang out online, what other types of crypto activities do they participate in?
      • Which channels can be used to find them?
      • How can we activate them?
    • What are the current blockers to them participating in Lido governance?
    • In what ways are these users different (or not) from the profile of top LDO holders (1M+)?
    • What is their purpose for holding LDO if not to participate in governance?
    • What other protocol governance do they take part in, if any, and why?
    • What do they need from Lido in order to participate?

Additionally, through this user research, we will discover new channels for the Lido team to be able to connect with these users, and provide direct introductions (where participants opt in).

Risks

There are only ~200 token holders who fit the profile of the user that the team is looking to learn from. OpenUX is experienced with user research recruitment and will utilise all means at our disposal to successfully recruit the desired number of participants, however success is not certain. Below are some failsafes that optimise our potential for success whilst protecting Lido funds:

  1. For our recruit to be successful, we depend on the collaboration of the Lido marketing team to help publicise our ‘call to research’ across official channels. This will increase the likely success of finding the participants we want to speak with.

  2. We will aim for 10 interviews with participants who own 100k-1M LDO and do not currently take part in governance. If we are unable to achieve this number, we will aim for a minimum of 6, with the additional 4 consisting of 1M+ token holders who do not take part in governance.

  3. NB: We will only interview users who have NOT already been activated in some way by Lido (e.g. Token Rewards Share Program contributors)

  4. The project is split into milestones, so if we are unable to achieve our target number of completed interviews, the project can be paused or sunset.

Our proposed research project timeline, milestone costs, activities and deliverables

Milestone 1: Study design, weeks 1-3
OpenUX will lead a workshop with core Lido members to refine the exact research questions to answer through the research study, gather assumptions, and accurately define the user profile for recruitment. We will design a participant recruitment strategy that is able to identify and screen for the exact user profile. This will go live across multiple channels.
We will design a study guide and interview protocol that addresses the main research questions and assumptions.

Deliverables

  • Workshop materials defining research questions, assumptions, and user profile for recruitment.
  • Recruitment screener and comms.
  • Interview guide.
  • Preliminary desk research on the profile of user, including review of existing insights relating to LDO holders who do take part in governance.

Milestone cost: $8,250

Milestone 2: Minimum data gathering, weeks 4-5
We will conduct a minimum of 6 (goal = 10) in-depth user interviews with 100k-1M LDO holders who do not take part in governance.

Deliverables

  • Anonymised transcripts (available only to core team)|
    Milestone cost: $2,700 (includes 6 participant incentives)|

Milestone 3: Additional data gathering
We will meet the goal of 10 in-depth interviews total, ideally with 4 additional target users, or supplemented with 1M+ LDO holders who do not take part in governance.

Deliverables

  • Anonymised transcripts (available only to core team)

Milestone cost: $1,800 (includes 4 participant incentives)

Milestone 4: Analysis and reporting
Top down and bottom up analysis of all transcripts and recordings, mapping the insights to the original research questions and assumptions. Creation of data driven behavioural persona(s) based on the insights. Final report completed, to including action plan to Lido. AMA/workshops with internal team at Lido, as well as external community members.

Deliverables

  • Data driven behavioural persona(s)
  • Published report of all findings
  • Workshop assets containing insights to action
  • Action plan

Milestone cost: $11,250

Total costs

Consultancy hours: $22,000
User research participant incentives (10 @ $200): $2000
Total: $24,000 USDC/DAI

Payment schedule

Advance payment: $10,950
Post-payment: $13,050

Outcomes

  • Deep understanding of the needs, pains and behaviours of the specific user profile, to inform all areas of the organization (product, marketing, community etc).
  • Channels for acquisition identified.
  • Detailed activation plan drafted (see below ‘Actioning the findings’).

Actioning the findings

  • Should the Lido team not have capacity to act on our findings in a timely manner, OpenUX is happy to action the findings to the best of our ability. This is dependent on the outcomes of the research (we don’t know what ‘activation’ might entail until the analysis is completed).
    • If the solution for activating this cohort consists mainly of marketing, design, and/or white glove services, this is well within our capability. However, if the solution is a technical one, this is outside of our capability.
    • Additionally, the outcomes might suggest this cohort can’t be activated, we won’t know until the research is completed.
  • Assuming the plan for activation is within our capability, OpenUX will draft a follow-on grant proposal. This will describe the activity, and confirm the metrics we will aim to achieve (we will activate a minimum number of people in this cohort, and agree this KPI with Lido beforehand), and request any necessary funds to cover the costs of the activity.

About OpenUX

A note on protecting the identities of participants who take part in research with us.

We are aware that there may be resistance from some LDO holders about sharing their experiences with an outside organization (or even with Lido). Participant privacy is our number one consideration, and success of the research outcomes depends on people being able to trust our research processes. Screener responses will be anonymous. Those who are happy to participate in interviews can opt-in to do so, and their anonymity is respected too - we have plenty of experience researching with participants using pseudonyms and/or no camera.

We will never collect and store Personally Identifiable Information (PII), except for an email address that participants can volunteer - and that is only used for inviting them to an interview with us. Email addresses will be stripped from the raw data to conduct analysis. Video recordings of interviews are only used for the purpose of transcription and analysis, are stored in a GDPR compliant manner, and will be deleted roughly 6 weeks after completion of the study. No one except the research team will have access to videos or PII.

We use a range of techniques which ensure we get the right level of participation. Firstly, we make it clear who is conducting the research study; the fact that a third party is conducting the work can even support uptake (participants have a different perspective of outside organizations than they do for the org we’re conducting the research on behalf of). We are doxxed individuals, happy to be contacted at any time about the research, and will be available on community calls/AMAs.

We reward people with financial incentives for taking part in the study (silent voices are incentivised to speak up when there is a reward for doing so), and this is user research best practice. Usually for interviews, we pay people $1 per minute of their time, so for hour-long interviews we pay people about ~$60 for their time, but if it is an especially tricky recruit like this one we will pay people ~$200.

We choose the right places to find participants. We advertise the ‘call to research’ well outside of the discord, as well as inside. And we use a range of different recruitment tools/methods, including web3 recruitment platforms such as Web3UX, as well as social media.

OpenUX Multisig Address for payment: eth:0xcD1bEdD9714b9c4Cad53222d10f5eB2BBd481E9c

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hi @Georgia_Rakusen, could you explain in more detail what is the benefit for Lido or LDO holders of doing this study? I’m sceptical of using Lido funds on this

Of the outcomes you mention:

  • Deep understanding of the needs, pains and behaviours of the specific user profile, to inform all areas of the organization (product, marketing, community etc).

Holding LDO doesn’t make you a user of Lido. Why do we need to know the needs, pans and behaviours of ~200 token holders?

  • Channels for acquisition identified.

“Acquire” them to participate more in LDO governance? Again, voting doesn’t generate revenue. Why do we want to “acquire” them?

  • Detailed activation plan drafted (see below ‘Actioning the findings’).

Looks like the only clear outcome of this piece of work is that it will generate more work for OpenUX and follow-up grant requests! :upside_down_face:

I know I’m being direct and tough but this looks like a waste of money imo

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Appreciate your feedback, its important we can effectively communicate the value of this work and the rationale behind it.

We scoped the work with input from @Jenya_K, who informed us that this work would be highly valuable to Lido’s work on governance design. The group of ~200 LDO participants in this holdings range make up a proportion of untapped LDO that is not being used in governance. In fact it outweighs the total LDO from 1M+ holders. For Lido governance efforts to succeed, it’s important that this cohort is understood, and this is why the research direction was decided in this way.

Our original scope of work for this was to deliver the findings and support the team with actioning it. However we were informed that the team might not have capacity to act on the findings in a timely manner, and we were asked then to include in our proposal the opportunity to work with the findings ourselves.

To provide a bit of background: our original idea was to conduct in-depth user research that was around Lido end users, but this was deemed not as essential as this work that will inform governance design. Perhaps that is incorrect? This project is not intended to increase revenue, but to increase governance participation. Is it necessary for grant proposals to directly address revenue?

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Thanks for jumping in with these questions. It’s always good to have a lively discussion.

While it’s true that voting doesn’t directly generate revenue, the decisions made through these votes directly influence the protocol’s revenue-generating changes and more.
That’s the reason why I firmly believe in the importance of a decentralized and efficient governance approach for Lido DAO. If research helped engage even about 10% of the holders in the 100k to 1M LDO range, it could make a real difference in how decentralized Lido DAO governance is. More tokenholder participation? That’s a win. Healthy governance equals a healthy protocol.

As for your point

I think it’s a bit early to talk specifics about OpenUX’s role or what it might cost in the future. However, I’m pleased that team is prepared not only to conduct the study but also to implement its findings if the LEGO Council or Lido DAO deems it effective. This allows implement findings without delay. I see it as a potentially big plus.

Big thumbs up from me for this research grant. OpenUX is a solid team, committed to improving the web-3 space, and they’ve got a great experience in crypto research. A huge thanks to them for bringing this to the table.

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hey @Jenya_K, I see your point and agree that revenue/profit is not the only goal. However, when I check on Snapshot the last Lido DAO votes. Having 20 (10%) 1M LDO (high end of the range) holders vote the losing option would not have overturned the decision. For this to be effective you will need to increase voting participation by 50-70M LDO (~2X current participation!).

  • Do you believe this is achievable?
  • Will the OpenUX as scoped achieve it?

Secondly, if we want to really improve effectiveness and decentralisation of the Lido DAO governance (goal #1 of @Hasu’s GOOSE submission), I wonder if putting efforts (and money!) into engaging 100k-1M LDO holders makes much sense in light of the Dual Governance work underway…

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These are good questions, and no, I don’t think it’s possible to activate 50-70M LDO as a result of this research and the “activation actions” that would be proposed. Furthermore, I don’t consider that to be the goal.

I would say that if the research shows a path to activating 20 of them with a VP of around 10M LDO all together, that would be an outcome worth pursuing.

Why is this important?

  1. Governance participation doesn’t end with direct voting. There are also proposals, discussions on this forum, and in other community channels. If this cohort of holders expresses a new opinion, it will probably influence the behavior of whales and raise the level of decentralization and transparency.

  2. Also, when you look at recent votes on Aragon and Snapshot, you probably saw that sometimes decisions are not made due to a lack of arguments against but rather because of general passivity among tokenholders. If activating this cohort helps Lido DAO make and execute on-chain decisions faster, at least the non-controversial ones, that also would be a valuable result. As well as the emergence of opposing votes from which we can receive feedback on what can be improved.

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@Georgia_Rakusen LEGO council thanks you for this proposal and hopes for promising results!

Please find the link to first leg transferred here (the 1 DAI test tx was made previously).

In my personal view I find a gradual increase of vote participation should be really useful for the Lido DAO development and healthy operation.

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@Jenya_K @Alex_L this thread may be a good example of a reason why LDO holders don’t participate more.

Was there ever any genuine interest in LDO holders discussing this proposal or was the decision to fund it already made beforehand?

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What exactly do you mean here? Didn’t get your point.

The decision was made by LEGO 7 days ago, the proposal was here 20 days. Nothing was decided beforehand. The LEGO council is responsible for making such decisions based on LDO holders’ votes.

I understand your position, but at the same time, I see many advantages of the research I mentioned above, including the potential opportunity in the future to have more diverse opinions in proposals like this one.

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Hello Lido community! I’m Henry, @Georgia_Rakusen’s collaborator at OpenUX. We’re excited to share an update after starting this work.

As part of Milestone 1: Study Design, we recently met with @Jenya_K to understand prior research the Lido community has conducted to understand the needs and behaviors of LDO token holders. We now have some preliminary assumptions to work from and are getting an early start on the participant recruiting phase of Milestone 2.

We know that reaching token holders in this category is likely to be challenging, and our success will count on a multi-pronged recruitment approach. Towards this end, we have gotten an early start on the participant recruitment phase of Milestone 2: Minimum Data Gathering by posting recruitment screeners on many channels where LDO holders may gather, as well as doing selective 1-1 outreach, and asking individuals to refer us to our target audience.

While we push recruiting forward, we are also taking a look at onchain data from wallet addresses holding 100k–1M LDO, to see if we can gather any additional insights on the needs and behaviors of our audience. This analysis may help us form more robust assumptions and encourage greater focus during our interviews with token holders.

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with another update, but in the meantime, here’s how you can support us:

  • If you (or someone you know) fits our target audience of 100k+ LDO token holders, we would love for you or them to complete our survey – Research on LDO experience . Anyone who completes the survey may be eligible for a paid interview with our team (where pseudonymity is also allowed)
  • If you have theories about the needs, behaviors, most active channels, or other persona details about individuals holding 100k–1M LDO, we want to hear from you! Feel free to send me a DM on Telegram at @henryhh or fill out this short form – Feedback for LDO Activation Plan

Thank you and talk to you all soon.

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Hello Lido Community,

I’m writing to provide the final update on our user research project aimed at engaging LDO token holders with 100k-1M LDO who are not currently active in governance. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to achieve the desired recruitment targets for this hard-to-reach audience. We have drafted an extensive report outlining our methods and results in this document: OpenUX / Lido Final Report - Google Docs

Additionally, here is a summary of what transpired, our methods, and key insights.

Project Overview: Our goal was to conduct in-depth user research with LDO holders who own 100k-1M LDO but do not participate in governance. We aimed to uncover the motivations and barriers of this user group and create actionable strategies to engage them.

Our Approach:

  1. Preliminary Research and Recruitment Design:
  • Conducted initial desk research and stakeholder interviews to refine our research questions and user profiles.
  • Designed a comprehensive recruitment strategy targeting multiple channels including Twitter, Telegram, Discord, and XMTP.
  1. Outreach Efforts:
  • Utilized onchain data via Dune and Airstack to segment potential participants and targeted them through tailored recruitment messages.
  • Offered financial incentives of increasing tiers and sought to leverage social incentives to enhance engagement.
  • Collaborated with external experts and peers at Deepwork Studio to expand our outreach capabilities and find more creative recruitment strategies.

Challenges Faced:

  • Small Cohort Size: Only 271 wallets held between 100k-1M LDO, with further filtering reducing the potential candidate pool to 71 individuals.
  • Limited Engagement: Despite targeting multiple channels and offering increasing incentives, we struggled to attract eligible participants.
  • Unknown Variables: Lack of detailed information on the behaviors and preferences of the target audience hindered our ability to effectively reach them.

Key Insights and Recommendations:

  1. Targeted Outreach: Future efforts should focus on continuous monitoring of potential candidate behaviors using improved tools as they become available.
  2. Incentive Strategies: Consider social incentives, such as recognition in reports or direct connections with the Lido leadership, in addition to financial rewards.
  3. Iterative Attempts: Repeated recruitment attempts over time can help mitigate the challenges of reaching this elusive audience.
  4. Alternative Approaches: If direct research remains too challenging, consider implementing and testing engagement solutions directly to observe their effectiveness.

Conclusion: Despite our comprehensive efforts, the project faced significant challenges in recruiting the target audience. Nonetheless, the insights gained and the recommendations provided will be valuable for Lido’s ongoing governance participation initiatives.

We sincerely thank the Lido community, especially @Jenya_K, for their support and patience throughout this project. It has been a privilege to work on this important initiative, and we remain committed to assisting Lido in any future endeavors.

Thank you for the opportunity to collaborate with you.

Best regards,

Henry
Co-Founder & Lead Researcher
OpenUX

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I initially saw the 100k - 1M LDO token holders as a promising group for increased governance participation. The challenge was that our current communication channels did not reach them, and we needed to find channels that could.

Sometimes research does not yield expected results, and that is still valuable. OpenUX discovered that this cohort is smaller and harder to contact than I thought. Of the approximately 300 addresses holding between 100k–1M LDO, only 70 were potential candidates, explaining the recruitment challenges.

Thank you to the OpenUX team for your work. The grant will not be extended as the outreach was unsuccessful. However, the insights gained will help to focus efforts on engaging larger holders, refining communication strategies and information design to better reach and involve them in governance.

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