Increasing user engagement on blockchain applications through persuasive design

Abstract

Blockchain gives rise to many new applications and use cases and has already markedly changed several industries, such as financial services, energy and utilities, or healthcare. Although blockchain could potentially be used disruptively for end-user applications as well, utilizing it remains poor. It appears that the unconvincing design of many end-user blockchain applications leads to insufficient user engagement. To investigate the influence of design aspects on users’ engagement of blockchain end-user applications, we developed a blockchain application for the creative industries based on the principles of persuasive design. Hereby, we aim to contribute to research in the blockchain context on how end-user applications need to be designed to increase user engagement. By using a design science research process, we can ultimately provide a total of seven recommendations for developing persuasive blockchain applications for end-users.