So I’ve been looking at Web3 user acquisition costs and honestly, most of us are about to get blindsided when we launch in August.
The brutal reality check
I kept seeing teams budget $5-10K expecting thousands of users, but the data shows Web3 companies spend 3-7x more on customer acquisition than traditional software companies. We’re talking 29-95% of enterprise value vs 7-15% for normal SaaS.
What we’re actually asking users to do
Think about it - it’s not “enter your email.” It’s:
AI governance tools need explaining. Real-time trading needs slippage education. Cross-chain features need bridge tutorials. Every complexity multiplies the friction.
Plus traditional digital marketing barely works - you can’t target crypto users the same way because wallet addresses are pseudonymous. All that Facebook audience targeting? Gone.
I think a lot of teams are going to burn through their marketing budget in 2 weeks and wonder what happened.
Real talk - what are you budgeting?
Has anyone else looked into this? What are you guys actually planning for user acquisition costs? Because if I’m wrong I’d love to know, but the data suggests most of us need to get way more realistic about user numbers.
Now I am in shock, the viability of my role circles around community support and onboarding.
This is a role that should be considered for me and some other builders.
I’ve seen two very different realities when it comes to Web3 user acquisition and both are far from what many teams are expecting. I’ve calculated CAC across multiple campaigns and even when CPA (cost-per-action) is low just a few cents the actual CAC (customer acquisition cost) for a real retained user can still range between $20–$100.
But it depends heavily on the strategy. In my experience, there are two dominant models—yet surprisingly, very few teams blend them properly:
1. The Giveaway Strategy (low-budget, high-quantity)
This approach leverages Twitter shoutouts and giveaways with mid-tier influencers, usually from Southeast Asia.
Example: Pay $50/hour for a promo tweet → get 100–1,000 users to test your app (especially if there’s a chance to earn or win something).
It works well for farming feedback, testing traction, and getting your numbers up fast—but you rarely retain high-quality wallets. CAC here is super low maybe $0.10 to $1 but retention and LTV? Questionable.
2. The Agency Play (high-budget, curated audience)
We once ran a full-stack media + onboarding campaign:
$20K paid to an agency for 20+ pieces of content
$5K for onboarding + tutorial events
The result? About the same number of users (≈1,000), but with higher-value wallets and better engagement. CAC here is closer to $25–$50/user—but better quality.
So which one wins?
Neither – unless you know exactly what kind of users you need and when. Smart marketers mix both. They target channel + timing + CTA like precision surgery. A giveaway post or a retweet on a random crypto Twitter account won’t cut it.
P.S. This isn’t directly about Metis—just general Web3 growth learnings. Curious what other teams have seen.
Interesting one! Web3 user acquisition can always be very expensive and tricky, but where the problem lies even more is in retention. Most projects spend a lot on campaigns, get numbers, but fail to turn those into real users.
So which one wins?