When marketer Yakov Sychev joined cross-chain liquidity protocol Eywa a month before its launch in November 2023, he was shocked to discover that there were “no really good tools” to measure how users interacted with blockchain contracts. Through Eywa’s cross-chain index, CrossCurve, users exchange tokens across different chains — a layer that Sychev, now Eywa’s Chief Marketing Officer, says “was neglected before I saw Cookie3.”
This interview is part of CoinDesk Web3 Marketing Week.
Cookie3, a MarketingFi company, “is basically Google Analytics for Web3,” says Sychev, with Eywa’s users particularly appreciating anonymity and decentralization. To attract and retain these customers while giving them the power and privacy that Web3 has to offer, Sychev needed to map the user journey without relying on Web2 analytics. How did users end up with Eywa products? Which partners could Eywa work with to attract new partners?
Cookie3 could answer these questions without revealing information that is not yet on the blockchain. “They give me the format and tools to read this data in a way that doesn’t require a developer,” says Sychev. “As a marketer, I don’t want to write code.” Cookie3 translates the blockchain into marketing language for him. What work did you do before becoming CMO at Eywa?
I was working on a crypto accounting app that was somewhere between Web2 and Web3. We used a lot of Web2 tools and didn’t need Web3 analytics. Before that, I was mainly involved in Web2 projects, including automation for educational webinars. We needed to associate incoming traffic with its sources, such as a Telegram username with that user’s actions in a webinar room.
We built funnels that showed users’ journeys and automated them. We could see how many were at different stages of the funnel and how many minutes the user was on the webinar. For example, you could see if a customer went to a webinar from a bot, or from a Facebook ad.
How do those funnels look different in Web3?
I started to understand how different they are with the Eywa project. With Web3 you have a new data layer in the blockchain. Users don’t just interact internally with your websites or systems. They interact with your blockchain contracts by buying, selling or exchanging tokens.
Before Cookie3, I couldn’t measure audience quality or metrics on blockchain. I could see how people went to my website through Web2 analytics tools, but I couldn’t see what people were doing on-chain, which is the most sacred data in Web3 projects. Data about the chain is very valuable for investors. It shows how much you are growing.
Of course you have specific tools for blockchain analysis. But the problem was that I saw more than a thousand wallets, but I didn’t know through which channels they came to us. I didn’t know the quality of these wallets: how many tokens they held or how many transactions they performed. You couldn’t see how off-chain actions brought users into the chain. As a marketer you have to understand that.
How does Cookie3 provide that information?
I can give you an example. We participated in a Cookie3 ecosystem campaign, a drop with a few projects. Their website had a link to our website, which I provided, and had basic parameters like those in Google Analytics. We used Cookie3 before we integrated this campaign, so when users came to our page via this link, I could see how many wallets were connected through it. The key is that I can see how many wallets this resource – the Cookie3 ecosystem campaign – is bringing me.
That just scratches the surface. I can go deeper. Cookie3 has an on-chain explorer, where I can see the overview of the wallets that have interacted with our smart contracts. I can see the number of transactions. Then I can go deeper and investigate the quality of those wallets. Is it better than what I see from other partners? Worse? This has helped me identify and compare different channels, bloggers, KOLs, and influencers – all sources I use to drive traffic. It also adds a new layer: ID, the wallet.
Due to that decline, Eywa users can get free Cookie3 token airdrop points for their involvement with Eywa products. How did users earn points?
It’s easy to track the wallet addresses that interacted with our contract, so we shared those addresses with Cookie3. They let those wallets claim airdrop points for previous interactions. Any user who made even one transaction cross-chain could get points.
For the current interactions, we have configured our smart contracts in Cookie3. When I work with Cookie3, I don’t need a developer. I have some data from the developer side, like which contract to use, and then I can configure everything myself via Cookie3, which I did a few months ago. Now Cookie3 tracks all interactions with our smart contracts.
How many airdrop points have Eywa users collected so far?
I don’t have that information. But I checked my own address and was able to claim 2,500 points for interacting with Eywa contracts. Users will later get the conversion rate from points to tokens.
What are the most valuable insights you’ve learned with Cookie3?
We recruit an audience that is interested in our product category. They don’t come from NFTs or GameFi, but from exchanges or DeFi protocols (our competitors) as a source. Many users come from different Dapps, so I know exactly which Dapps they use. That helps me know who to approach for partnerships.
