Challenge

Magic Eden—a central hub to create, discover, and trade NFTs—wanted to create the most accessible and comprehensive Web3 experience. To do so, it had to overcome the fact that crypto payments require transacting in currencies that are confusing for many people. This led to situations where customers didn’t have enough crypto to purchase an NFT on the platform, or didn’t know how to get started with crypto transactions in general. For example, to top up their wallets with crypto, Magic Eden customers had to leave the platform to acquire the crypto themselves, a cumbersome, multi-step process that resulted in high customer churn.

“We want to make it easy for our customers to onboard into an emerging tech and then retain them with the best possible experience,” said Nick Lagusis, product marketing lead at Magic Eden. “As our business grew, we needed a partner that could solve payments, one of the most challenging parts of Web3 onboarding.”

Web3 developers are expected to provide a smooth payments journey, all while combating increasing fraud and navigating complex KYC and compliance requirements. To bridge the gap between fiat and crypto, Magic Eden needed to create a robust, reliable, secure, and user-friendly experience for getting its growing user base on chain.

Solution

Magic Eden used Stripe’s fiat-to-crypto onramp to enable NFT purchases with a customizable widget that embeds directly into its platform. The crypto onramp handles all KYC, payments, fraud, and compliance, while Link—Stripe’s accelerated checkout solution—enables faster checkout via credit card, debit card, and bank accounts with instant crypto delivery.

With Stripe, Magic Eden doesn’t need to rely on multiple third-party services. Stripe integrates easily with Magic Eden’s platform, enabling an easier-than-ever user experience and simplifying a time-consuming, multistep process into just three steps. Now, users can add funds, select an amount, and purchase in under 30 seconds—without leaving the Magic Eden platform.

“Before, there were too many steps that could lead to a poor experience,” Lagusis said. “With a fully integrated solution that is built into our user experience, customers stay on our platform and keep taking the actions we want them to take. It’s easy, it makes sense, and the results are obvious.”

Results

72% end-to-end conversion rate for returning customers

With Stripe’s fiat-to-crypto onramp, Magic Eden has been able to retain and add customers, and increase revenue. Now, returning customers have an average end-to-end conversion rate of 72%. “Stripe’s onramp product is the easiest, quickest, and most seamless integration for customers to get up and running,” Lagusis said. “When the process is simple, easy, and familiar, the barrier to entry is lowered immensely—and the more barriers you remove, the greater your growth.”

90% of repeat customers return within a month and use the onramp

By offering a better, safer, and more secure customer experience backed by a familiar brand, Magic Eden has established itself as a trusted crypto broker. And by facilitating fair, transparent costs to Magic Eden’s users, Stripe has helped the platform lay the foundation for long-term customer relationships. Returning customers are important to the company’s growth, and now 90% of customers that come back to Magic Eden return in an average of 17 days to use the onramp for new crypto purchases.

“You get one chance to make a first impression,” Lagusis said. “Happy customers lead to retained customers, retained customers lead to revenue growth, and the flywheel continues.”

Overall payment authorization rate exceeds expectations

With built-in fraud tools and identity verification to automate backend processes such as compliance and risk protection, Stripe takes care of the complexities of crypto onboarding so businesses can focus on their customers. Overall, Stripe has helped Magic Eden improve its payment authorization rate beyond the platform’s expectations.