#339: 6 Observations From Using Moonshot

🌝 Breaking down the memecoin trading app's unique mechanics

Over the past few weeks, another memecoin trading mobile app has been making rounds as memes continued to dominate mindshare: Moonshot.

I first came across Moonshot from a viral UGC ad for the app. It certainly raised my eyebrows, and probably did the same for others. Especially since their target market seems to be Gen Z users with dreams of making a quick 100x.

Intentional low blow to teachers (shout out to the educators out there), and undeniably effective as this post got 500k+ views.

Last week, I finally downloaded the app and went through the onboarding experience. Unfortunately, I’m not a memecoin millionaire, but I have 6 themes and observations worth sharing from Moonshot.

1. UGC content

As shared above, the Moonshot team excels at UGC content and leans into the motivations of why people buy memes in the first place. No need to sugarcoat it, people buy memes for the minuscule chance of making it big.

PS: I’ll be referring to memecoins as memes for the rest of this piece. I’ll come back to this later.

There are several types of UGC content that help with new user acquisition:

Using Moonshot in school or school-related settings

Similar to the above, these organic UGC ads are focused on targeting students in school settings.

• Above example in a classroom

• Doing work/studying at Dunkin’ Donuts and taking a break to buy a meme on the app

• Taking a Zyn and buying memes while listening to a lecture

• Applying to college while watching a friend buy memes with $210k on the Moonshot app

• Buying memes at the frat house

Although I don’t think these scenarios are real, I really hope Moonshot users sign up for a tax course ASAP 😂

These UGC-styled ads with the school theme can expand a lot more. Off the top of my head:

• Group project with the slacker buying on the app

• Buying memes while walking to the next class

• Sitting alone at lunch. What are they doing on their phone?

The Moonshot Effect

Moonshot listings have been a positive signal for many meme communities, dubbed ‘The Moonshot Effect’. Moonshot helps memes reach a net new audience, increasing the likelihood of success in price and holder terms.

As a result, many of these communities celebrate this blessing of sorts. Historically this blessing of credibility has been reserved for centralized exchanges that have large established user bases. Now we’re seeing some of these dynamics evolve with new entrants Moonshot. This possible shift in platform influence is worth watching.

On top of this, some communities supply giveaways for users to claim, helping provide awareness and potential follow-on buys.

Actual user UGC

Moonshot has several features that make the app particularly shareable:

• Referral rewards with a spinning wheel element

• Notifications with language that encourages sharing

• Shareable cards displaying gains

I’ll get into these in more detail below. We’re still on #1 holy crap lol.

2. App size

When I finally came around to downloading Moonshot last week, I was expecting a friendly and efficient onboarding experience.

What I didn’t expect was the app taking about 3 seconds to download. When I download a new app, I typically swipe over to something while I wait for the download to complete. Not with Moonshot. Before I could decide which app to check, Moonshot was ready to open.

Who knows, maybe my internet was fast that day. But that experience immediately encouraged me to check Moonshot’s app size in the listing details and compare it to similar apps.

Speed matters, especially with onboarding. And from there, I continued the onboarding process.

3. Referral mechanic

Moonshot referrals employ a standard give/get model with a twist:

• Both the referrer and referee get to spin a wheel of meme tickets

• The referral reward ranges from a few dollars up to $100

• The experience is designed to be recorded and shared, whether it’s captured as a video or a screenshot of the end card

• Visual and audio effects with confetti and cha-ching help elevate the gamified experience

If you want to experience it yourself, use my referral link since I forgot to use a friend’s referral while onboarding. I want to experience the fun first-hand too 🥲

This referral program is similar to tried and true stock trading app referral programs that give new users free stock shares or credit for purchasing shares of their choosing.

4. Notifications

Moonshot has 3 types of notifications that encourage engagement:

• Big buys

• Price increases since Moonshot listing

• New listings

These notifications encourage users to check the latest meme action and if they hold it, see how much they’re up (or down). Assuming the Moonshot Effect is real, the second and third notification types complement each other:

• If new listings on Moonshot typically outperform other memes, users should purchase the new listings

• The ‘MEME UP 100x’ notification helps to validate this perception and induce FOMO, especially with the ‘since listed on Moonshot’ language

Compare this with Coinbase price notifications, which don’t have the same type of emotional impact.

It’s silly to compare a $317B ecosystem that is Ethereum with GOAT, a $500M AI meme. However, this allows Moonshot to position its notifications in a way that Coinbase never could (or should for that matter).

5. App UI - Haptics

Aside from the near-instant app download experience, the other observation that left an impression on me while playing around was Moonshot’s liberal use of haptics — the vibrations that occur while interacting with the app.

Actually, liberal is an understatement. The app has haptics for every. single. tap. and. button. The only exception to this from what I can tell is if you press the back button…which at this point, why not add haptics to that? Maybe the devs forgot lol.

• Looking at a new meme? Small vibration.

• Inviting a new friend to use the app? Small vibration.

• Checking the Terms of Service? Small vibration.

I’ve never seen an app use haptics in this way before and as impractical as it in terms of best practices, it stands out and works for its purpose. Trading memes is a high-adrenaline experience and haptics on everything kicks it up a notch.

The most interesting implementation of the haptics feature is when you tap into a meme, a live feed of buys and sells appears above the buy/sell button, similar to app notifications that show up and disappear after a couple of seconds.

This type of UI replaces a standard transaction feed, and with the haptics feature, encourages users to take action on the meme they’re viewing.

6. Language

What are the holdings in the Moonshot app called? Tokens? Memes? Holdings?

Nope, Moonshots. A smart term considering the app’s namesake and the fact that these are quite literally moonshots.

And lastly, why ‘memes’ instead of ‘memecoins’? Just as NFTs as a term have had attempted rebrands to ‘digital collectibles’, ‘digital twins’, and a handful of other candidates, Moonshot is doing the same for memecoins, with a more compelling argument.

Bonus points for The Social Network reference, where Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) tells Mark Zuckerberg to drop “The” in TheFacebook to become Facebook.

Another consumer-friendly crypto app

And there we have it folks — another app that’s easy to use, sticky, and bringing on new users.

They might not focus on the areas we prefer or want, but it’s clear that we now have apps that rival the non-crypto apps out there.

See you Thursday!