Decentralized applications (Dapps) provide benefits such as enhanced privacy, resistance to censorship, and peer-to-peer interactions. As Dapps continue to grow, understanding their performance and user behavior becomes critical for Web3 developers and projects. In this article, we’ll explore what Dapps are, the role of Dapp analytics, key metrics for dapps, and 5 ways to simplify your Dapp analytics.
Key Takeaways
Dapp analytics are critical for tracking user behavior, measuring performance, and growing decentralized applications.
Core data types include user, transaction, smart contract, and token data.
Visual dashboards and automation help teams act faster and smarter on real-time blockchain data.
Tracking metrics like RPW, churn, and campaign attribution enables product-led growth in Web3.
Dapp analytics is the analysis of real-time data from Dapps to understand user behavior in-app
What Is a Dapp?
A decentralized application (Dapp) is a software program that runs on a blockchain network. It consists of smart contracts deployed on the blockchain and a frontend user interface (UI) that interacts with these contracts.
Unlike traditional applications, Dapp blockchain offers greater security, transparency, and user control.
Example of Dapp Architecture
Key Features of Dapps:
Decentralization: Operates on smart contracts run by a distributed network of blockchain nodes.
Transparency: All transactions are recorded on the blockchain and publicly verifiable.
Security: Data is immutable, ensuring it’s tamper-proof and trustworthy
Tokenization: Many Dapps utilize tokens for utility and governance. Tokens unlock ownership for billions of internet users.
Dapps serve various purposes across multiple industries. Some focus on financial transactions, such as DeFi platforms, which facilitate finance without centralized banks, while others target areas such as gaming, collectibles, prediction markets, community, and more. Popular Dapps include Uniswap (DeFi), OpenSea (NFT marketplace), and Axie Infinity (gaming).
Top 3 popular dapps: Uniswap, OpenSea, Axie Infinity
What Is Dapp Analytics?
Dapp analytics is the process of collecting, processing, and interpreting live product data generated by decentralized applications. This data-driven approach provides valuable insights into user behavior, transaction trends, and Dapp usage, empowering teams to make informed decisions to accelerate growth.
Wallet Activity I Source: Formo
Benefits of Dapp Analytics:
User Insights: Understand user demographics, behaviors, and preferences to improve the user experience. Identify the top, high-value users in your community.
Performance Monitoring: Track and measure your key growth and engagement metrics over time. Identify your top acquisition channels and true growth drivers.
Growth Strategies: Identify user acquisition and retention opportunities.
Market Trends: Analyze the competition and industry trends to stay ahead.
Fraud Detection: Detect irregular activities or security breaches in transaction data.
Dapp Data Types
Here are 4 key Dapp data types for Web3 teams to analyze:
1. User Data
Information related to user identities, wallet balances, transaction histories, and preferences is a gold mine of insights. User data helps you understand your audience and better meet your users’ needs.
Active Users: Number of daily, weekly, and monthly active users.
Retention Rates: Percentage of users returning to the Dapp over time.
Demographics: Countries, devices, and other user activity.
2. Transaction Data
Every transaction within a Dapp wallet generates transaction data, which includes the sender and recipient addresses, the amount transferred, and any additional parameters specific to the transaction. Transaction data provides a detailed picture of user activity and Dapp adoption. High transaction volume often indicates strong user engagement.
Transaction data provides a detailed picture of user activity and Dapp adoption
Transaction Volume: The total number of transactions over a specific period.
Frequency: How often users interact with the Dapp crypto.
Total Value Locked (TVL): The amount of cryptocurrency locked in smart contracts.
3. Smart Contract Data
Smart contract data refers to the state and execution details of these contracts, including inputs, outputs, and contract-specific variables. Smart contract data is critical for debugging, optimization, and understanding how users engage with the core features of the Dapp.
Interactions: Frequency of interactions with specific smart contracts.
Event Logs: Detailed logs of onchain events triggered by smart contracts.
Function Calls: Specific functions executed within a smart contract.
4. Token Metrics
Token metrics include key data points related to a cryptocurrency or token used in decentralized applications. These metrics indicate the financial health and user interest in the token.
Token Holdings: Analysis of token ownership among users.
Trading Volume: Activity in secondary markets involving the Dapp’s tokens.
Price Movements: Tracking the value fluctuations of tokens.
5 Steps to Simplify Dapp Analytics
Although Web3 product analytics can seem complex, it doesn’t have to be. Here are 5 practical ways to streamline the Dapp analytics process:
1. Use a Web3 Data Platform
Platforms such as Formo help Web3 teams analyze and visualize onchain data. You can measure key metrics such as Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), Product Engagement Score (PES), Total Value Locked (TVL), and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). These tools provide tracking dashboards and powerful analytics that help simplify the process of analyzing Dapp data with minimal technical expertise.
Overview analytic page I Source: Formo
2. Leverage Web3 Data APIs
Web3 APIs from providers such as Alchemy and QuickNode empower Web3 builders to query blockchain data easily. These APIs simplify the process of pulling complex datasets and integrating them into your analysis workflows, saving you time and resources.
3. Automate Data Processes
Automation is key to reducing the time and effort spent on collecting and reacting to new data. Services such as Zapier help automate key processes such as real-time notifications, ensuring that you act on data quickly and continuously.
Zapier connects apps and lets users create automated workflows to streamline tasks
4. Define your Key Metrics
Not all data is created equal. Identify and prioritize key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your product goals. For example, for user growth, focus on daily active users (DAU) and retention rates. For financial health, track TVL and revenue.
5. Adopt Visual Dashboards
Tableau, Grafana, or built-in dashboards from analytics platforms make it easier to present complex data in a simple, easy-to-understand format. Interactive graphs, charts, and heatmaps help identify trends, spot anomalies, and track performance at a glance.
Examples of Dapp Analytics in Action
Understanding what’s happening inside your dApp is about uncovering user behavior, optimizing conversions, and driving sustainable growth. Below are real-world examples of how Web3 teams use dApp analytics to make impact decisions.
1. User Retention Funnel
Objective: Analyze how users progress through the product journey and identify drop-off points.
Scenario: A DeFi protocol wants to measure how many users:
Connect their wallet
Make their first token swap
Add liquidity
Return to perform another action within 7 days
Key Metrics:
Wallet connect → First swap → Liquidity added
1-day, 7-day, and 30-day retention
Funnel conversion rates and drop-off
2. Campaign Attribution
Objective: Understand which marketing channels drive meaningful user actions such as minting or trading NFTs.
Scenario: An NFT marketplace runs Twitter and Discord campaigns with allowlist links.
Key Metrics:
Clicks → Wallet connect → Mint → First trade
Campaign UTM tracking mapped to wallet behavior
LTV by source (Twitter vs Discord)
3. Revenue Per Wallet (RPW)
Objective: Track and improve how much revenue each wallet generates in a play-to-earn ecosystem.
Scenario: A Web3 game wants to compare RPW across different user acquisition sources (e.g., guilds, ads, referrals).
Key Metrics:
RPW = Total revenue / # of active wallets
RPW by channel and player cohort
In-game purchases, token inflows/outflows
5. Churn Analysis
Objective: Understand why previously active contributors have stopped participating.
Scenario: A DAO tool notices a decline in proposal creation and wants to investigate.
Key Metrics:
Last seen wallet activity
Voting and proposal creation frequency
Traits of churned users (e.g., delegates vs members)
6. User Segmentation
Objective: Group users into segments based on onchain behavior and offchain attributes.
Scenario: A dApp team wants to identify:
Power users (e.g., whales or repeat users)
New or dormant wallets
Survey responses from high-value cohorts
Key Metrics:
Frequency and volume of transactions
Token/NFT holdings
Form responses (e.g., demographics, motivations)
List of Dapp Analytics Tools
Here’s a list of tools tailored (or adaptable) for product teams looking to track engagement, optimize funnels, and improve retention in Web3.
1. Formo
Formo is designed specifically for dApp teams with key features such as wallet profiles, Web3 growth metrics, onchain attribution, etc. Ideal for PMs, growth teams, and Web3 marketers looking to understand users beyond raw onchain activity.
2. PostHog
Originally built for Web2, PostHog can be extended with Web3 event tracking through custom data pipelines. Key features of Posthog are funnels, session recordings, feature flags, open-source & self-hosted
3. Mixpanel
Mixpanel is a powerful analytics tool that can track dApp interactions when connected to onchain or wallet events via middleware. Key features of Mixpanel are behavioral cohorting, A/B testing, and integration with data pipelines.
Dapp Analytics for Onchain Builders
Dapp analytics is critical for understanding and optimizing decentralized applications. By analyzing user behavior, performance metrics, and product health, Web3 builders and founders can make data-driven decisions and drive product-led growth.
Formo unifies fragmented Web2 and Web3 data, providing a comprehensive view of onchain users and their interactions on your Dapps. We streamline product data collection, processing, and analysis for dapps. Focus on building amazing Web3 experiences. Leave the data engineering and analytics to us.
Further sources:
8 Web3 Product Analytics Use Cases to Supercharge Your Growth
Mastering Web3 Marketing Attribution Analytics: A Complete Guide
Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, and join our community to learn how Formo turbocharges growth for leading teams across web3!
Additional FAQs
1. How is Dapp analytics different from traditional Web2 analytics?
Dapp analytics tracks onchain events tied to wallets and smart contracts, not just cookies or user IDs.
2. What’s the biggest challenge in analyzing Dapp data?
Fragmentation. Data lives across multiple chains and wallets, often requiring complex aggregation and interpretation without standardized identifiers.
3. Can non-technical teams use Dapp analytics tools?
Yes. Platforms like Formo offer user-friendly dashboards and prebuilt metrics so growth, product, and marketing teams can operate without deep technical expertise.
4. How do you measure the success of a Dapp using analytics?
Key success metrics include active users, retention rates, TVL, RPW, and funnel conversions, tailored to the app’s business model.
5. Why should Web3 teams care about wallet segmentation?
Segmenting wallets helps identify high-value users, churn risks, or high-LTV cohorts, which are critical for targeted campaigns and personalized experiences.
