Blitz Smurfs — My first real and functional project
In May 2021, few months after graduating from Ironhack São Paulo as a UX/UI Designer, I realized the need for a real project to add to my personal portfolio. I decided to venture into the market with an idea that stemmed from my daily life. I successfully created a fully digital and automated platform hosted on Discord, generating monthly income. Currently, “Blitz Smurfs” is the largest Discord server in Brazil related to the sales of League of Legends digital products with 8300 members total.
Link to my e-commerce: https://discord.gg/BlitzSmurfs
Social Media: https://twitter.com/BlitzSmurfs
Problem and Solution
League of Legends is one of the most popular games globally in the last 15 years. As a player, I identified a common issue:
“Each player needs to reach level 30 to fully play the game.”
This meant users had to spend about 65+ hours or 135 games playing a preliminary part of the game before accessing all available modes. Recognizing the time-consuming nature of this process, many users wanted to buy accounts already at level 30 and ready to play, instead of going through the process of playing for hours again. This created a demand for the product in the market.
Digital products, being credentials for account access, are easily acquired and resold. After identifying this problem and researching the market, I gathered data and insights for my e-commerce. And then established the value margins of accounts in the market, how they were sold, the platforms used, and methods of product promotion.
Selling Platform
Why choose Discord?
Discord is the largest social network focused on voice calls and group interactions. It has been growing steadily since 2016, and with the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the number of platform users, making it a market reference. It is also widely used by teenagers and young adults, the target audience of my e-commerce.
- Age:
“The majority of users, 42.4%, falls between 25 and 34 years old.
The next largest group consists of users aged 16 to 24, accounting for 22.2%.”
- Gender:
“Males comprise 65.5% of Discord users.
Females make up 34.5% of Discord users.”
“Discord users are set to reach 514 million in 2023, a substantial 16.02% increase of 71 million from the previous year. This growth is remarkable, from 25 million users in 2016 to a massive expansion of 489 million in seven years.”
source: https://influencermarketinghub.com/discord-stats/#toc-6
The product sold by my e-commerce is nicknamed “Smurf,” which refers to a new account used by players who already play the game. This product caters to a niche of League of Legends players. After completing the benchmarking process of competing stores and seeing that the majority were hosted on this platform, I concluded that Discord was the best choice to reach the target audience of these products quickly and enter the market. Discord is one of the largest social networks globally, and approximately 180 million people who use the platform also play League of Legends.
Using UX/UI Design and Sales concepts
Applying initial UX concepts, including research and benchmarking, I managed to create the User Flow, UX Writing and even sales strategies for my e-commerce. To operate through Discord, I set up a server and brainstormed all the customer needs my store would address. The entire sales and customer service part is automated by a Bot created using Javascript. This Bot, the “Blitz Bot”, handles profile viewing, balance addition, automatic payment via Mercado Pago using PIX or credit/debit cards, ranking of spending, product purchase, product delivery, Discord role system, and prevention of spam attacks from other users.
An important insight was that users wanted more specialized products, categorized by each account’s content. In the game, certain characters are popular, creating interest in accounts with specific cosmetic items related to those characters. This led to the creation of a crucial part of my solution: a character search area, allowing users to search for products by content and adjust the value of rarer items. The UX Writing skill learned at Ironhack was applied to ensure user-friendly text in the Bot, enhancing accessibility.
Discord Bots
The store is on the Discord platform, relying on Discord Bots for functionality.
“What are ‘Bots’?”
Discord Bots are automated programs that perform various tasks to enhance interaction on servers of this communication platform. Discord is dynamic, and bots play a vital role in server customization, moderation, and function automation.
In Blitz Smurfs, two bots are used: the “Blitz Bot” managing the entire purchase system and the “Blitz Captcha” for server security.
Blitz Bot
This is the main Bot, created from scratch to meet user needs. Before creating the e-commerce, I listed the main functions I wanted to add to the bot, conducted further market research, and created a user flow for everything to work seamlessly. I then hired a developer to create it. The Blitz Bot was developed using Javascript, and I found a free hosting method, currently hosting via Amazon AWS on a virtual machine.
It is divided into the following parts:
Balance systems, purchase and support channel creation, profile, product search, product delivery, user information via message, Discord channel management system, role assignment, complete coupon system, and total integration with the products database.
Balance Insertion
To purchase products, a balance system was created. Users can instantly access their invested balance, with an added Mercado Pago API allowing for automatic operation. The API generates a QR Code and Pix code for the desired amount. Additionally, the moderator can add or remove user balances, facilitating giveaways or transactions. The system ensures efficiency and instant confirmation messages for users.
Profile and Informations
A profile system was created where users can access all information about their purchases. The profile functions include ranking of spending, current balance, number of purchased accounts, total spent, payment information, and sending all purchased accounts. Users can choose between “💸 Payments” and “📄Purchased Accounts” buttons to access relevant information.
Product Search
As time passed, users expressed a desire to filter available products by their content. This led to the creation of a search system, allowing users to search through all accounts in stock. By clicking the “🔎Search” button, users can search for a specific character, and the bot will send all available accounts containing the searched character along with their prices.
Coupons
The coupon system allows users to add a discount value to products through a chat command. Streamers contracted by Blitz Smurfs use these coupons, making them easy to use and manage. The bot manages these coupons, allowing a moderator to add new ones or check the total number of uses for each. These coupons not only provide discounts but also serve to remunerate influencers. With each coupon use, I pay the sponsorship, forming a partnership for product and store promotion.
Support Tickets
A support system was also designed for manual customer service, addressing any doubts, purchase issues, or miscellaneous concerns. The store features a channel creation system for support. Customers can generate a chat ticket and write their request to a moderator.
Product Insertion
There is a function to insert new products into the stock using the “/importardb” command. The bot accepts a specific format for registering products, and after placing them in a text file hosting system, the bot recognizes and sends them to the real-time product database.
Database
The Blitz Bot has an external database hosted on MongoDB, allowing real-time integration with the Discord Bot. It stores user information, payment details, product stock, and coupon records. Users are identified through their Discord ID, ensuring persistent access to information even if they leave and return to the server.
Hosting
The entire system of the bots, in addition to being synchronized with the MongoDB database in real-time, is hosted on a virtual machine using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) program. AWS is Amazon’s cloud platform, offering various services worldwide.
Upon learning more about the creation of such a platform, I discovered the existence of a free cloud program, where it is possible to use a virtual machine provided by the company.
As a result, I managed to host both Blitz Smurfs bots for free, saving me monthly costs. The service does not experience downtime or high latency in command execution. To connect, I can access it from my PC via remote connection. Additionally, I can also edit the bot files in real-time, change product values by directly manipulating the code, and restart the application to update the files.
Impact of the Application
- Ease of Use: Users reported ease of use, even for those new to the Discord platform.
- Efficiency: The interface enabled users to complete tasks more efficiently, saving time and effort.
- Automated System: The Blitz Bot operates 24/7, ensuring instant product delivery and independent user interaction.
Blitz Captcha
In November 2023, the Discord server started receiving attacks from malicious fake accounts promoting competing stores with spam messages. To counteract this, the “Blitz Captcha” was created for member verification. This bot filters all members accessing the server, hiding the member list from potential spammers and malicious accounts. New users go through a verification process using the Captcha system, ensuring the server’s security.
This application successfully filtered suspicious accounts, allowing moderators to remove potential attackers.
The user receives instructions on how to complete it. After clicking the green button, a modal box appears, and the Captcha is available to be completed. After the process is done, the server is now with full access.
Promotion and Marketing
The primary strategy for promoting the store is through sponsorship of Content Creators. Given the product’s relation to League of Legends, I chose to directly sponsor influencers who livestream the game daily. This provides direct contact with the target audience and facilitates daily and constant promotion to a rotating audience. During live streams on platforms like Twitch, commercials are aired, explaining product values, coupon usage, and an overview of the store to the live audience.
Rewards and Giveaways
Benchmarking competitors revealed that few stores offered reward systems to users. Thus, I decided to provide exclusive prizes and giveaways to store customers, keeping them engaged and attentive to new promotions. Weekly giveaways include new accounts and balance values. Additionally, a cashback system is implemented based on spending targets, encouraging users to reach higher levels of spending.
- R$50 = R$5 cashback
- R$100 = R$10 cashback
- R$175 = R$15 cashback
- R$200 = “Super Client” Role
Super Client Role
Upon reaching R$200 in spending at Blitz Smurfs, users receive a special role in the Discord server. This “Super Client” role grants access to exclusive giveaways and a unique coupon with higher discounts. This incentivizes users to reach spending milestones for more rewards.
Results and Next Steps
Blitz Smurfs, conceived as a project for personal development as a UX/UI Designer, exceeded expectations. I achieved solid results and, most importantly, established a consistent monthly income since the business’s inception in May 2021. The store has become the largest Brazilian server related to League of Legends sales, currently with 8300 members.
Future plans involve sustaining and expanding the business. I’m content with the results achieved, utilizing my design knowledge for customer service, marketing, sales strategies, and system creation. Alongside the business, I will begin college in February 2024, pursuing a degree in Analysis and Systems Development to secure a position in the market. I feel well-prepared for the challenge ahead.
