How to Retain Users After an Airdrop: The First 30 Days

To retain users after an airdrop, stop treating recipients as one audience. Split them into people who sold, people who held, and people who still use the product, then give each group a different next step in the first 30 days. Put most of your effort into the third group, a little into the second, and let most of the first go.

Why do most airdrop recipients leave?

Because the airdrop was the product for them. A large share of any distribution goes to people who did the qualifying actions to get the token, and once they have it, the relationship is complete from their side. That's not a failure of your claim page. It's the deal they signed up for.

The mistake is assuming the problem is a messaging one you can fix with a great thread. You can't message a farmer into a user. You can, though, lose the real users hidden inside the recipient list by burying them under the same generic "thank you, community" post everyone else gets.

The airdrop was acquisition. What happens next is the harder half, and it's mostly product work with comms on top.

How do you sort airdrop recipients in claim week?

I use a claim-week triage. It's three cohorts, defined by what wallets do in the first week or two after claiming, and it decides where your comms time goes.

Your data team can usually build this from on-chain activity in a day. If you have no data team, even a rough version from a block explorer and your app's own logs is better than treating everyone the same.

The numbers will be humbling. Users are usually the smallest group. They're also the only one that compounds.

What should you send each cohort in the first 30 days?

A rough calendar, assuming claim opens on day zero. The days are a starting point, not a rule.

Days 0 to 3: everyone. Confirm how claiming works, the official links, and what the token is for after the claim. One canonical page. If anything went wrong with eligibility, address it here, plainly. My airdrop backlash playbook covers that scenario in detail.

Days 4 to 10: holders and users. Ship something, even something small, and announce it as a product update rather than a token update. The message underneath is "we're still building, here's proof".

Days 7 to 14: users only. Reach out directly where you can: a private channel, an invite to a feedback call, early access to the next feature. Ask what made them stay. Their answers are your next marketing copy.

A users-cohort message doesn't need to be clever. Something like: "You've used the app since the claim, so you've seen more of it than almost anyone. We're testing the next feature with 30 people before release. Want in?" It's specific, it treats them as insiders, and it asks for something small. Compare that with a broadcast "thank you, fam" post, which tells a real user they're indistinguishable from the farmers around them.

Days 14 to 21: holders. Send a plain-language guide to the one thing the product does best, with no jargon and no reward attached. This is a second onboarding, and for many holders it's the first real one.

Days 21 to 30: everyone. Publish a short, honest update: what shipped, what's next, how the product is being used. Don't lead with price or TVL.

The guide in the third week matters more than teams expect. Many holders never understood the product, because they qualified through tasks, not use.

If you stop using technical jargons, half of your user onboarding problem is solved! Shilika Jain on X, 31 Oct 2023

Which product nudges convert recipients into users?

Comms can only point at value. The product has to deliver it. These are the nudges I'd push the product team on, in order of how much I've seen them matter:

• A first action that works in under a minute. If the post-claim path to the core feature has more than a few steps, fix that before writing anything.
• A visible use for the token inside the product. Staking, governance, fee discounts, access. If the token does nothing in-app, holders will treat it as a trade.
• Recognition for repeat use. Not points for clicks. Visible status for people who keep using the core feature over weeks.
• A feedback loop people can see. When a user's suggestion ships, say so publicly and credit them.
• Safety cues. Clear official links and warnings about fake claim sites. Losing a wallet to a phishing link is a fast way to lose a user forever.

Friction is a real cost here. When I worked on PR for Web3Auth, one of the stories we placed was its adoption report, covered by Cryptonews under the headline that security concerns and high costs top the obstacles to Web3 adoption. Recipients hit the same obstacles after a claim.

Who should you stop chasing after an airdrop?

This is the part founders resist. You don't need to win back everyone.

Stop spending effort on:

1. Wallet clusters that claimed through many addresses and sold together. They're not a community. They're an operation.
2. Accounts that only post eligibility complaints and never engaged with the product. Answer them once, publicly and politely, then move on.
3. Sellers who never used the product. Keep them on public updates. Don't build campaigns for them.
4. Mercenary liquidity that will follow the next incentive wherever it appears.

Letting go is a resource decision, not a grudge. Every hour your community team spends arguing with a farmer in Discord is an hour not spent with someone who'd stay.

the biggest brands in future will have a loyal community as opposed to just buyers. Shilika Jain on X, 27 Dec 2022

How should founders talk publicly about post-airdrop retention?

Talk about the users, not the drop. A founder thread on day 30 that says "here's what the people still using us are doing" is far stronger than one celebrating claim totals.

A few rules I give founders:

• Don't call the airdrop a success in public until you've seen the 30-day cohort.
• Don't blame recipients for selling. It reads as bitterness and it's their right.
• Share one concrete user behaviour, with permission, instead of a big number.
• If the price falls, keep the update about the product. My notes on communicating through a post-TGE price drop go further.

If you'd like to report the numbers themselves, the sibling post on post-airdrop retention metrics covers which ones to track and how to present them honestly. For the full post-launch comms sequence, I fold this into token launch PR engagements, since the 30 days after a claim set the tone for the next year.

When doesn't this triage work?

When the airdrop went almost entirely to farmers, there may be no "users" cohort worth segmenting. Then the honest move is to admit internally that the distribution bought holders, not users, and restart acquisition with a product-first channel.

It also has a cost. Direct outreach to a small users cohort takes founder and team time during the busiest weeks of a launch. If the team is stretched, do the triage anyway and automate the holder messages, but keep the user outreach personal.

And if your product genuinely has no repeat use case yet, retention comms will feel hollow. Fix that first.

Before you question your marketing efforts, please question your PMF! Shilika Jain on X, 8 Nov 2023

FAQ

Should we run a second airdrop to bring people back?

Only if it rewards the behaviour you want to keep, like sustained use, and you announce the criteria clearly. A second drop with similar criteria to the first will mostly attract the same farmers. It can also teach your community to wait for rewards instead of using the product.

How quickly should we expect recipients to churn?

In the distributions I've watched, most of the selling and the drop in activity comes in the first days after claiming, and then the curve flattens. Your own curve will depend on vesting schedules and market conditions. That's why the triage happens in claim week. By the time the 30-day mark comes, you're mostly talking to people who chose to stay.

Is it worth emailing or messaging recipients directly?

Only where they've opted in, and only with something useful like a product guide or an invite. Unsolicited DMs look exactly like the scams recipients are being warned about. Use your official channels and keep links consistent.

Do KOLs help retain users after a drop?

Rarely on their own. A creator can explain the post-claim use case to their audience, which helps holders understand the product. They can't make the product sticky.

Your claim goes live soon and you want more than a sell-off chart? Book 30 minutes with me and we'll map the triage before day zero.