Commanding attention in a market that's designed to ignore us
HMW keep users on OKX when leaving is the rational choice?
Turkish users were drawing funds every night to earn overnight interest. Deposit in the morning to trade, withdraw at night to a local bank, repeat the next day.
How long before users stopped coming back?
Every withdrawal risked growth in a market we couldn't afford to lose in.
The longer users practiced earning overnight elsewhere, the more OKX became just a daytime tool. Trust, balance, and primary-platform status were quietly migrating to the bank that paid them while they slept.
We introduced Lira Boost.
An automated sweeping program that puts Lira to work overnight without users lifting a finger, keeping funds liquid for trading on our platform.
Three product rules that shaped every word we shipped.
Three hard rules users couldn't see. The copy had to make the mechanics legible without making them feel like a trap.
From local insight to dual-voice strategy.
Turkish users had been through three currency crises in a decade. They trust proof, not marketing, so I built the strategy from what the local team heard on the ground.
"What's really happening on the ground?"
Users carry economic trauma. They trust proof, not promises.
"Which value prop actually resonates?"
Two distinct user types. Aspirational and cautious, with different copy needs.
"How do we serve both in one product?"
One product, two voices. The voice changed where the stakes changed.
"How does content shape the flow?"
$1.29M AUM in 30 days. Both audiences showed up and stayed.
One product. Three voices.
Same product, three moments. Each notification had to read the mood and do its work: calm a worry, surface a benefit, or close the loop on a small win.
Three rewrites. Same notification, different relationship with the user.
The originals weren't wrong. They were written for the system, not the person reading them at 9:41 AM.
A reusable system for financial product emotions.
Every user moment in a money product falls into one of three emotional states. Each has its own copy pattern.
Four rules for naming money across global surfaces.
Each format reads differently to a user. I mapped the format to the moment so every team knows which to use without asking.
Full name in trust-building contexts.
ISO code in trading and portfolio contexts.
Symbol in alerts and notifications.
Never combine formats on one screen.
Same mapping works for USD, EUR, GBP, MXN. Decide the context tier once, then assign the format per surface.
Currency is one example. The mapping logic also applies to dates, units, and handles across markets.
What local research asked us to say—without sounding like a campaign.
This was transcreation, not translation: the job was to rebuild meaning for a cautious market—institutional fatigue, platform-loss memory, and proof over polish—not to swap English for Turkish line by line.
OKX Turkey shared how people actually decide: trust and stability first; convenience only when it reads as reliability, not a shortcut. Messaging had to spell out whether we were offering a better economic deal or the same outcome with a simpler, safer experience—and never leave that question hanging.
Recommendation
Anchor every surface in one clear answer: stronger terms versus equal terms, less ritual. When users cannot tell which story they are in, skepticism defaults to “marketing.”
Mindset
Expect high skepticism: trauma around the currency, institutions, and past losses on online platforms. Proof, receipts, and word of mouth beat clever phrasing.
Motivators
Lead with plain value, evidence the offer is genuinely better (or honest about parity), and foreground trust and stability. Treat ease as a signal that the system is dependable—not the headline thrill.
Hook that lands
“No limits” reads aspirational where competitors cap balances. For wealth-focused users, tie it to deposit freedom and scale. For cautious users, pair it with security, controls, and predictable flows so size never feels reckless.
Two audiences
High-balance readers scan for ceilings, capacity, and liquidity on size. Safety-first readers scan for institutional-grade trust, calm language, and what happens when something breaks.
Localization craft
Prefer 24-hour time in product detail; avoid AM/PM and an overly casual voice. Where numbers need to feel stable, USD often lands cleaner than lira in volatile moments—use it deliberately, not as decoration.
$1.29M AUM
52.8M TRY peak assets