Two weeks ago I wrote about one of our campaigns encouraging existing users of Firefox to upgrade to the latest and best version so far of Firefox — Firefox 4.
The first approach we took was aimed directly at Firefox 3.6 users, and asking them to upgrade based on certain web interests they may have (social networking, gaming, content streaming and more), and matching the benefits of using Firefox 4. The second approach we’re taking is motivating satisfied users of Firefox 4 to help someone in their network make that upgrade. We’re encouraging our community to become a “Web Hero” by finding someone in their family, at school, at work who is still browsing in the past and helping them get the latest and safest version of Firefox.
A specially designed landing page and Facebook tab have been created, providing helpful material for our web heroes to help others upgrade (PDFs and videos on how to install Firefox for a Mac or on Windows).
We’re encouraging people to share with their friends via their social networks (Facebook and Twitter), or to simply visit someone they care about and help them upgrade in person.
In the next two weeks, we’ll be building out the functionality of our custom Facebook Web Hero tab to include a share option that will give the possibility to earn a special badge for sharing with a friend.
Our loyal community often go to great lengths to help people upgrade and make sure they are on the safest and best version of Firefox. We’re hoping others will also help.
If you know someone still using an old browser, or older version of Firefox - be a Web Hero today and help them get a better experience of the Web.
If you’re reading this blog post, there is a very high chance you know that the best version (yet) of Firefox was released last month. There’s also a high chance that you have already told a bunch of people in your close network of friends and family to update their Firefox (maybe you even did it for them!).
Historically people have migrated to a new version of Firefox very quickly with the new version of Firefox overtaking the previous version in less than three months. We’re more than ever keen to make sure all of our users are on the latest and best version of Firefox as fast as possible, and therefore having the best experience of the Web they can.
With that, we’ve begun creating several Firefox 4 upgrade campaigns and programs to encourage users to migrate. One of the ways we’re doing this is by creating a number of different versions of our download page, each version explaining the benefits of using Firefox for various forms of activities people do on the Web. Activities include anything from working online and emailing, to social networking, online gaming and streaming content. There will be corresponding calls to action to download the new version of Firefox on our start page and other key touch points, which illustrate why Firefox 4 is the browser of choice for all those different things you like do on the Web.
Check out the page designs below. Huge thanks to Tara and the Mozilla Creative team for their work on the designs - Tara also blogged about the process, read more over at her blog.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be localizing these pages in terms of content and language for other locales, and also experimenting with other versions of the download page.
Why do this? We all use and enjoy the Web differently. One size doesn’t fit all, the browser is used by people in numerous ways, which are likely different from our own. The good news is that Firefox was made for everyone to use the Web. Furthermore, its so customizable everyone can create a unique and individual browsing experience. Our job in Engagement is to help people understand the benefits of using Firefox 4 (however they use the Web), and get folks using the best and safest version.
* Thanks to all our partners in allowing us to use product imagery for the in product screen shots.
:)
Thank you to everyone who has shared helpful comments and thoughts regarding the Join Mozilla program.
As you will have seen in my post from earlier today, in addition to the Wednesday marketing call update on Join Mozilla, we’re going to be posting a weekly ‘Join Mozilla’ status update on planet.
Furthermore, we would like to bring together more people who are interested in building the program into much more regular communication. This would consist of updating on Join Mozilla plans, discussing key initiatives, and very importantly understanding how the program should exist in your locale.
It would most likely be via email / etherpad and sometimes a call if appropriate. If you would like to participate (and I know there are many folks who deeply care), and help make Join Mozilla the very best it can be, please do email me at jane [at] mozilla dot com
See Mark Surman’s screencast on the program.
According to Matthew Kelleher, from Redeye: on the econsultancy blog “2010 was a year in which email marketers began to wake up to the fact that email is not purely a revenue driving media but rather a ‘customer communication channel’.” Its incredibly hard to believe that its taken so long for companies to realize this.
Heading up User Engagement at Mozilla you’ll say is an easier job if you know Mozilla is a non-profit, that our communication doesn’t need to convert to profit dollars, but we still want long term Firefox users and we use email as a channel to build relationships. The difference? We are interested in engagement, and that engagement is the path to a happy and healthy customer. The “mozilla & you“ newsletter provides tips and helpful advice, it only comes out once per month, and we’re very glad to see our readers are happy with the content and frequency. Open rates are around 25% and CTRs with 15% well above average.
Here are some email best practices we take pride in for the “mozilla & you” newsletter, sadly these are basic email operations which one doesn’t see that often anymore.
I would personally love to see email marketers (as well as creating engrossing content), take sign up and unsubscribe more seriously. Engagement stems from respect for the individual AND that starts at the beginning of the relationship.
Do leave a comment on your email experiences and other practices you believe email marketeers should observe
- My amazing loving husband
- Wonderful friends who make me laugh and smile
- A healthy family who know me inside and out
- All the animals who live in my house
- Living in the wilderness (even if that means unwanted house, car and garage guests)
- Crazy horses
- Living in a land where people are mostly happy and who mostly want to work
- Art -(but only some of it)
- Tan mules from Tods (yes, they all look the same)
- My Mulberry handbag of 10 years
- Staycations
- Berlin
- Hong Kong
- Pop music (yupp - you heard right!)
- Open fires
- Peony Roses
- NASA
- Gibsons with an onion (thank you Paul Leyland)
- Books on demand
- The Big Bang Theory (TV show)
Last month my colleague Richard Milewski wrote and published a number of artifacts surrounding the creation and use of safe passwords*. It’s part of the Mozilla Consumer Education project, where we began researching and learning about what new topics are of most interest to ordinary web users, and furthermore what types/formats of information best resonate with this audience (who I hope with all due respect, wont mind me calling not-so-web-literates).
It was a super interesting quarter, where we saw the simple password video comic Richard produced (with characters from Simon “Gee” Giraudot) picked up across media, with over 4.5M Impressions on Facebook and 80,000+ unique video views. As a relatively small test for us, this was a clear indication there is a great need for more of this type of information from content providers and the general public alike. **
Perhaps it’s no surprise that in our research from more than 40,000 respondents: security, online identity theft and managing ones social media profile were some of the greatest web concerns. And so, as we drive quickly into 2011, we’ll be doing as much as possible to provide web smart information to not only our 400M+ Firefox users, but also beyond that to any web user.
Educating and helping web users isn’t new at Mozilla, as an International non-profit with the user at the centre of our mission, we’ve been looking out for the man on the street (or web!) from the very beginning. What’s new here then? A number of things:
(i) more people are spending vast amounts of their time online
(ii) the web is constantly changing, and is not slowing down
(iii) there just isn’t that much web education out there
Nothing new in any of those points, but when you put them altogether you get vast amounts of people who are using the web for everything from dating, grocery shopping to online banking — and who are not web-smart, and therefore not really in control.
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As mentioned this is something we want to change, and we’ll be providing much more web smart guides throughout 2011. And if you touch web users each day, I think we each have the obligation to help folks stay safe and in control of their online life, whilst having the best fun!
Let me know in the comments field of other web topics you hear people express concern or lack of knowledge about. Or if you’d like to help write any guides, we’d love to hear from you.
* Believe or not in Richard’s research there were plenty of very tech savvy folks who weren’t using great passwords — looks like we could all use a refresher!
** I was delighted to see Google also take consumer education forward last week with the launch of their beautifully made 20thingsilearned.com. There really is so much that we could and should all be doing. I have a good feeling that next year a whole lot more people are going to know more about the Web, and be more in control of their online life.
I just finished reading ‘The Referral Engine” by John Jantsch, which I spotted it in the iBook store. It was published in May 2010, and according to Publishers Weekly is a ‘…thorough primer on the power of letting your products and customers speak for themselves.” I was curious to read how Jantsch suggested one should go about building word-of-mouth referrals, and of course as much of the success of Firefox was spread by satisfied and loyal user advocates, I was keen to see if I could learn something new.
The book goes over (starting from a basic level) all the steps one needs to think of when building a powerful brand, and creating consistent ways for people to engage with and refer your organization / company. I must admit that much of the book was not new to us here at Mozilla, but I found scores of interesting tidbits, which I’m going to look into further. The section on using technology to allow people to connect with you more deeply where and when they choose, however, balancing this with “hugs and handshakes” in real life really made me stop and think. Its going to be important for us to find more ways to connect online and offline people relationships. Jantsch raises many excellent points, and shows himself to truly understand the power and importance of customer experience.
He walks one through the ‘Ideal customer life cycle’ and the seven stages of referral development - all super helpful. And ends each chapter with a recap of actions to take.
I would wholly recommend this book for a wide variety of reasons…
1. To Start-ups: If you are a start-up this book with teach you right from the get go how to bake referral methods into your business, and you’ll shave dollars of your marketing budget.
2. For existing organizations and companies, read it to remind yourself of your customers and how they affect your brand. Remember you don’t own your brand, your customers do. If they are happy and delighted, they will tell others and you’ll have a long future ahead of you with loyal customers. You might not be asking you customers to refer you? Ask yourself why not? And make it easy for folks to share the great experiences they have.
3. For Mozilla, we’ve come so far and can be so grateful for the millions of referrals we’ve had over the years from around the globe. We’ve created great products and moved mountains for the Web, with our users being our largest advocates. Its all our job no matter what our function, paid staff, volunteers, partners to continue to create ways for people to share, advocate and lobby for a healthy Internet — and therefore why its important to use Firefox.
We’ll certainly be doing our best to find news ways for users and community spread the word. If you have ideas, please drop me a line / leave a comment.
And remember, creating something people want to connect with is key!
[video]
Jane taking the Silver Medal in Pilates Olympics at Bodydynamic. More photos.
Engagement vs. Marketing?
Marketing, so the dictionary says, is: “… the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising”. But to Engage means to: “attract or involve, cause someone to be involved in, participate, establish a meaningful contact or connection…”.
Which one sounds right for Mozilla? Doesn’t take too much thought, right?
Engage is what we’ve always done. Together as a global community we have and continue to, attract millions of Firefox users, welcome participation and collaboration, build strong relationships, and carve a place in people’s hearts and minds. A non-profit attracting 400M+ Firefox users across the world, isn’t able to do that without people who quintessentially care about the Internet and People.
So what else can we do?
We think its important to further expand engagement, and especially with our users. Over the coming weeks and months we’re going to be examining and expanding the ways we connect with our Firefox users; increasing the ways people can connect, find product know-how and get to know the organization. At the same time, we want to create more, easy ways for people to get involved and participate in Mozilla. The project is already expanding to artists, film-makers, teachers and more, via the Drumbeat initiative. These are exciting times to involve as many people as possible in building a healthy Internet (and have fun!).
What can you do?
We would love your thoughts and input. Many of you reading this have been demonstrative in the building of the Mozilla movement this far, you are some of the most experienced people out there who know how to widen participation in the project and spread Firefox.
We’ve started a wiki page, and added some of the details about projects which we’ve started, there will and should be more. Please do reach out to myself, and others mentioned on the wiki if you would like to help, or find out more. We’ll all be posting more details soon, and would love to hear from you anytime for comments, ideas and help.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/User_Engagement
I’ve been blogging on and off for a couple of years now, mainly about the work we do at Mozilla, and Engagement in general. A few weeks ago I decided to move from Wordpress to Tumblr - for several reasons, a big one being that scores of people, plus pfinette said I should. So, I did. And here it is.
So goodbye… http://autological.wordpress.com my older posts will still live on there..
And hello to janefinette.com. Looking forward to posting more here soon.