609085 - Create "scary" advertised update billboard to move people off of unsupported releases

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

Description

[LegNeato]

We need to move people off of unsupported releases. We need a billboard that is:

1. "Scarier" than the current one (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.6/details/)

2. Generic, so that we can reuse it for later EOLs without recreating / relocalizing

3. Localized

4. (optional but wanted) Links to a survey so users can tell us why the can't/won't update

Comment 1

[John Slater]

I'm standing by on copy direction from Mayumi. Christian, please post the dimensions when you've got 'em.

Comment 2

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Note: ultimately we might need TWO "scary" billboards, although our immediate need is only one for the 3.0 -> 3.6 update (but generic).

The one here is for situations like the current 3.0 case,
   a) you are using an EOL unsupported version and
      are at risk from known vulnerabilities
   b) we have something better for you (FREE!)

We may also need one for the 3.5 case:
   a) support will end soon, after which you will be vulnerable
   b) we have something better for you (FREE!)

Of course I have no marketing skills. Maybe it's better to keep flogging the positive feature upgrade message and skip the second one, going straight to the scariest one after support ends. Personally I've found I ignore upgrade prompts in other products several times before I get around to it -- I'm usually in the middle of something and then forget until the next nag. Other products get too naggy and I start looking for a way to shut it up. I thought maybe that second message might change it up and let people know we're not just advertising but trying to protect them.

Comment 3

[LegNeato]

I talked with Mayumi a bit about this and convinced myself it is not needed for these reasons:

1. It feels weird to have a negative message / prod users on a supported version with the implication that it will not be secure soon

2. The messaging is a bit convoluted, as we are warning them of a problem in the future rather than just warning them when the problem comes. I'm not sure we can capture the nuance that they are currently secure but likely will not be at some undetermined date in the future

3. We (generally) EOL releases when we have a new release coming out. I know there's not a policy but in general we support current and current-1. When the new version comes out we be EOLing the oldest version, but instead of telling them they are about to be insecure we will be advertising the new release and how great it is. After they have not taken that offer, we scare them because at that point they really are insecure

Regardless or not you agree, it should be a separate bug and this should just cover the already EOL scary billboard.

Comment 4

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

OK, convinced -- a single scary post-EOL message is good enough.

For historical record, here's what we did for the 2.0-to-3.0 message:

http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.0/details/

We have that already translated into maybe half the locales we'd need, but it's version specific and doesn't include the "free upgrade" bit that the metrics team identified as important.

Comment 5

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

I am not sure that the MU billboard has a lot of impact on people that constantly refused to upgrade seeing it. Why not using the snippet they see on the start page? Currently we have that:

"Teach your old fox new tricks by upgrading to the latest Firefox today. It's free!"

It could be much scarier and be displayed with an explicit icon on the side (a danger road sign for example). They would see it everytime they use the start page instead of once in a while for MU, I don't think that many people change their home page and my guess is that people not upgrading are probably not the adventurous kind and probably didn't change the default home page.

Comment 6

[John Slater]

(In reply to comment #4)
> OK, convinced -- a single scary post-EOL message is good enough.
> 
> For historical record, here's what we did for the 2.0-to-3.0 message:
> 
> http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.0/details/

Thanks Dan, I'd forgotten about that page. Mayumi, I think that's a good
reference for whatever we do here, although the design could be scarier and the
addition of "free" is certainly good too.

Re: Pascal's idea in comment #5, I'm not sure that it's convincing/strong enough, but do we have the ability to test two different messages at first and then roll out the winner to the full audience?

Comment 7

[John Slater]

Mayumi and I are leaning towards going with something like the text shown below. Will need to see it actually laid out before knowing for sure, though...I'm not positive it will all fit.

Christian, should we just use the dimensions in http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.0/details/?

Proposed text:

Urgent Security Upgrade!
This version of Firefox is no longer supported against online attacks.

Get the FREE upgrade to stay safe, and to enjoy faster performance and new features:
[button: Download Firefox 3.6 - free]

What's holding you back? _Let us know_.

Comment 8

[LegNeato]

(In reply to comment #7)
> 
> Christian, should we just use the dimensions in
> http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.0/details/?

Yep, sorry I was looking around making sure those were correct, as rs said there are some variations between versions and we need to use the smallest one. I believe those dimensions will work.

Comment 9

[John Slater]

Got it, thanks Christian. Lee, I'm assigning this one to you so you can mock up the promo using the copy from comment #7.

Here are some reference links so you can see how we've done it in the past:

http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.0/details/
http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.5/details/
http://www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/3.6/details/

Am happy to discuss more offline, of course.

Comment 10

[John Slater]

Quick question for Christian and/or Mayumi: when are we planning on launching this? Lee and I are wondering if this should be done in the new site design style (redesign launches on 12/8) or the existing one.

Thanks-

Comment 11

[LegNeato]

It'll be around Dec 16th, so I guess the new design.

Comment 12

[Lee Tom]

Hi all,
Here's a mockup for you to view:

http://www.intothefuzz.com/leetom/Mozilla.com/JPG/scaryupdate_01.png

I wasn't able to comfortably fit the "What's holding you back?" blurb...
It's pretty tight as is.

Comment 13

[My]

oh yeah, way too much copy (and once you translate it I imagine it will only get worse).  I'll try and shorten it but Slater open to your edits too.

Comment 14

[My]

How about this for an abridged version (Slater?):
Security Upgrade!
Urgent this Firefox version is not supported against online attacks.

Get the FREE upgrade to stay safe, and to enjoy faster performance:
[button: Download Firefox 3.6 - free]

Comment 15

[LegNeato]

We want this generic, so no version numbers...

Comment 16

[John Slater]

Two design thoughts:
- can you make this look a little scarier? More "emergency!!!" feel to it...maybe some red in there.
- I'd stay away from MetaBlack here...it takes up more space and might hinder performance a bit.

Final revised copy (based on comment #14 and comment #15):

Security Upgrade!
Urgent: this Firefox version is not supported against online attacks.

Get the FREE upgrade to stay safe, and to enjoy faster performance:
[button: Download Firefox - free] 

Question for Christian: is it possible to increase the size of the window a bit? Would be nice to add in some breathing room and allow space for a survey.

Comment 17

[LegNeato]

(In reply to comment #16)
> Question for Christian: is it possible to increase the size of the window a
> bit? Would be nice to add in some breathing room and allow space for a survey.

I think it is hardcoded in the product but I'll double check with rs tomorrow.

Comment 18

[Lee Tom]

Another pass here:

http://www.intothefuzz.com/leetom/Mozilla.com/JPG/scaryupdate_02.png

- red, non-MetaBlack header
- revised copy

Comment 19

[My]

Still seems text heavy, maybe change the bottom line to
The FREE upgrade is safer and faster:

Comment 20

[Lee Tom]

that copy change helped simplify the look a bit...

http://www.intothefuzz.com/leetom/Mozilla.com/JPG/scaryupdate_03.png

Comment 21

[LegNeato]

We also need to remove the "3.6" still. Perhaps "Download the latest Firefox"?

Comment 22

[My]

Looks good to me, slater?

Comment 23

[John Slater]

The fonts still feel a little off to me. Lee, can we achieve the necessary impact using only Georgia? Since, at this point at least, Trebuchet is still only the fallback font for the rest of the site I'd rather not use it here.

What about making "Security Upgrade" in italicized Georgia and then making the rest standard Georgia? The way "URGENT" stands out in a different font feels not quite right either.

Also, "This free upgrade is faster and safer" is kind of light and hard to read. I'm also wondering if that bit should maybe be below the button instead of above it to break up the text/text/text setup we have now.

Comment 24

[Lee Tom]

New mock up:

http://www.intothefuzz.com/leetom/Mozilla.com/JPG/scaryupdate_04.png

- font changes from comment 23
- changed the CTA to "Upgrade Your Firefox - Free"
- swapped order of CTA and "The FREE upgrade..." blurb

Comment 25

[Nick Thomas [:nthomas] (UTC+12)]

Attachment: Context for billboard (en-US mac 3.0.19)

Is the green box supposed to direct people towards the buttons in the dialog that surrounds the billboard ? The box mimics the actual download boxes on mozilla.com closely enough that it makes we want to the click there instead.

It surprises me that we have a link in the current billboard, since it will tend to drag people to a manual update process instead of the streamlined built-in one. Is there a reason for having it ?

Comment 26

[LegNeato]

Good point. I think we originally made the text clickable so that if a non-technical user happened to click on it they would be taken to the proper place (though I wasn't around). Of course, switching to a green button style pushed up the prominence.

Also, I think we can make it a little bigger, as it is 2.0 that had the realllllly small billboard size (notice the screenshot has horizontal space).

Comment 27

[John Slater]

Nick, thanks for providing the additional context in comment #25. To be honest, I'd forgotten that the pop-up even had that framing around it...now that I see that, the green button seems pretty superfluous to me. Mayumi, what do you think?

Given that, I think we should revise our approach a little bit. Nick, can we change the text in the dialog box? Something with more urgency than "New Version Available" would have a big impact, and would make the urgent text inside the promo feel less like isolated marketing that users can ignore.

(In reply to comment #26)
> Also, I think we can make it a little bigger, as it is 2.0 that had the
> realllllly small billboard size (notice the screenshot has horizontal space).
How much bigger?

Comment 28

[LegNeato]

(In reply to comment #27)
> Given that, I think we should revise our approach a little bit. Nick, can we
> change the text in the dialog box? Something with more urgency than "New
> Version Available" would have a big impact, and would make the urgent text
> inside the promo feel less like isolated marketing that users can ignore.

I don't believe this is controlled by the snippets, so no.

> 
> (In reply to comment #26)
> > Also, I think we can make it a little bigger, as it is 2.0 that had the
> > realllllly small billboard size (notice the screenshot has horizontal space).
> How much bigger?

As big as the web view in that screenshot (assuming it was taken on 3.0). If we were going to use this for 2.0 we'd have to stick with the size we have. I think we've just resolved to leave those users, so we can target 3.0+ and make the width a little bigger.

If we revisit that decision for some reason and do want to do a refreshed prompt for 2.0 users we can come up with a tweaked one.

Comment 29

[Nick Thomas [:nthomas] (UTC+12)]

I don't think we can change the dialog strings either (CC'ing rs). My screenshot was on 3.0.19 for mac.

Comment 30

[Robert Strong (Robert they/them) [:rstrong] (use needinfo to contact me)]

You are correct, there is no way to change the strings in the dialog. The billboard is the only content that can be changed which is remotely supplied.

Comment 31

[John Slater]

Ok, thanks all. Given that info Mayumi, Lee and I should regroup and talk about a new approach here.

Stay tuned...

Comment 32

[My]

Wanted to follow-up on whether or not we can test different versions at the same time or would we have to stagger them across 3.x.x releases?  John will be posting the new copy soon.

Comment 33

[LegNeato]

We can. The pop-up just loads the URL, so we can do A/B testing by putting in htaccces redirects. I'm not sure we can put JS in the popup though...I believe we heavily restrict what type of script content can run.

Comment 34

[Robert Strong (Robert they/them) [:rstrong] (use needinfo to contact me)]

No javascript can run in the remote content shown in the client ui.

Comment 35

[John Slater]

Ok, here's the new copy. Lee, can you mock it up within the frame shared in comment #25? We don't need the button anymore, but it would be nice to include the Fx logo in there somewhere.

Security Upgrade!
Urgent: this version of Firefox is no longer supported against online attacks.

_Get the FREE upgrade_ to:
* stay safe online
* get faster performance
* enjoy new features

Not interested in upgrading? _Tell us why_.

Comment 36

[John Slater]

(In reply to comment #33)
> We can. The pop-up just loads the URL, so we can do A/B testing by putting in
> htaccces redirects. I'm not sure we can put JS in the popup though...I believe
> we heavily restrict what type of script content can run.

That's great...simply being able to test a couple of different text or layout options would be awesome.

Comment 37

[Lee Tom]

Attachment: scary pop up

Here's a mockup, John...

Comment 38

[Ed Morley [:emorley]]

The last metrics study on why people don't update their browsers ( http://blog.mozilla.com/metrics/2010/04/21/why-people-don%E2%80%99t-upgrade-their-browser-%E2%80%93-part-iv/ ) found a significant number of people listed "no time" as their primary reason. This was incorporated into the existing billboard design, but isn't now in the new mockups. Was this deliberate?

Also, what are your opinions on "upgrade" vs "update"? I know being a major release, 3.6/4.0 could probably be more accurately described as an upgrade, but as far as consumer perception goes, people are being bombarded with "upgrade now!" type messages from OEM software (such as pre-installed A/V trying to convince them to upgrade to the paid versions), so might be less receptive to the idea of a "time consuming upgrade" vs a "quick update essential for security" type message.

Comment 39

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

(In reply to comment #33)
> We can. The pop-up just loads the URL, so we can do A/B testing by putting in
> htaccces redirects.

While we can easily vary the billboard, how in the world would we measure different response rates (other than the response rate of people clicking on links in the dialog text)?

To measure the billboard's effectiveness in eliciting upgrades we'd have to A/B test the AUS snippets. That way we could link to different versions of detailsURL and throw and extra parameter into the URL. I don't think it's so easy to flip those on and off, but maybe it could be done.

Here's an example of a "major update" AUS snippet (from 3.5):
https://aus2.mozilla.org/update/1/Firefox/3.5.15/20101026205513/WINNT_x86-msvc/de/release/update.xml?force=1

Comment 40

[Lee Tom]

Attachment: scary pop up -revised

Attaching the latest mock up here

Comment 41

[John Slater]

Looks good to me, thanks Lee.

Comment 42

[LegNeato]

Looks great. Re-reading, do we want to make "supported" => "protected"? "supported against online attacks" doesn't really make sense to me, though if the wording was deliberately chose I'm totally fine with it.

Comment 43

[John Slater]

Yeah, the word "supported" was feeling a little off to me. I doubt most people will know what it means in this context...would vote on changing to "protected" for sure. Mayumi, what do you think?

Comment 44

[Lee Tom]

Attachment: scary pop up -revised

attaching mockup w/ "supported" > "protected" copy change for you to see in context. thanks, L

Comment 45

[My]

"Protected" fine with me

Comment 46

[John Slater]

This looks really good to me. Any further questions/comments/feedback?

If not, let's move this over to webdev.

Comment 47

[Lee Tom]

PSD is here:

http://intothefuzz.com/leetom/Mozilla.com/PSD/scaryupdate_04.psd

Comment 48

[My]

John - What's the next step here?  Can you file a bug with webdev?  Right now we should shoot to get this live around December 20th.

Comment 49

[John Slater]

Just filed bug 651751 to get this built. Since this one is for design, I'm going to resolve it as fixed...any interested parties should join the conversation in the new bug.

Thanks all-

Comment 50

[Gervase Markham [:gerv] (not reading bugmail)]

John means, of course, bug 615751.

Gerv