Closed Bug 661075 Opened 13 years ago Closed 11 years ago

Establish an emotional connection between the user and their Firefox

Categories

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
General
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME

People

(Reporter: faaborg, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Keywords: ux-tone)

Attachments

(1 file)

Example of the Firefox addressing the user on the home tab
368.24 KB, image/png
Details
This is going to sound like one of the more bizarre meta bugs out there, but here's the goal: over time users develop an emotional connection to their Firefox. Users anthropomorphize the application in the same way that some people name their cars, and they feel a genuine loyalty and love for their Firefox (also note the notion of "their Firefox", and not "the Firefox"). Ever since clippy, the notion of software that talks to the user has been strongly shunned (and given what they did, rightfully so). But there are some key differences with what I'm thinking of. In this approach, the user's Firefox would never proactively make a statement, there are just some instances where the user might passively encounter a statement (install, home tab). Also, the dialog would be carefully written, and consistently original. Additionally, at no point would we use a paper clip with eyes glued to it. Firefox is cast as a mythical creature, who is protective and passionately loyal to the user. We develop a particular tone of voice that Firefox speaks in, and then use that voice for the mythical creature to make direct statements to the user over the life cycle of the product. Firefox is presented as the user's companion. It doesn't interrupt, but it also addresses the user in the first person, and in dialog it consistently demonstrates that it is on the user's side. This emotional effect is already happening to some extent in our user base, but we aren't framing it as well as we could. Here's some specific examples of things we could do: -The install icon is a younger Firefox sitting in a box, looking directly at you. The experience is basically taking a puppy home from the pet store -During the install, the Firefox makes a series of statements written in a first person voice, like "I will keep you safe online." While basically a listing of features, they are presented as vows to the user. The additional effect of these messages is that we need to keep the user's attention while the stub installer completes the download, to ensure we successfully convert the user before they get bored and cancel. -Every day, the Firefox icon on the home tab has a new message for the user. While some of these messages are pure self promotion (sync, extensions, personas), they are written and presented as if the Firefox is talking to you. Sometimes the messages are a mixture of feature promotion and protection. For instance: >You might get better rates if you shop for plane tickets in private browsing mode. >Sites won't be able to track the prices that you've already seen. That statement is part feature promotion, part hacking the Web, and 100% on the user's side. But not every statement the Firefox makes in its daily message has to be about accomplishing one of our engagement objectives. In the correct set of locales on valentines day Firefox should simply say "I love you" The brands we are competing with consists of a compass, the letter e, and a killer robot, so there is really no reason that we shouldn't be able to establish the strongest emotional connection with our users. All of these values already exist in the code itself, this is simply surfacing them a bit more in a creative dialog.
Here's an example of the user's Firefox talking to them on their home tab.
Blocks: 513748
No longer blocks: 513748
Depends on: 513748, 661077
No longer depends on: 661077
Depends on: 661077
I love love love this whole concept. I actually have a blog post on a very similar topic (about how the use of interesting imagery in our materials helps personify the brand in a way that builds emotional connections to the product) pretty much written in my head but have yet to actually write it. Anyway, I think there's a lot of fantastic stuff here. I'd want to plan out exactly what all the tactics are pretty carefully to make sure that the desired results line up closely with our brand platform, but I'm really glad you started this conversation. Realistically, it will probably be early Q3 before I can really focus too intently on this, and I know the rest of my team will be working on the brand toolkit as a more immediate priority as well. I definitely would like to act on this, though. In the meantime, let's continue thinking of ways and places we can do this. Alex, what do you think the best in-product spots for this sort of thing are?
>what do you think the best in-product spots for this sort of thing are? so far what comes to mind are: -Installer -Home tab (daily message?) -About window Those are the places where the brand has a prominent position in the UI. We could also potentially consider text for some other interactions, like server not found.
+1 to this. I think there are lots of great opportunities to talk to users in awesome and unexpected ways (error messages, dialog windows, etc.). As I mentioned in the related snippets bug, for some reason I'm a little uncomfortable about using the first-person, but I think there are ways to make a direct connection with the user without having to overtly personify the browser. Would love to talk more about this, though as John mentions, that will likely have to wait until Q3.
I'm not a fan of this idea. To me, Firefox isn't my friend or travel agent, it's a prosthetic limb that extends my reach onto the web. I run a lot of add-ons and like to have Firefox set up just-so, in order to comfortably extend my headspace into it. So, if my bionic hand said "I love you" on Valentine's Day, I'd be very creeped out and feel disassociated with it. But admittedly, I'm a certain kind of user, and have been an outlier more often than not. I've read enough scifi that I can think of Firefox as a bionic hand, for instance. :)
Another place to implement this would be in the crash reporter, which already has an emotional element to it in the frustration caused by the sudden interruption of the browsing session. It would be great reduce some of the disappointment created by the crash and generate more understanding from the user.
My concern here would be annoying our base of devs/coders/hackers with cutesy imagery. Of course, this is coming from the guy who draws the cutesy imagery so I might not know what I'm talking about here. :) That said, if we are to introduce this tone, we should re-purpose Kit of "Don't Hurt The Web" and "Test Pilot" fame. He's been a big hit on the emotional scale both times and I think he could be easily adapted for other instances - most recently holding the QR code for mobile launch (http://mozilla.seanmartell.com/mobile-back.png) Thoughts?
(In reply to comment #7) > My concern here would be annoying our base of devs/coders/hackers with > cutesy imagery. Of course, this is coming from the guy who draws the cutesy > imagery so I might not know what I'm talking about here. :) I think we should be safe here with the audience segmentation that we are doing with Aurora/Beta/Firefox. I would imagine this would be applied mostly to Firefox for our mainstream users and we wouldn't touch so much of the early adopter user base. > > That said, if we are to introduce this tone, we should re-purpose Kit of > "Don't Hurt The Web" and "Test Pilot" fame. He's been a big hit on the > emotional scale both times and I think he could be easily adapted for other > instances - most recently holding the QR code for mobile launch > (http://mozilla.seanmartell.com/mobile-back.png) > > Thoughts? I think those were a hit, indeed.
I do think we need to tread carefully here. While I definitely like the overall idea, the devil is certainly in the details and we need to make sure we execute in the right way. Would like to talk it through more before we fully dive in to anything.
(In reply to comment #8) > I think we should be safe here with the audience segmentation that we are > doing with Aurora/Beta/Firefox. I would imagine this would be applied mostly > to Firefox for our mainstream users and we wouldn't touch so much of the > early adopter user base. I run Nightly and I love this idea. Besides, how would this be tested if none of the early adopter versions had it?
Kit is basically turning this idea up to 11. As everyone else has said, we have to be really careful to create the right tone with this. As for the very technical early adopter user, I'm not sure they are going to be huge fans of the home tab anyway (which I see as the main touch point for this idea). The home tab we are playing around with has a sort of casual user, iGoogle-ish dashboard feel to it, and is more about mouse driven UI and visual recognition. I think there's also likely going to be some freedom around users customizing a home tab to only have the content they want, which potentially might allow them to remove a daily message. They also might remove the app tab entirely. As for other touch points, like site not found errors, crash reporter, etc. I think we need to be really careful not to seem obnoxious (aw snap!!) and I might just be in favor of keep those areas cold and professional. >I run Nightly and I love this idea. Besides, how would this be tested if none of >the early adopter versions had it? Trying to wrap my head around a talking planet :) Anyway, I think we would probably want the messages to be aimed at the various audiences. Aurora would focus on new features that just landed, feedback we are looking for, making sure the users feel that they are on the cutting edge (and are awesome) etc.
I'm fine with talking browsers and all, but can we potty train Fox first? He's leaking memory all over my couch at the moment.
Laurens, you might want to look at bug 659856, bug 659857, bug 659858, and bug 659860. These are all tracking memory leaks.
Quick thought: a lot of people are exploring how to add a very slight animation to a logo to make its entrance more dynamic. A very slight move of the Firefox's arm, or some wind blowing its tail when the Home Tab is focused would could create a lot of personality with just moving a few of the pixels. Turning this idea up to 11 would be the way the Pixar lamp looks at the camera. I'm thinking more level 1 or .5
Another quick thought, we're going to have the user's first name if they have a Firefox account. We could potentially work this into the messages, although that might come off as super creepy. "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
And why not change the order of the element in the Firefox button's Example "Alex - Firefox"?
In the white space in the home tab I suggest adding a foxkeh, like that used with personas, in relation to the situation or the time (winter, valentine, easter,...). And clicking on it would add the personas
(In reply to comment #16) > And why not change the order of the element in the Firefox button's Example > "Alex - Firefox"? Even better, it would say <first name>'s Firefox. This would emphasise how much it's "their Firefox".
The installer with the "taking a puppy home from the pet store" idea now has a rough mockup over here: https://bug651965.bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=543348
Sorry Alex but I'd been told that Firefox was actually a red Panda and not a fox. Isn't this correct?
alex, IMO they're both good but some suggestion: 1.why no cancel button? neither in installing nor downloading... 2.during downloading a little info with size and speed would be good 3.instead of "default browser" maybe "usual browser" or something like that.. 4.during waiting it could ask some info like the username (suggesting the same of the pc)
>Firefox was actually a red Panda and not a fox Firefox is literally the nickname for red pandas, but for our usage were framing the Firefox as more of a mythical creature that's by your side as your online. I think the sketch in that mockup is too fox-ish (also too old, and slightly scary), but we're also not trying to get a perfect rendering of a red panda. For instance, in the logo itself, the creature has non-panda snout. We'll likely leverage parts of kit and fennec for the face if we go forward with that idea. >why no cancel button? neither in installing nor downloading... we can't cancel in the middle of the install (at that point cancel is to uninstall), and since we are making both download and install part of the same action, it would be strange to have a cancel button enabled, and then suddenly disable or disappear.
(In reply to comment #22) > >Firefox was actually a red Panda and not a fox > > Firefox is literally the nickname for red pandas, but for our usage were > framing the Firefox as more of a mythical creature that's by your side as > your online. I think the sketch in that mockup is too fox-ish (also too > old, and slightly scary), but we're also not trying to get a perfect > rendering of a red panda. For instance, in the logo itself, the creature > has non-panda snout. We'll likely leverage parts of kit and fennec for the > face if we go forward with that idea. > >All's fine then, thanks for your explanation!
Can I just make the comment that I install Firefox on some pretty low end machines and even then the install is usually so rapid your messages will become almost subliminal. Do you propose to slow down the installer to get your messages across?
a cute error message would make the user feel better.... some users may get really angry becuase their browser crashed and a cute message might make them feel better.
What about the puppy coming out of the box and "growing" somehow during the install process?
aww that would be cute!
There damn well better be a way to turn this **** off.
better just make it an addon :)
How about fixing real bugs, instead of making up new ones like this? Like maybe fixing all or some of the printing bugs that have existed since I started using Phoenix back in 2002? I'm tired of having to open another browser (any other browser works) when I want to print a web page that I am viewing in Firefox, or at least add the "View This Page in ...." feature to Firefox to make that a little easier on us.
This is ridiculous and shows a real disconnect between what users need vs. what a developer(s) think users want. This is a long term issue with Fx developers getting sidetracked on little personal additions vs. what the browser really needs which is a steady stream of bug fixes and feature improvements which does not include nonsense like this. If you want a feature like this offer it as an Addon and let users choose if they want to install it or not.
Several points: -Our marketing and UX teams do work on printing bugs, if you believe an organization should only contain developers, that's a separate (although equally ridiculous) view point -This is not a message forum -We don't create add-ons, we design the actual browser -The install is going to include the download, so we need to capture the user's attention during this time in an attempt to get them not to cancel (metrics show they will give up trying Firefox if the download takes too). We would never artificially delay the process, as we want to convert them to being a Firefox user as quickly as possible.
This is not a message forum? Then don't utilize it as such! The idea of establishing an emotional connection should be discussed and debated by users and developers in a forum/wiki environment, not bugzilla. This is not a bug, it's a feature request/idea.
Saying "I believe this is not a good idea due to specific reasons A, B and C" is an interesting discussion (and welcome across all of our channels). In this situation the person commenting is engaged and active in the development process. Saying "There damn well better be a way to turn this **** off." is what I mean by treating this like a message forum. The person commenting is acting as a disengaged user providing a drive-by and otherwise unproductive critique. Basically it's not about having an opinion, it's about articulating why you have an opinion. You aren't a user here, you're a developer.
My apologies. There damn better be a way to: Shut off the Firefox icon on the home tab having a new message for the user. Shut off the animation which would cause very slight move of the Firefox's arm, or some wind blowing its tail when the Home Tab is focused. Shut off Firefox's ability to say "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." The reason for this is simple. It is at best distracting and at worst annoying. Frankly, if Firefox never has the wind blowing though its tail that would be fine by me. Forcing me to have this nonsense by not having a way to turn it off would bug the hell out of me.
Firefox seems to be going the way of mass browser simplification. If something like user-created toolbars or small-icons-mode poses too much of a maintenance burden, then I would wager something like this would be doubly so (not the least because it has no real expected benefit. You hope it will do what you hope it will do; its more of an experiment, so... This seems like it would be much more of a mozilla-labs project (maybe coupled with a test-pilot type study to see if it has any noticeable effect on anything) than something that should be built into the browser itself (at least for now). Even with a best case scenario, and it turns out that this adds a measurable benefit, it seems like the best way to do it would be to go the route of pdf.js or the social button, and make a preinstalled, preenabled addon.
This is probably the worst idea, out of a very long list bad ideas, to originate from this source. You've already alienated a large section of the fx user base, with this ridiculous Australis monster and now you want the browser to 'sweet talk' their users. Don't you have anything better to do?
This is an old bug, and isn't currently tracking anything actionable.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 11 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
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