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January 10, 2004
1000x630, 45 seconds
That's how much space and about how much time mozilla.org has to make a very difficult sales pitch. This article looks at how it fails, and what it has to do if it hopes to succeed.
Mozilla has a history of not pushing its products effectively, and while its new website does make the site look a whole lot more professional, the content of the front page leaves a lot to be desired.
Specifically, the front page:
Alienates Visitors
Rather than make the visitor feel welcome and even good about having come to the site, the first line of text is made up of pompous waffle with little or no persuasive power over your average user1.
Does Not Explain What Is Being Pushed
Instead, it hints at the function of the Mozilla 1.5 product. Not until below the fold, in the entry for Firebird 0.7, is the word "browser" used.
Does Not Explain Why Visitors Should Invest in Mozilla
By "invest" I mean invest time in trying the software.
Space needs to be cleared on the page to accommodate corrections. This is simple - pretty much all of the text above the fold is easily removed:
Terms like "choice and innovation" and "privacy and security" are wasted space. The reality is that users1 aren't impressed by such terms. Such concepts are not bad per se, but they have little if any persuasive power over your average person. Given that space is precious (see the title of this entry), wasted space actually has a negative impact, and such squander should be reigned in.
Dave pointed out that "security" was a good buzzword with consumers, and I think you'll find that 99 out of a hundred consumers agree - security is a good thing. But again simply using the phrase "privacy and security" is insufficient to get your average person to download and install a new piece of software.
Asa pointed out that people rarely buy a car solely because of its safety rating. Such ratings help reinforce a purchasing decision, rather than motivate them - your average driver doesn't suddenly think, "My '96 Taurus doesn't have side impact airbags, I'd better go buy a newer model that has them." And besides, people want to buy cars, no one wants to install software.
The fact is, people1 are trusting. They naively take what others tell them at face value, because by and large in their daily lives people are honest. That is not always the case on the internet, especially not in email. People believe that they are secure until they are wronged (and often even after they are wronged one or more times), so selling security to users without understanding their needs is a waste of time. Effective marketing stipulates that you need to find a way to make them care about your product. You can only do that by identifying with them, and this means understanding their problems.
What security related problems do people have? Spam viruses and spyware ActiveX controls are probably the big vulnerabilities with Microsoft software, and are things that are largely eliminated through the use of Mozilla software, and yet the front page fails to make this connection. In fact, the front page leaves it to the third bullet point for 1.5 to present any features at all in a way that specifically identifies with user problems!
The front page then proceeds with a bunch of poorly selected bylines for each upcoming product. The annotation on the page that isn't a mistake is the one for Bugzilla, which succinctly describes what the software does.
Coming back to a point I mentioned before, users1 don't just go out and install software. It is a terrifying and complicated experience for them. Even with the perfect installer, users generally have a perception of how difficult installation is, and would rather not. The reason Microsoft Internet Explorer is so prevalent is because it comes on new computers, not because Microsoft marketed a better product and had all those people install it.
To entice people to download the software you need to market well, that means getting people to want to install your software despite their perceptions because their friends or family recommended it, or because some other form of marketing (like the web page) sold it to them. Your sell page needs to market so effectively that the hump is overcome.
Fixing the Page
Bart and I have ambitions here which will be realized as we move towards Aviary 1.0. In particular, the front page should be redeveloped with an emphasis on:
- Instantly making visitors feel at home with an engaging title and by-line. ("The Web The Way You Want It" or some such)
- Saying that Mozilla makes a WEB BROWSER. (And an Email reader)
- Provides a path of minimum resistance to download and installation for the user's configuration, which is completely detectable from the web browser's 'navigator' js object. I have little need for a Linux version of Mozilla on my Windows PC, so platform links waste space and add clutter. If I am of the class of user that needs a Linux version on my Windows PC, I'm more likely to know how to navigate the FTP site to find the file I want.
- Presents a nice big picture of said WEB BROWSER in action, not shoved off to the right where no one will notice it.
- Identifies reasons to switch that are persuasive to real users. This means identifying problems that real users have and locating features in the products that address them.
- Tone down use of terms like "client" and sentences that don't say much.
Every pixel above the fold is precious, and none should be abused!
Background
I understand clearly some of the problems that lead to the page be the way it is. The current state of affairs is not because of lack of desire on the part of Mozilla's Product Marketing effort for a better site. It is because of conservatism and a malignant sense of humility that afflicts many who have had an impact on the current content. There is still a pervasive feeling that just using words like "security" and "open source" are enough, because the good old boys know they're important, and if we delve to deeply into the realms of "real marketing" then the purity of Mozilla's open source message will be lost.
Well here's a reality check. If Mozilla can't find more users, it will fade. If not from existence, then from relevance. We can no longer rely on Netscape as a primary distribution channel. We are not creating a browser for ourselves; we are creating one for the world. The same standards that are set for Firebird must now be rigorously applied to the website - user/customer is paramount, pragmatism before principle. Firebird is a shining beacon of web browser design, and it has gained much ground on its own merit and with limited grassroots marketing, but mozilla.org must become an effective delivery vehicle for it.
The phrase "think outside the box" has become a cliché, but we must now do exactly that. The people coming to mozilla.org in the coming months will be a wider subsection of society than simply interested developers. Old and tightly held notions of how a web page should be designed should be set aside. As Firebird nears completion, a sea change is in store for mozilla.org. A storm is coming. Get ready.
Footnotes
Posted by ben at January 10, 2004 2:28 AM
Comments
Aviary 1.0.
what's that
Posted by: f at January 10, 2004 10:15 AM
"Aviary 1.0"
Its the gathering of the birds!
ie. When Firebird, Thunderbird and possibly Sunbird are released together to replace the Mozilla suite.
Posted by: Neil Jenkins at January 12, 2004 8:16 AM
How many readers now know more than they thought there needed to be written about how to produce documents which are equally well printable with the Letter and the A4 formats?
Posted by: Steve Kann at January 12, 2004 2:31 PM
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