Mozilla looking for ways to increase Firefox retention
A new article posted to the Mozilla Wiki outlines a 12 steps plan to improve Firefox retention rate.
According to the introduction, just about 50% of people who downloads Firefox gets to actually try it. And 50% of those who try it keep using it actively. The plan aims to improve this download to user rate.
The plan includes changing the Firefox desktop icon text to provide a clearer cue that it is for accessing the web, adding the Firefox icon to a visible position in the Quick Launch bar (on Windows), a more informational download page (an attached mockup resembles Safari’s download page), launching the revamped Mozilla Support site and even updating the Firefox icon.
The proposal is the result of a month length brainstorming at Spread Firefox started by JT Batson’s Overcoming muscle memory, referring to the fact that for many users the Internet is the web and the web is the blue e icon they are used to see in their Windows desktop.
Comments
David Naylor
Very interesting stuff. Hope it makes a difference when applied! (Personally I’m a bit sceptical about those curves…)
Michael M.
I gave up on Firefox last year because it integrates poorly into my GNOME desktop (under Debian Linux) and OS X desktop (on my iMac). Both Epiphany (GNOME) and Camino (OS X) use Gecko for rendering, but neither suffer from the resource issues that seem to plague Firefox and neither feel as alien to the environments as Firefox does. (Actually, I think Camino is even more “Mac-like” than Safari.) My assumption, perhaps incorrect, is that Mozilla’s primary concern is with Firefox on Windows; certainly, using Firefox with GNOME or OS X feels very much like using a “Windows app” where it doesn’t belong.
Frank Moorman
This is an unusual idea… If you want users to associate firefox with the web instead of the blue ‘e’, why not create a Green “A” or some other letter? While I usually am a wiseass and sarcastic; I am very serious with this idea. People will tend to think of letter grades from school and you need to sell Firefox as better to the non-tech crowd. I am sure a marketing person would agree (even though I am a techie type). However, the one thing needed in order to sell this to the general public is a way to associate Firefox with a letter. Unfortunately, F is worse than E and that will not work.
How to Retain Firefox Users: 12 Point Retention Plan
[...] via Mozilla Links who points out that the proposal is the result of a month long brainstorming at Spread Firefox. It [...]
Mozilla debuts new Firefox first run page : Mozilla Links
[...] seen it in a long while. But it happens to be very important for Mozilla’s goal to increase user retention, so a team was formed to improve the previous version and create a new one that highlights a small [...]
Mozilla debuts new Firefox first run page : Mozilla Links
[...] seen it in a long while. But it happens to be very important for Mozilla’s goal to increase user retention, so a team was formed to improve the previous version and create a new one that highlights a small [...]
New Start Page for Firefox « OSS Blog
[...] line with Mozilla’s user-friendly practices, the new start page has been launched to aid in user retention as most people that install Firefox, only use it once and then leave [...]
New Fx ‘First Run’ Page « Firefox Extension Guru’s Blog
[...] to Percy at Mozilla Links, “But it happens to be very important for Mozilla’s goal to increase user retention, so a team was formed to improve the previous version and create a new one that highlights a small [...]
Ferdinand
Another reason why people stop using firefox is because firefox becomes slower and uses more memory if they install a lot of stuff in firefox. They think they can solve that by reinstalling firefox but that of course won’t work because they keep using the same old profile with all the stuff in it.
Firefox should provide a button somewhere that cleans the profile(or makes a new default)but still saves the passwords, bookmarks, history, cookies etc.
Reply