Impact Mozilla Proposal: Microcampaigns

By Percy Cabello, percy@mozillalinks.org

Intro

Out of the many reasons a user may have to not install or not use a Firefox download, this proposal aims to improve the relevance of Firefox as a product. In other words, provide compelling answers to two basic user questions: Why should I install this thing? And, why should I use this thing?

According to the Firefox User Panel survey (http://tinyurl.com/5ozu9y) a friend, relative, or associate recommendation was pointed as one of the most influential factors by 40% of respondents.

A friend, a relative or an associate are most likely to know the specific needs a user has, hence, abler to know the answer to those basic questions.

Strategy

To leverage the most powerful asset of the Mozilla projects: its community, to improve the relevance of Firefox as a product.

The Tactics

Microcampaigns. A microcampaign (mc) is a marketing campaign crafted by an individual or group of individuals (the microcampaign leader) with a very small target population (usually 10 – 500 potential users) that share a common interest or need with the microcampaign leader.

Ideally, the mc leader has found ways to make Firefox help him/her with these needs and interests and will be able to share it with the target population.

Here are a couple of use cases:

Case 1: Mike is member of a gym, uses Firefox and uses the Calorie Count Plus Toolbar to tracks his weight loss and calories intake, and Google Calendar Notifier to keep an eye on his gym schedule and upcoming marathons. He has also set an inspiring Persona in his Firefox toolbar. And feels like some of his fellow gym members could use some of this on their own fitness quests.

Case 2: Theresa’s 10-year old son has started searching the web, and she wants to prevent him getting to porn or hate sites while letting him access the web for learning purposes and gaming. She installs Glubble, and likes its whitelisting approach to parental control and the ability to recommend sites to other parents. She thinks it would help other parents at his son’s school.

Mike and Theresa know at least some other people in their groups would appreciate Firefox’s particular talents, but directing them to firefox.com would not make the cut and would not tell their friends and peers what is great about Firefox for them.

So they decide to create a customized download page for their microcampaign.

Here’s what Mike would do:

  1. Mike visits and registers as a member of Firefox microcampaigns at firefox.com/mc

  2. He creates a new microcampaign:

    1. Group you are targeting: Gym club

    2. Language: Portuguese

    3. Size: 500 people

    4. Type of advertising: bulletin board post.

    5. Layout: Classic (welcome left, photo right, recommended links

    6. Welcome message: “Hi Liquid Iron Gym members. To track your weight, try this extension available here. And to feel all the guilt you deserve, check this toolbar. Keep up the effort, see you at the gym.” He may also add an image of the gym acknowledging he is the copyright owner.

    7. He selects a group of add-ons. The group is saved to Mozilla Add-ons as the LiquidIron pack (provided the Fashion Your Firefox feature is extended to the whole site). The pack is linked to the micro campaign.

    8. microcampaign URL: firefox.com/liquidiron

  3. He submits his mc proposal.

Microcampaign drivers

The mc drivers review Mike’s proposal and either approve it or deny it according to the mc policies.

Deploying the microcampaign

  1. When his mc is approved, Mike posts a flyer in the gym’s bulletin board pointing people to firefox.com/liquidiron

Audience

  1. Gym members visit the address and find relevant functionality for their lifestyle.

  2. They download an mc edition of Firefox that is customized to :

    1. Load a micro campaigns themed start page where the user is asked to enter and submit the mc part of the URL, on first run and while the mc cookie says the add-ons package hasn’t been offered yet.

    2. A new page with the add-ons descriptions and other links is displayed with a big button to install the add-ons package associated to the campaign, and other relevant links.

    3. The resulting page shows other featured microcampaigns so the new user learns about other functionalities he may be interested in.

  1. The first run mc start page is the same for all mcs and will be used to track how many users actually install Firefox(to avoid raising privacy concerns. The start page shows other featured mcs

    , The new user and Firefox live happily ever after!

Launching

To engage the community, a simple contest will be organized: two weeks to propose their campaigns, two weeks to advertise it after approved, one week to collect hits and downloads.

A $500 value prize will be awarded to the microcampaign that generates the most downloads.

Measuring

This works similarly to Mozilla Metrics’ Funnelcake (http://blog.mozilla.com/metrics/2007/11/02/firefox%E2%80%99s-funnel-factor/). Metrics will be collected to determine if retention rate figures (% installed downloads, %running after 30 days installs) for microcampaigns generated downloads are significantly better than those for regular downloads.

What is needed (costs)?

  1. A custom Firefox build for the mc site. Estimated 40h @ $50/hour = $2,000

  2. The mc site, development estimate:

    1. Analysis, 32 hours

    2. Design, 20 hours

    3. Build, 40 hours

    4. Test and rinse, 20 hours

    5. Deploy, 20 hours

    6. Total: 132 hours @ $50/hour = $6,600

  3. Advertise the microcampaign site

    1. Contest for microcampaign that generates the most downloads: $500 value prize

  4. Add custom Mozilla AUS handler for mc requests: 20 hours @ $50/hour = $1,000

  5. Create mc approval policies: volunteer team

  6. Establish a group of mc drivers: volunteer team

  7. Total: $10,100

Timeline

#

Task/Weeks

W1

W2

W3

W4

W5

W6

W7

W8

1

Planning: define project details, scope, limitations









2

Make custom Firefox build









3

Add support for mc to Mozilla AUS









4

Build mc site/app










Analysis










Design










Build










Test and rinse










Deploy









5

Create mc approval policies









6

Establish group of mc drivers









7

Plan mc contest









8

Launch mc contest











Additional notes

  1. Groups can be virtually anything: a web forum, a blog audience, a newsgroup, a classroom, a science club, store customers, an Internet cafe, a city, etc.

  2. A side benefit is that since we can measure the number of hits and downloads a mc generates, we can identify which groups (if categorized), messages, languages and promotion medium (T-shirt, sign, poster, flyer, radio/newspaper/TV ad, word of mouth) work better and learn from the process.

About Me

I am the editor of Mozilla Links () which is currently in its sixth year reporting on everything (as time allows) about the Mozilla universe: products, people, projects and companies. In the process I’ve come to appreciate Mozilla beyond a product or a project, but as a cause for taking a medium like the Internet to its full potential to serve the public benefit.

I am a business intelligence consultant on my day job and have participated and led many projects in ten years of career. What I most enjoy is the opportunity to learn about all business processes and help clients achieve their goals.

Education: Bachelor degree in Systems Engineer, MS in Open Information Systems.