Browser upgrade campaigns, four ways

I’ve come across a couple of interesting browser upgrade campaigns lately. Yes, lots of IE testing! Anyway, it’s kind of interesting to see the way different sites have presented the message.

Purpose of a browser upgrade campaign

The purpose of a browser upgrade campaign is to:

1. tell people they’re using an outdated browser
2. explain why this is a problem (optional but effective)
3. suggest alternatives

Why do we need to do this?

Well, obviously, browsers release new versions and old versions become outdated. Many people do not realize they’re using the outdated version, causing problems for web developers and their own security.

Sure, some of these people are stubbornly clinging to their old favourites. Others have (somewhat) valid reasons for continuing to use the old version. But many users won’t know they’re even using an old browser if nobody tells them. They may ignore the first message, but what about the second, or the third? The fourth?

I figure if people keep seeing these messages they might actually do something about it. I also think that we have a bit of an obligation as web developers to educate people about browsers. We can’t just sit around and complain that 20% of visitors are still using IE 6 without doing anything about it.

The examples

IE from Microsoft

First we have IE’s own v. 7 upgrade campaign (right, click to enlarge). This came up one day when I loaded IE6 to check something – I’m not sure if they only show it once or if it would continue to be displayed every so often.

The first problem with this it doesn’t explicitly tell you that you’re using an old version. It sort of implies that this IE 7 is something new. But does the target audience even know which version they’re using? Probably not. It does explain the benefits of the new version, but doesn’t explicitly tell the viewer that they should download it. Come on, these are people who still haven’t figured that out yet. You need to be more clear.

It also doesn’t explain that there is any problem with continuing with the old version. The page is designed as marketese that would probably cause most users to click away. It’s displayed as a full page rather than any kind of alert, which makes it seem like a marketing campaign rather than an error message.

Facebook

Facebook does a much better job of explaining the browser upgrade problem:

This comes up on your Facebook home page, at the top. It’s styled a little different than the usual Facebook content and is clearly an error message. It accomplishes all three of the points I mentioned above:

1. it tells you there’s a problem
2. it explains that this might cause problems with your use of the site (without going into too much detail)
3. it suggests several alternatives

TWF/A Padded Cell

We’ve put up a similar warning for IE 6 users at TWF and A Padded Cell:

I can’t say I was directly responsible for this (Liam put it in) but it does accomplish the three main objectives. And, as you can see, it is obvious that IE 6 isn’t able to render the site correctly (there’s supposed to be a logo there!). We’ve set this up as an ad and so far it’s been seen 6700 times and gets an 8.48% click through rate which is way higher than our other ads. We get about 20% of our traffic from IE 6 which is higher than the 17% we get from IE 7!

And now for something different: Netscape

I installed Netscape the other day after getting a report of problems with the site I maintain at work. This is what came up when I launched the browser:

Same thing, it explains there’s a problem and suggests alternatives. I think they could be a little more clear about why users shouldn’t continue to use Netscape. For example, there will be no additional security upgrades which may make your computer vulnerable.

I find it really interesting that they’re recommending Flock above Firefox. Liam and I tried Flock once out of curiosity. We found it to be unbelievably cluttered and filled wth stuff most people wouldn’t need. But, then, that’s the Netscape way, isn’t it? Flock is targeted to people who are really into Web 2 sharing sites, which sort of explains the interface, but also makes it even more confusing as to why they’re suggesting it to the Netscape crowd. I somehow doubt that people still stuck on Netscape are really into Web 2 content sharing!

One thing none of these campaigns do is explain that downloading and installing a new browser is nothing to worry about. I think some people might be afraid of installing new software, especially if what they have seems to work for them or think that the process would be too difficult, or they might mess it up somehow.

More examples

Have you seen any other examples of current browser upgrade campaigns? Please post!

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