First Run Survey Results - April 2007

Last month the marketing team put together a spot survey that ran for 24 hours. It appeared on the first page that a new user sees when they download and install Firefox. This was done to sample data to support planning as well as to experiment with a mechanism to gather data from our users in a more systematic way -- to help us all improve the Firefox experience.

Note that we're painfully aware that we need to be careful here so as to not disrupt the user experience and get in the users way. We purposely kept it to a single question with a single click response -- but perhaps that's even too intrusive during someone's first experience with Firefox! Other opportunities for surveying users include: taking a very small sample every day (e.g. less than one percent of users), on the first run after software update, from the start page, or through some sort of user newsletter program (that we've talked about for a long time, but have yet to make real).

The data collected supported our assumptions, and what we all know, that word of mouth continues to be the most important driver for Firefox adoption. We'll be posting shortly with a bunch more data and analysis that we've started to better understand the adoption cycle, early evidence suggests that there is a lot of room for us to optimize and drive even greater adoption. It all really boils down to how we can establish an emotional connection with new users, during the the first few minutes. How can we actually make them "feel" safer? Why should they care about their choice of browser? How does it make their online life better? etc.

This survey focused on understanding the first part of that equation. In particular, how are people finding out about and coming to Firefox. Understanding that will help us better understanding how to "talk" to those users during that first experience. The second piece of information we need to know, is "why" they are coming. We suspect, and have some data that suggests, that security is the single biggest driver, followed by customization. More soon on that.

Here is the question, the results, and raw numbers. The results are statistically significant.

Question:

How did you hear about Firefox?

Answers: