Last fall we initiated the first ever multivariate optimization testing at www.mozilla.com.  At the time, we drew the following conclusion from one of our tests:

How does this change our business/creative decision making?

As some of us already guessed, it appears that it’s the download button itself that matters most here.  Thinking about the size, shape, color, and placement (among other characteristics), our findings indicate that future testing could reveal surprising – and positive findings – based on changes to the download button.  In other words, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that future tests, that adjust such characteristics of the download button, could easily translate to a 2% lift (or much greater), and in turn, a substantially improved experience for millions of new Firefox users each year.

We have plans in place to eventually roll-out those types of tests with regular frequency later this year (stay tuned), and in the short term, we’re planning a few strategic optimization efforts at a few critical Firefox related touch points – support.mozilla.com, Get Firefox in your language, and the main Firefox product page.

David Rolnitzky just highlighted our plans regarding that last touch point.  Among the changes being tested:

• If an existing Firefox user is trying to figure out how to upgrade to the latest version of Firefox, the process should be clearer.
• If a user is on IE, he/she will see content more relevant to their thoughts and potential interest in downloading Firefox (below).

This is only a test, so while these new page versions seem as though they’ll have a positive impact on users, we’re not necessarily rooting for them to exhibit greater success than our existing page (the “winner” is determined by the actions/preferences of site visitors).  Stay tuned for our findings in a future post.