Web Apps – 5 Ways to Convert and Keep Your Fans by Kevin Dwinnell

Do you feel safe downloading a program from the Internet? Do you give more thought to visiting a web site or installing a piece of software? It’s questions like these that create challenges for web applications. If you’re offering a software download, you’re already operating at a disadvantage in the mind of the consumer — whether it’s conscious or not.

It’s an act of trust when a consumer downloads and installs your product. You’ve been invited into their life. That invitation is a powerful opportunity to connect with that user over a potentially long period of time. Don’t blow it. Here are some of the things we do and have learned to encourage adoption of our interactive browser themes.

1. Full Frontal Disclosure

In the connected world, it doesn’t pay to try to hide information. You will be found out. Just ask John Edwards. That’s why we put our disclosures upfront and prior to install. We include a default search engine with our product. Even though users can change it any time they like, we tell them up front that it’s coming.

It’s the proper protocol for software distribution on the web. Your user can then make an informed decision about everything they are receiving. It won’t protect you from negative comments, there are always dissenters. At least you’ve been open and can avoid greater negative fallout.

2. If You Love It, Let It Go

The best move we made was to change our product and allow consumers to switch between any theme they want. In the web 1.0 world, you got your hooks into the consumer and you didn’t let go. That doesn’t cut it anymore. Your fans are going to go wherever they want, whenever they want. If you’re doing right by them, they’ll be back.

Our themes help create return visits to our client site, and it’s powerful. Having messaging capability in the browser means you can reach them whenever they’re online. So, making it easy for your fans to change the theme and step away from a client’s experience can be a hard thing for clients to favor. It’s shown to be the right thing.

Our sports teams have a steady core of users that stay with the theme throughout the year. There’s also a large number that return each pre-season or join as the season rolls along. Recognizing your fans may have other interests and welcoming them back each season makes for a much stronger relationship. Giving the ability to switch between themes means you keep a foot in the door instead of creating a complete uninstall scenario.

3. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

We all wish we could remove the barriers to entry. We try to minimize them by making the call to action clearly visible to the user, reduce clutter on the page, sell the sizzle and so on. Showing the graphics included in our themes is a big boost for us.

With Firefox at roughly 25% of the browser market, offering a Firefox-only theme would generally be perceived as a huge barrier to entry. Fortunately, the visual strength of our product and the affinity to the brands we work with has greatly reduced this obstacle. We’ve had clients double their Firefox penetration – outpacing Firefox’s own overall market share. We’ve also had clients get 30% of their total audience using their custom theme. Quite astounding numbers.

4. You Don’t Have to Shout

Our browser themes are an affinity marketing tool. We build them to help brands connect to their fans. And let’s face it, brands and the companies behind them are out to make money. If you’re sending stuff out into the market, it’s eventually got to make you some money or you’re out of luck.

As much as our product offers new sponsor and ad inventory, and there’s a persistent communication channel available to them, I think it’s great that the product owners tread lightly in this area. This is not the place for the hard sell. To coin the phrase of social media, this is for joining the conversation – you’ve got to be a part of the dialogue. Ongoing, timely and useful information will make the long-term connection where the marketing appeals are accepted. We’ve seen this respect around communication rewarded with an average of 10% click through to commerce offers from within our themes.

5. We Interrupt This Program

As mentioned above, timely and useful information is vital. The power of putting a message up front and visible to the user has resulted in phenomenal return visits to our partner sites. Most sites have feeds that are great tools to reach your fans when they’re not on your site. The question is “Are you offering enticing news?”

There are two items to consider. One, a killer headline gets attention. The Huffington Post is a master at this. You can also look to leaders in your industry to find out how they write to engage their readers. Two, inside information is a powerful way to build a relationship. Relationships get tighter when you share personal information about yourself. This can apply to businesses as well. You can get a good feel of this if you look at how Toyota mishandled their PR crisis. Take a page from the Tylenol scare years ago – open and immediate information sharing goes a long way to shoring up your consumer’s trust.

These are some of the things that are working for us, and why. What would you add to the list?

Posted in Commentary | Tags: brand thunder, browser theme, Browsers, Clients, firefox, Huffington Post, New Media, web app, Web search engine | No Comments »

CollegeHumor Introduces New Browser Theme from Brand Thunder by Brand Thunder

COLUMBUS, OH — January 28, 2010 — Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com) and CollegeHumor (http://www.collegehumor.com) announce the launch of an interactive browser theme fully capable of infusing Firefox browsers with a sense of humor. Fans of CollegeHumor can find the free download at http://www.brandthunder.com/collegehumor.

Through a small browser add-on, users’ web browser skin will get a complete CollegeHumor makeover including links to the most popular sections of the website and a multimedia sidebar.

“CollegeHumor is already an incredibly addictive site,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “By creating this kind of visibility in the browser, we think this could lead to a whole new 12-step program.”

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! are lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. With a Boom!, users can switch real-time between any of the browser looks they created without restarting their browser.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates extreme makeovers for the Internet browser. Brands enjoy a persistent connection to their Internet consumer driving more website visits and increased revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the drab Internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or Internet site. The interactive browser themes feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, and can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other Internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include Bing, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL and Universal Music. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

About CollegeHumor:
CollegeHumor.com was founded in a dorm room in 1999 as an online depository for all of the content that floats around collegiate computer networks. The site has since grown into a daily updated source of original web content and now boasts a loyal following of 10 million unique users per month and more than 30 million monthly video views. With major blue chip companies such as Ford, Universal Pictures and Procter & Gamble advertising on the site, the release of Penguin Books’ The CollegeHumor Guide to College and Faking It…How to Seem Like a Better Person Without Actually Improving Yourself, and a movie with Paramount in the works, CollegeHumor has quickly emerged as an icon of online humor. CollegeHumor is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI).

Contact:
Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-408-8202

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Posted in News, Press Releases | Tags: brandthunder, browser theme, Browsers, college humor, collegehumor, firefox | No Comments »

Brand Thunder Introduces New Advertising Sponsor Placements within the Browser Chrome by Brand Thunder

COLUMBUS, OH – September 4, 2009 – Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), the custom browser specialists, announced today the availability of clickable sponsored placements within the browser chrome of its custom browser Booms!. These sponsored placements are visually integrated within the browser theme, remain regardless of the website being visited, and fully take advantage of the hours users spend online.

The sponsorship program was designed to simplify implementation for Brand Thunder clients. It leverages Brand Thunder’s ad server allowing for a full range of tracking and reporting, plus providing easy updates for sponsorship graphics. The browser chrome placement assures high-visibility and engagement due to its proximity to the web address bar and browser search box.

“Our clients have expressed a need to provide new and exciting opportunities to their corporate sponsors,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “These new sponsor placements will allow us to meet that need in a manner that integrates seamlessly and stylistically with the rest of the Boom! and keeps the overall user experience intact.”

A Boom!, a free, lightweight, active customization, is unlike other browser-based tools with its visual immersion, integrated content and added functionality. It has proven to be a popular way for fans to personalize their web experience with their favorite sports team, music star, newspaper, news site and more. Users can switch real-time between any installed Booms!.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates custom-browser experiences. Brands enjoy a more persistent connection to their Internet consumer through the custom browser Boom!, which increases website visits and revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the look and feel of their Internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or Internet site. The custom browser Booms! feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, but can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other Internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include the Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact:
Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-304-1316

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Posted in News, Press Releases | Tags: boom, brand thunder, Branded Browser, brandthunder, Browsers, custom browser, Online advertising, online sponsorship, sponsorship | No Comments »

Two Views to a Boom! – Toolbar Only Look & Why It Matters by Kevin Dwinnell

Brand Thunder prides itself on the immersive visual experience our browser Booms! deliver – but sometimes less is more. For those times, Brand Thunder built a Small Boom! (toolbar only) view of our Booms!. It’s as simple as clicking on the B/T button in the toolbar and choosing the Small Boom! option. That’s it. The full functionality of the Boom! is reduced to toolbar size.

So, if that’s it, then why a blog post? One reason is it tells people about the feature. The other is that its a good reminder for the challenges facing product managers and UI designers. Less really is more in so many ways. Every step you place in between the user and their goal significantly increases the abandonment rate. For example, each screen in an installation or sign up process results in a 30% abandonment. What is the equivalent for the product and features essential to your business and consumer? How many barriers are you putting in front of your consumer from reaching them?

Posted in Commentary | Tags: brand thunder, browser boom, Browsers, custom browser, Toolbar, User interface | No Comments »

Firefox 3.5 Compatibility – The Dog Ate Our Homework by Kevin Dwinnell

Congratulations to the Mozilla community on the launch of Firefox 3.5 today. It’s an outstanding product that can be found at www.getfirefox.com. If you’re using one of Brand Thunder’s newer browser Booms!, you’re most likely enjoying a seamless transition. If you’re using one of our older browser customizations or an older Boom!, you’re likely enjoying Firefox 3.5 but without the Brand Thunder customizations you want.

To those of you experiencing problems, we’re sorry and the rest of this post may seem like a series of excuses. We are working diligently to get the updates live and this is our foremost priority at this time. Once an update clears our quality assurance tests, it will push live. I’d anticipate a stream of updates occurring over the near term.

Now to move on to the excuses, most companies run very lean and we’re no exception. Many times, it feels like there’s a wave of impending doom curling but never breaking. In this instance, the wave came down on us. We had an influx of high-profile clients with fixed deadlines and a moving 3.5 delivery date. And whether there were late term changes in the 3.5 betas, or just bugs found late in our review process, we had troubleshooting to perform at a time we should have been in build.

The result is a delay in timing our updates with the release of 3.5. We regret this inconvenience.

Feel free to try our first NFL Boom! (Colts) or our latest NHL Boom! (Wild) and I’ll place a list here of all the functioning Booms! as I get them.

Posted in Commentary | Tags: brand thunder, Browsers, Firefox 3.5, Mozilla Foundation | 1 Comment »

Word About Canvas is Getting Out, Visualize the Browser You Want by Kevin Dwinnell

Almost two weeks ago, we launched “Canvas” Brand Thunder’s latest browser Boom! – a tool that gives you a totally personal look to your browser when you add any photo or image to it. It’s a completely unique experience when it comes to browsers.

Yet like every other “brilliant” idea on the web, now comes the hard part of telling the world. Fortunately, we’re starting to make in roads there as well. Last week, the product got picked up by a couple nice sites:

StartupMeme, a technology blog, gave Canvas a thorough review at this link.

Examiner.com’s Internet and Technology Examiner gave it a try and posted his thoughts here.

Tech Ravings, a blog from a pretty talented 15-year old, raved about it here.

It’s good to see we’re hitting all demographics.

You can find out more at our Canvas page or at the Mozilla Add-ons site (where its also gaining a following and good reviews!).

And thanks for helping us spread the word.

Posted in Commentary, News | Tags: brand thunder, Brand Thunder Boom, Branded Browser, Browsers, custom browser, firefox, Mozilla Add-ons | No Comments »

Your Browser, Like No Other – Introducing Canvas by Kevin Dwinnell

Today, Brand Thunder announced Canvas our latest Boom! and a major step forward in Internet Browser visual style flexibility. You can read the press release here, but in a nutshell, you can make any photo, or any image on a web page, your browser theme. This is a totally new experience in the browser space.

Now the browser can be something very personal with the addition of photos of family, friends or pets. Or, you might go for extremely stylish and explore the free textures that are abundant on the web. You might even go for something more lively by adding an animated gif (like the one in this post). It’s all up to you. It’s your Canvas.

While I could drone on for a thousand words or more, it’d be better to install it yourself from our Canvas download page and see what you can do with your pictures.

Don’t miss the Tips & Tricks at the very bottom of the Tutorial (this is the page you land on after installing, or you can access it under the B/T button at the right of the browser). You’ll get a good idea of options you have as well as some fun sites to explore for images to add to Canvas. And, each visual you add is housed under a My-Pix button where you can switch between them any time you like.

One last request. It’s a beta. We’d like your help. As proud as we are of this innovation, there’s plenty of room for improvement. Once you’ve tried it, drop by our page on GetSatisfaction.com and give us your feedback. Community help and support would be greatly appreciated.

We hope you enjoy it.

Posted in Commentary, News | Tags: brand thunder, Brand Thunder Boom, Branded Browser, Browsers, custom browser, firefox, Get Satisfaction, Tips & Tricks, Web browser | 2 Comments »

Lowering Barriers to Entry: 4 Questions to Raise User Adoption by Kevin Dwinnell

Each hurdle you place in front of your consumer has a material impact on your business. Do you know what yours are?

We’ve wrestled with this considerably. Our current business model is based on a browser with 20% market share. Sure, we can exceed that for our partners (request our Case Study here), but that’s still a question mark for some prospects. Here are a series of questions we ask ourselves in an effort to improve the ease with which people get our product.

1. Have you identified any immediate barriers?
For us, our users need to have the Firefox browser. If they don’t have it, we give them a link to get it for free – but there’s a cost to sending that user away before they can get what they want.

2. Do you understand the waterfall of user adoption?
If you’re in the software business, you know it’s not unusual to see a 30% drop off at each step of a software download (yes, that’s a 30% drop each time you present a screen where a user must click “next”). That’s why companies work so hard at keeping the installation process simple and streamlined, and why it’s important to know the number of people who start one step and the number who start the next.

3. Have you identified how to minimize the entire number of steps for a user to get your product?
When we launched our Huffington Post branded browser, we offered both the Firefox customizations as well as a “full build” of the browser plus customizations – removing the obstacle of sending a user to get Firefox first. (The hidden cost here was we couldn’t call the browser Firefox, even though it was the same code base. Officially, it’s the Mozilla browser. So, no free lunch here.)

4. Have you listened to your clients, prospects and end users?
If you’re listening to sales objections, noting casual observations and reading user comments – you’ll get invaluable information. As a result, we’ve included a Lite version of each branded browser shipped, changed our Privacy Policy to more accurately reflect the data captured (we were over reaching with what rights we were reserving, but not using – and turning away users), launched our BOOMS to allow users to move seamlessly between our customizations and we’re continuing with some significant development efforts (more to come on this point).

Now, what are we still missing?

Posted in Commentary | Tags: branded browsers, Browsers, custom browsers, firefox, Huffington Post, Mozilla Firefox, software installation | No Comments »