Kitely welcome area: What information? How to provide it?

[Dot Matrix]

Thanks for these, Allen. I've reordered your suggestions below to make it easier for me to reply.

FREE WORLD:
Everyone who joins Kitely gets a free world.
You can do anything you want with it. To
claim your new home, just click the globe
behind you.
(Click sends whisper 'Click the globe behind you.')

Good, simple message. Given the target audience for this stage of the welcome center what about changing the first line to:
Everyone who joins Kitely gets a free, full sim.
(Would that be technically accurate? Each Kitely world runs in its own instance, yes?)

That would spoil the visual link with the clicking the globe though.

COMMUNITY:
Click to Join the First Flight Group. It's a cool way to
introduce yourself and meet others. You can
group chat your questions and enjoy great
welcome gifts.
(click sends group invitation)

What a good name for a "New to Kitely" group! Perhaps "You can ask your questions via group chat" to avoid verbing "group chat".

MARKET:
You can buy and sell virtual goods to most grids
from the Kitely Market. Click here to get started.
(links to Market)

A simple, clear message.

MINUTES:
Kitely is FREE for 2 hours each month.
If you want more than two hours, it costs
about 17¢ an hour while you are in world.

You can choose to play for free, or buy
additional minutes, like you would
for a cell phone. You also get additional
regions (sims) when you chose a paid plan.

Code: Select all

Price    Time			Regions
Free     2 hours		   1
$5		 30 hours		  2
$20		120 hours		10
$35		Unlimited		20

(Click opens http://www.kitely.com/settings) - could i add anything to open the change plan js window?

This message will need quite a bit more unpicking. The flexibility Kitely pricing provides makes it complex to communicate and even to understand.

Where does the 17 cents come from? I've always used 20 cents as the equivalent cost of an hour inworld. (300 KC buys 300 minutes, or 5 hours; 300 KC costs 1 dollar at the maximum discount rate, so 1 hour costs $1/5 = 20 cents.)

Rather than using the "free" hours inworld as a hook, which requires a great deal of complicated explanation and clarification, why not focus directly on the different plans, which are easier to explain and understand.

A positive way of doing this might be via user comments on how they actually use Kitely -- see How precious are your Kitely minutes? for example.

There was mention of embedding a decision flow chart into a learning trail, where at each juncture you would choose between two options for how you use virtual worlds, and which would help lead you to the appropriate plan for what you want to do. Could we perhaps try to create such a flow chart? It might be useful more generally, too.

[Allen Partridge]

Thanks for the feedback Dot. I've further culled the messaging and have a few more thoughts about what I think we should do.

It looks like the most contentious of the areas will likely be pricing, so let me start there. I've mocked up the following option as a favorite, but suspect that there should be at least 2 (perhaps more) experimental variations. It seems the perfect case for A/B testing. My initial thought is that i'll rig a sign to swap the image on no sensor state entry - keeping track of each alternative image. Then we can moniter the clicks to see if there is any significant difference in click through for various options.

I feel pretty strongly that the principle message should be 'Kitely is Free' - this parallels the message that we discussed with the wc builders yesterday and it is a sentiment as well as a fact. As long as we qualify it as in the image below ... (for your first 2 hours each month) it's certainly well within common practice to make the statement.

I don't think we should clutter the first timer's mind with all of the custom options. My thinking is that the call to action from this sign would be to choose a plan - and those plans are explained thoroughly for users several times on the website and via links during the choose a plan process. So my thinking is - just focus on the idea that you can get more worlds or more minutes if you want them - and make the link / call to action for this sign a direct link to upgrade your plan. At the same time I don't want to scare away newcomers not ready to choose a plan - thus the primacy of the message 'Kitely is Free' - i think this is captured in the image below. (I expect that each of these would have a button (graphic) to tease the idea that users can 'Pick a Plan'. or whatever action is relevant to the given message.

I still like the idea of a plan finder kind of object. I was thinking perhaps some object - kiosk sort of thing could sit next to the sign for people to click through and answer questions to find their best plan. (A decision engine with questions to help identify the best plan given the individual's requirements)

Re 17 cents. 17 cents is the price if you purchase the bronze or silver plans. It's actually 16.something cents. Cost for bronze and silver are essentially the same, and of course unlimited cost would be virtually impossible to calculate. Since this sign is linked to the action of buying the plan - i think using the plan based cost is appropriate.



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I've also roughed up some images for group join



and

Free Sim/World



Thanks for the feedback, Dot. I'll take a look at messaging again - see if there might be other ways to express things. I know that we definitely don't want to overcomplicate the issue - but we also should probably consider multiple approaches - and probably even do some of that in world a/b testing to see what works, and we could even try to post mortem some new users (perhaps friends who pop over to check things out for the first time?) and see if the message a. motivates action and b. is clear enough to resolve immediate concerns. (things like - am i being charged right now? Can i afford this? Is this cheaper than everything else?)

I also agree that user testimonials can go a long way to answering concerns like those above, and I suspect that we'll likely include some of those user testimonials as messaging in the kwc as well - so there's some room to use those options as well.

(Still working on the market image.)

--Allen

[Dot Matrix]

Thanks, Allen -- there's a great deal of thought, work and planning gone into that.

Being able to actually test the success of each message is something I would never have dreamed of. I'm learning a lot here!

How do you see these signs used inworld? Would it help to have a structure similar to the circular or rectangular pillared buildings? Or would they fit simply on the low wall in the NE pod?

It might be that we need to rethink the order of which function goes where, but that is fine at this stage. (Just don't move the buildings around!)

I can imagine placing these sorts of signs in the NW pod, for example, which is currently pencilled in for sprucing up avatars but the larger rectangular building may be better for that.

[Allen Partridge]

Just had a very helpful conversation with Rosa re pricing messaging. She's always been very frugal about such things so it really helps to see from her perspective. For her the 17 cents / hour is an immediate intimidator. I need to do some research but i suspect that this is why phone companies sell minutes without listing the price per minute.

The message that resonated for her was 'plans start as low as 5$ / month'

I'd suggest we get a poll going of forum users - see if folks agree re which message is least intimidating. (I actually think any way you slice it the pricing is incredibly affordable, but we have to keep in mind the perspective of those who've not yet tried it.)

I'll play with some image variations to show the different approaches as graphics. WRT in world - i was imagining them in the small pod we looked at - NE. I can create little sign holders to ease them into the aesthetic. (I wouldn't recommend putting them on the low wall - because it would send a 'passive' subtext - you don't usually click walls)

--Allen

[Constance Peregrine]

would any of you mind posting a photo of this pod region u keep referring to, here? pls

[Dot Matrix]

Allen, I too was wondering whether the $5 a month plan would be easier to communicate as a message -- it's a great price for just dipping your toes into the Kitely universe, and given you get two regions with it thrown in (no poky little houses here! number of prims some three orders of magnitude higher)... well, wow!

Minethere, funny you should say that about a photo. I've just taken one and added it to the world page. I'll post a bigger version on the Update thread. You know you can actually go and visit the world itself?

[Constance Peregrine]

yes, i do know...lol

[Allen Partridge]

Fun idea for a future 'ad' approach... How big is your house? 100 prims? Mine is 100 thousand prims.

--Allen

[Sarge Misfit]

Is First Flight officially sponsored and supported by Kitely?

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Sarge,

The group that will be promoted in the Kitely Welcome Center will be an official Kitely group. The name hasn't been finalized yet. It should probably have a "Kitely" in its name so people will know it's official.