2018 Tor Browser donation banner

For Year End 2018 we want a fundraising banner in Tor Browser with a donation button. Let's make the activation time the same for all time zones, so we have a simultaneous launch. Or better yet, we can just launch it immediately on update. The banner design is in progress.

added TorBrowserTeam201810R component::applications/tor browser owner::tbb-team priority::medium resolution::fixed severity::normal status::closed tbb-fundraising type::task ux-team labels

Trac:
Type: defect to task

Trac:
Description: At end of 2018 we will likely want to make another fundraising banner in Tor Browser with a donation button. Let's make the activation time the same for all time zones, so we have a simultaneous launch.

to

For Year End 2018 we want a fundraising banner in Tor Browser with a donation button. Let's make the activation time the same for all time zones, so we have a simultaneous launch. Or better yet, we can just launch it immediately on update. The banner design is in progress.
Cc: N/A to sstevenson@torproject.org
Keywords: N/A deleted, tbb-fundraising, ux-team added
Summary: 2018 Tor Browser banner to 2018 Tor Browser donation banner

Here is my patch for review:

https://github.com/arthuredelstein/torbutton/commit/23925

Screenshots are at https://arthuredelstein.net/banners

Trac:
Status: new to needs_review
Keywords: N/A deleted, TorBrowserTeam201810R added

So, we are trying to get information about user behavior with respect to our banner by sending them to a different URL depending on text and button text (the latter only for en locales) shown. This happens without the user even being aware of that given that the button does not indicate where they are going to nor the URL bar where the finally land after redirects. I think I have some concerns here:

1. What happens with the data we collect that way? And who has access to it?
2. I think whatever the answer to 1) is we should be transparent about it and inform the user somewhere.
3. I think the user should at least be able to be aware about what is happening before they click on the button that leads them to the donation page. Maybe showing the URL they are about to go to would be a good step in that direction.

Trac:
Status: needs_review to needs_information

The URLs are following the model used in last year's YE campaign to see which banners generated the most traffic to the donate page.

1. Metrics has access to the data and will report the number of times each URL was accessed.

I don't know how to answer the other questions, but do whatever works best.

Replying to sstevenson:

The URLs are following the model used in last year's YE campaign to see which banners generated the most traffic to the donate page.

I don't think that's the case for the browser part. We had

https://www.torproject.org/donate/donate-pdr-tbb + short locale for the 2017 button link https://www.torproject.org/donate/donate-tbb + short locale for the 2016 button link and https://www.torproject.org/donate/donate-tbb for the 2015 button link.

1. Metrics has access to the data and will report the number of times each URL was accessed.

Okay, sounds good.

So, to get an understanding what the design was supposed to be: the idea is to understand a) which text gives us the most money and b) whether the two button texts for en builds have an influence on how much money we get?

Or was the idea to get different information and the patch does not match the spec? :)

Right, last year just tracked the locale. The idea is to get a sense if some text generates more clicks than others. We can't tie that to income because we won't know if the person completed a donation and the amount. The text we landed on for this round of banners isn't too distinct so won't give us that much information. However, for the next update, we'd ideally like to try some different types of messages and see how they appeal to the audience.

Replying to gk:

3. I think the user should at least be able to be aware about what is happening before they click on the button that leads them to the donation page. Maybe showing the URL they are about to go to would be a good step in that direction.

We did so at least last year and I think we should show the URL, which a user is about to go to, again if they are hovering over the button.

Trac:
Keywords: TorBrowserTeam201810R deleted, TorBrowserTeam201810 added
Status: needs_information to needs_revision

Replying to gk:

Replying to gk:

3. I think the user should at least be able to be aware about what is happening before they click on the button that leads them to the donation page. Maybe showing the URL they are about to go to would be a good step in that direction.

We did so at least last year and I think we should show the URL, which a user is about to go to, again if they are hovering over the button.

Good idea and thanks for the review. I should note that I am not including the locale in the URL in this banner, because it occurred to me that we are in general promising users not to reveal their locale if they choose to spoof navigator.language. However, the donate page will still show the right locale if the user is not spoofing. So the only thing our URL is revealing is which text the user clicked on, which I think doesn't reveal much about individual users.

Here's my revised patch:

https://github.com/arthuredelstein/torbutton/commit/23925+1

This version shows the URL in the status bar when the user hovers over the button (because the button is now an <a> element). In this revision I have also added cyan highlighting over part of Line 2 as designed by Antonela in https://marvelapp.com/a131e34/screen/48876402.

Here are a couple of example screenshots:

• https://arthuredelstein.net/banner_v3_libertad.png
• https://arthuredelstein.net/banner_v3_farsi.png

Trac:
Status: needs_revision to needs_review

Trac:
Keywords: TorBrowserTeam201810 deleted, TorBrowserTeam201810R added

Thanks, looks good. And +1 to the locale not included in the URL. Commit 4c9e8dc0f8a0d45f6955801a24a1d45a98cccdf0 on master and commit 7fcfd07a4a031e86cb2c9000993319c62ae9c0e2 on maint-2.0 have the fix.

Trac:
Resolution: N/A to fixed
Status: needs_review to closed

Trac:
Resolution: fixed to N/A
Cc: sstevenson@torproject.org to sstevenson@torproject.org, sstevenson
Status: closed to reopened

We are good here (again) with #28540 (moved) merged.

Trac:
Status: reopened to closed
Resolution: N/A to fixed

closed

mentioned in issue #23995 (moved)

mentioned in issue #24172 (moved)

mentioned in issue #28093 (moved)

moved to tpo/applications/tor-browser#23925 (closed)