Toolbars vs. Web sites

People often look at companies that create browser  toolbars (such as Others Online), scratch their head, and say "jeez, getting someone to download a toolbar is kinda hard, isn't it?".  Yes, in fact it is, but so is getting people to come to your Web site repeatedly. There are two very important things to remember about toolbars.

First, toolbars that provide value ACROSS a user's browsing experience are much more likely to be downloaded than toolbars that simply emulate a Web site experience. Take search bars -- I search the Web all the time and I don't have a Google, Yahoo or MSN toolbar. Why should I? If I don't have Google open in a browser window already, then it's never more than 1 click away. In contrast, tools for journalists and researchers (who bookmark, annotate, etc. as they comb the Web) are much more appropriately implemented as toolbars because they add value while users browse the Web, on any/every page. If you have a truly unique user experience with value provided across a user's browsing experience, then people WILL download a toolbar.

Second, you need fewer toolbar users to "make" the business than you need Web site visitors. Consider the use patterns of a Web site versus a toolbar, and think in terms of pageviews. If you have a Web site, then you know it's extremely difficult to get users to the site, and then come back again. Even a very popular site like Zillow might only average 2-3 visits per month from each unique visitor.

Let's say you had 1M unique users visit your Web site in a month, with each user visiting 3x in that month, and generating 5 pageviews. That's 15M pageviews.  Now let's say you had 100K toolbar users, with 75% of them online each day. Online users generally average about 120 pageviews per day (across all sites) so that would be 27M pageviews. So roughly speaking, with 1/10th the number of toolbar users you generate almost 2x the number of pageviews.

Of course, toolbars couldn't possibly get away with showing an ad on every one of those pageviews, but as long as the product utility justifies it, the toolbar CAN utilize that pageview to generate accretive user value.  (Profiling, for instance, in which you can make your ad 10x more relevant to the user and also 10x more profitable.)

Comments

[Alex]

Good point distinguishing the difference between toolbars that add value vs emulate. I never realized why my Google toolbar drives me nuts until you said that: It's because I'm always flicking it on just to use the spell checker, and then flicking it back off to get it out of the way. The spell checker and RSS subscribe buttons are the only two functions on there that don't emulate a web page.

In regards to toolbar vs website, how do you think the stats would compare if the website has fostered a community around it? With Others Online being a community within a toolbar, what does that do for user value, recurring traffic, etc., as compared to a standard toolbar?

[Jordan Mitchell]

I've seen data that shows within any community (offline or online), 1% or less of the users drive most of the interaction. So yes, a Web site community will have some power users who spend seemingly all their time there.

As for your 2nd question, I don't know that I have a good answer for you Alex, or maybe I don't understand the question. But I know that more and more Web users are socially active online, and I'm betting that they would like to connect ACROSS the hundreds of Web sites they visit instead of only on the few Web sites they bother to register for, set up a profile, etc. The concept of onlin community today exists only within the bounds of a given Web site destination, but people like to browse ...

[Suleman Ali]

Where did you get the statistic that people average 120 page views per day?

[Jordan Mitchell]

I talked to an engineer at a spyware company that told me -- I actually saw the data. And I've seen it elsewhere on the Web too, but was just too lazy to dredge it up! Sorry about that ...

[Mark Cramer]

Jordan - Insightful observations! Great post. When you have a moment, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak with you about your experiences. Please contact me. Thank you!