W3i Designs a Windows Installer From a Marketing Viewpoint

ST. CLOUD, MN -- (Marketwire) -- 04/21/09 -- One of the weaknesses of desktop software installers is usability. Installers interrupt what should be a consistent, user-friendly web-site or application design. Software installation can also be a great place to recommend other valued software to users while users are in the download mode generating additional money. Understand the challenges, opportunities, and tools to get the most out of your Windows installer.

Most Windows installers add nothing to the user experience. The boring design doesn't match the website of the provider and has no resemblance to the software that is being installed. When testing, W3i sees double-digit increases in conversions when integrating a design between the landing page and the Windows installer.

For Windows installers, success is measured solely by the technical utility of whether or not the install can complete the software installation process. User abandonment, user satisfaction, and user discovery (if tracked at all) are not a priority. Other than a possible "Read Me" file, users are not offered a way to customize their settings or review recommendations for additional software, both common practices for web applications.

Cumulatively, W3i has installed over 200 million desktop software applications from hundreds of software providers, and understands the challenges, opportunities, and tools available to make Windows installers more productive.

Installer Challenges

Few developers have any experience with Windows desktop installation other than configuring one of the big installation packages making it a very specialized skill.

Developers face a great deal of complexity with installers in areas such as packaging, deployment, testing, and management. These are very important aspects of the installer and have become the dominant focus of available software tools. This, however, ignores the very important user experience.

Increasingly, desktop software distribution is moving from CD to the Internet. Most software tools are retrofitting their solutions instead of building web-based capabilities for optimizing installer design and interacting with the user. Installers built with the standard tools have the same stale look and feel as software installed on your first Windows 95 computer from CD.

Installer Opportunities

A big shift from CD to Web-based installation is where the user abandons the process. With a CD, once the user makes the purchase and opens the package, the installation process will not deter her. In contrast, if the Web installation looks confusing, daunting, guilty of delivering malware, or even not that cool, a user simply clicks out.

Designers frequently help design the website and software interface, but the installation is usually off limits, making this non-integration feel even more pronounced. Building an installer that mimics the look and feel of your website can provide a significant boost in completed installations. See the article W3i posted called, "Creating Consistency to Increase Conversions" (http://blog.w3i.com/index.php/2009/03/06/creating-consistency-to-increase-conversions/).

Utilizing the installation to recommend other software has also become big business. Apple, Sun, Adobe, McAfee, Symantec, Google, Yahoo, W3i, and many others are all participating. The simplest example is recommending a toolbar that matches the users' interests. The key is making the toolbar relevant to the user. It is estimated that toolbars generate more than $1 billion of annual revenue, a nice piece of additional business.

Questions To Ask About Recommending Software Within Your Installer

1. What if the user already has the software you are recommending?

2. What if you have a variety of software which you'd like to
   recommend? How do you pick the right software?

3. How will adding additional software recommendations in the
   installer impact the funnel?

4. How can you track the activity that occurs during or after
   installation to understand the results of these recommendations?

5. How can you ensure your software is following industry best
   practices?

6. How can multiple software applications be downloaded and installed
   with a consistent, understandable, process flow for the user?

Installer Tools

There are numerous open source and commercial tools for creating Windows installers (MSI packages) including: InstallShield (http://www.acresso.com), NSIS (http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page), and Wise (http://www.symantec.com/business/package-studio). Tools range in cost from nothing to thousands of dollars. The commercial solutions are typically sold on a paid-license model.

Hours can be spent researching software tools available for creating the installer, but it only takes a quick visit to the appropriate websites to know how big a business installation has become and how complicated it is to license the software tools just for installing -- not improving the user experience.

Most of the simpler tools provide almost no configuration of the navigation, look and feel, or the ability to capture response input from the installation experience; and simply focus on solving the technical task of creating an MSI package with appropriate system integration.

The more sophisticated tools typically provide access to an editor allowing some control over the background image, navigation, and inputs; but not at the level required to reach the optimal level of performance.

In the past, W3i used Wise extensively and is familiar with its limitations. The quest for an installer that could enhance design and advertising led to more questions than answers. Current installers provide for the technical aspects of installation, but fall short on providing for those interested in design or advertising.

W3i built a proprietary Windows installer, InstallIQ, after being frustrated with Wise, to implement improvement in design and advertising in the installer. Wise is somewhat characteristic of all the software tools currently available. Windows installers do not cater to marketers with a significant appetite for design and advertising. Only through extensive investment in tweaking the code can you develop something that is functional.

With InstallIQ, installation is as sophisticated as many websites. InstallIQ offers total creative control and also a rich set of decision-making data that you would expect from a website. The software tools typically can be made silent, which essentially means disabling any dialogues/messages to the end user and relying instead on something else to manage the messaging. It is very effective for the system to manage the user experience, including advertising through software recommendations, and continue to leverage the best available software tools to manage the other aspects of the software installation. All this occurs within InstallIQ.

InstallIQ is available to software publishers. Because of the ad-supported focus, W3i's clients are paid based on the performance of the software recommendations made through their distribution. This focus on performance is what aligns W3i's interest with its clients. For more information, contact W3i.

About the Author:

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC

Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

About W3i:

W3i delivers proven, integrated desktop and browser marketing solutions. With solutions tested and optimized on over 200 million installs -- currently 4.2 million installs monthly, W3i can increase revenue and traffic for downloadable software, applications and digital content or provide a receptive consumer base for customized, targeted distribution programs while the user is in the download mode. W3i's solutions utilize Install IQ, a proprietary Windows installation system and download manager developed by W3i. Install IQ is the first installation system to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program. To learn more about W3i, visit www.w3i.com.

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