Firefox Accounts Referrals¶

Marketing pages often promote the creation of a Firefox Account (FxA) as a common call to action (CTA). This is typically accomplished using either a signup form, or a prominent link/button. Other products such as Mozilla VPN use similar Firefox Account auth flows to manage subscriptions. To accomplish these tasks, bedrock templates can take advantage of a series of Python helpers which can be used to standardize product referrals, and make supporting these auth flows easier.

Note

The helpers below can typically be shown to all browsers, but some also feature logic specific to desktop Firefox, such as signing users into Sync.

Firefox Account Signup Form¶

Use the fxa_email_form macro to display a Firefox Account signup form on a page.

Usage¶

To use the form in a Jinja template, first import the fxa_email_form macro:

{% from "macros.html" import fxa_email_form with context %}

The form can then be invoked using:

{{ fxa_email_form(entrypoint='mozilla.org-firefox-accounts') }}

The template’s respective JavaScript and CSS bundles should also include the following dependencies:

Javascript:

js/base/mozilla-fxa-form.js
js/base/mozilla-fxa-form-init.js

CSS:

@import '../path/to/fxa-form';

The JavaScript files will automatically handle things adding metrics parameters, as well as configuring Sync and distribution ID (e.g. the China re-pack) for Firefox desktop browsers (more info on these further down the page). The CSS file contains some default styling for the signup form.

Configuration¶

The signup form macro accepts the following parameters (* indicates a required parameter)

Parameter name	Definition	Format	Example
entrypoint*	Unambiguous identifier for which page of the site is the referrer.	mozilla.org-directory-page	‘mozilla.org-firefox-accounts’
entrypoint_experiment	Used to identify experiments.	Experiment ID	‘whatsnew-headlines’
entrypoint_variation	Used to track page variations in multivariate tests. Usually just a number or letter but could be a short keyword.	Variant identifier	‘b’
style	An optional parameter used to invoke an alternatively styled page at accounts.firefox.com.	String	‘trailhead’
class_name	Applies a CSS class name to the form. Defaults to: ‘fxa-email-form’	String	‘fxa-email-form’
form_title	The main heading to be used in the form (optional with no default).	Localizable string	_(‘Join Firefox’)
intro_text	Introductory copy to be used in the form. Defaults to a well localized string.	Localizable string	_(‘Enter your email address to get started.’)
button_text	Button copy to be used in the form. Defaults to a well localized string.	Localizable string	_(‘Sign Up’)
button_class	CSS class names to be applied to the submit button.	String of one or more CSS class names	‘mzp-c-button mzp-t-primary mzp-t-product’
utm_campaign	Used to identify specific marketing campaigns. Defaults to `fxa-embedded-form`	Campaign name prepended to default value	‘trailhead-fxa-embedded-form’
utm_term	Used for paid search keywords.	Brief keyword	‘existing-users’
utm_content	Declared when more than one piece of content (on a page or at a URL) links to the same place, to distinguish between them.	Description of content, or name of experiment treatment	‘get-the-rest-of-firefox’

Invoking the macro will automatically include a set of default UTM parameters as hidden form input fields:

utm_source is automatically assigned the value of the entrypoint parameter.
utm_campaign is automatically set as the value of fxa-embedded-form. This can be prefixed with a custom value by passing a utm_campaign value to the macro. For example, utm_campaign='trailhead' would result in a value of trailhead-fxa-embedded-form.
utm_medium is automatically set as the value of referral.

Firefox Account Links¶

Use the fxa_button helper to create a CTA button or link to https://accounts.firefox.com/.

Usage¶

{{ fxa_button(entrypoint='mozilla.org-firefox-accounts', button_text='Sign In') }}

Note

There is also a fxa_link_fragment helper which will construct only valid href and data-mozillaonline-link properties. This is useful when constructing an inline link inside a paragraph, for example.

For more information on the available parameters, read the “Common FxA Parameters” section further below.

Firefox Monitor Links¶

Use the monitor_fxa_button helper to link to https://monitor.firefox.com/ via a Firefox Accounts auth flow.

Usage¶

{{ monitor_fxa_button(entrypoint=_entrypoint, button_text='Sign Up for Monitor') }}

For more information on the available parameters, read the “Common FxA Parameters” section further below.

Pocket Links¶

Use the pocket_fxa_button helper to link to https://getpocket.com/ via a Firefox Accounts auth flow.

Usage¶

{{ pocket_fxa_button(entrypoint='mozilla.org-firefox-pocket', button_text='Try Pocket Now', optional_parameters={'s': 'ffpocket'}) }}

For more information on the available parameters, read the “Common FxA Parameters” section below.

Common FxA Parameters¶

The fxa_button, pocket_fxa_button, and monitor_fxa_button helpers all support the same standard parameters:

Parameter name	Definition	Format	Example
entrypoint*	Unambiguous identifier for which page of the site is the referrer. This also serves as a value for ‘utm_source’.	‘mozilla.org-firefox-pocket’	‘mozilla.org-firefox-pocket’
button_text*	The button copy to be used in the call to action.	Localizable string	‘Try Pocket Now’
class_name	A class name to be applied to the link (typically for styling with CSS).	String of one or more class names	‘pocket-main-cta-button’
is_button_class	A boolean value that dictates if the CTA should be styled as a button or a link. Defaults to ‘True’.	Boolean	True or False
include_metrics	A boolean value that dictates if metrics parameters should be added to the button href. Defaults to ‘True’.	Boolean	True or False
optional_parameters	An dictionary of key value pairs containing additional parameters to append the the href.	Dictionary	{‘s’: ‘ffpocket’}
optiona_attributes	An dictionary of key value pairs containing additional data attributes to include in the button.	Dictionary	{‘data-cta-text’: ‘Try Pocket Now’, ‘data-cta-type’: ‘activate pocket’,’data-cta-position’: ‘primary’}

Note

The fxa_button helper also supports an additional action parameter, which accepts the values signup, signin, and email for configuring the type of authentication flow.

Mozilla VPN Links¶

Use the vpn_download_link helper to create a link to https://vpn.mozilla.org/vpn/download/ with FxA metrics params attached.

Usage¶

{{ vpn_download_link(entrypoint='www.mozilla.org-vpn-product-page', link_text='Already a subscriber?') }}

Use the vpn_subscribe_link helpers to create a VPN subscription link via a Firefox Accounts auth flow.

Usage¶

{{ vpn_subscribe_link(entrypoint='www.mozilla.org-vpn-product-page', link_text='Get Mozilla VPN') }}

Common VPN Parameters¶

Both helpers for Mozilla VPN support the same parameters (* indicates a required parameter)

Parameter name	Definition	Format	Example
entrypoint*	Unambiguous identifier for which page of the site is the referrer. This also serves as a value for ‘utm_source’.	‘www.mozilla.org-page-name’	‘www.mozilla.org-vpn-product-page’
link_text*	The link copy to be used in the call to action.	Localizable string	‘Get Mozilla VPN’
class_name	A class name to be applied to the link (typically for styling with CSS).	String of one or more class names	‘vpn-button’
lang	Page locale code. Used to query the right subscription plan ID in conjunction to country code.	Locale string	‘de’
country_code	Country code provided by the CDN. Used to determine the appropriate subscription plan ID.	Two digit, uppercase country code	‘DE’
optional_parameters	An dictionary of key value pairs containing additional parameters to append the the href.	Dictionary	{‘utm_campaign’: ‘vpn-product-page’}
optiona_attributes	An dictionary of key value pairs containing additional data attributes to include in the button.	Dictionary	{‘data-cta-text’: ‘VPN Sign In’, ‘data-cta-type’: ‘fxa-vpn’, ‘data-cta-position’: ‘navigation’}

The vpn_subscribe_link helper has an additional plan parameter to support linking to different subscription plans.

Parameter name	Definition	Format	Example
plan	Subscription plan ID. Defaults to 12-month plan.	‘12-month’	‘12-month’, ‘6-month’, or ‘monthly’

Tracking Same-Site Links for Mozilla VPN¶

Often we promote Mozilla VPN on different pages via the use of same-site referral links to the product landing page. For example, we display a “Get Mozilla VPN” button in the main navigation that links to the /products/vpn/ landing page.

In scenarios such as this we want to understand how many people click the link in the navigation and go on to signup / subscribe to VPN. To achieve this, we have some additional logic in fxa-utm-referral.js that will check for a specific cookie that gets set when someone clicks a specific referral link.

To create a Mozilla VPN referral link, you can use the vpn_product_referral_link helper:

{{ vpn_product_referral_link(
    referral_id='navigation',
    link_text='Get Mozilla VPN',
    class_name='mzp-t-secondary mzp-t-md',
    page_anchor='#pricing',
    optional_attributes= {
        'data-cta-text' : 'Get Mozilla VPN',
        'data-cta-type' : 'button',
        'data-cta-position' : 'navigation',
    }
) }}

The helper supports the following parameters:

Parameter name	Definition	Format	Example
referral_id*	The ID for the referring page / component. This serves as a value for ‘utm_campaign’.	String	‘navigation’
link_text*	The link copy to be used in the call to action.	Localizable string	‘Get Mozilla VPN’
class_name	A class name to be applied to the link (typically for styling with CSS).	String of one or more class names	‘mzp-t-secondary mzp-t-md’
page_anchor	An optional page anchor for the link destination.	String	‘#pricing’
optiona_attributes	An dictionary of key value pairs containing additional data attributes to include in the button.	Dictionary	{‘data-cta-text’: ‘Get Mozilla VPN’, ‘data-cta-type’: ‘button’, ‘data-cta-position’: ‘navigation’}

When someone clicks the link a cookie gets set with a 1 hour expiry. The fxa-utm-referral.js script will then check for the existence of this cookie on page load and update the product landing page subscription links with utm parameters that attribute where the click came from.

For example, a referral cookie with the ID navigation would result in the following utm parameters being set:

utm_source=www.mozilla.org.

utm_campaign=navigation.

utm_medium=referral.

Note

The above attribution will only be applied if there are not already utm parameters on the product landing page URL. We will also respect privacy and only set the cookie if DNT is disabled.

Link Metrics¶

When using any of the FxA or VPN helpers that link directly to FxA, a templates’s respective JavaScript bundle should also include the following dependencies:

js/base/mozilla-fxa-product-button.js
js/base/mozilla-fxa-product-button-init.js

This script automatically adds metrics parameters to the button href:

deviceId
flowId
flowBeginTime

These are values are fetched from an API endpoint, and are instered back into the destination link along with the other standard referral parameters.

Important

Requests to metrics API endpoints should only be made when an associated CTA is visibly displayed on a page. For example, if a page contains both a Firefox Accounts signup form and a Firefox Monitor button, but only one CTA is displayed at any one time, then only the metrics request associated with that CTA should occur. For links generated using the fxa_link_fragment helper, you will also need to manually add a CSS class of js-fxa-product-button to trigger the script.

Tracking External Referrers¶

If the URL of a bedrock page contains existing UTM parameters on page load, bedrock will attempt to automatically use those values to replace the inline UTM parameters in Firefox Account and Mozilla VPN links. This is handled using a client side script in the site common bundle which can be found in /media/js/base/fxa-utm-referral.js.

The behavior is as follows:

UTM paramters will only be replaced if the page URL contains both a valid utm_source and utm_campaign parameter. All other UTM parameters are considered optional, but will still be passed as long as the required parameters exist.
If the above criteria is satisfied, then UTM parameters on FxA links will be replaced in their entirety with the UTM parameters from the page URL. This is to avoid mixing referral data from different campaigns.

Important

Links generated by the FxA button helpers will automatically be covered by this script. For links generated using the fxa_link_fragment helper, you will need to manually add a CSS class of js-fxa-cta-link to trigger the behavior.

URL Parameter Conventions¶

When choosing URL parameter values, the following conventions help to support uniformity in code and predictability in retroactive analysis.

Use lower case characters in parameter values.
Separate words in parameter values with hyphens.
Follow parameter naming patterns established in previous iterations of a page.

Firefox Sync and UITour¶

Since Firefox 80 the FxA link and email form macros use UITour to show the Firefox Accounts page and log the browser into Sync or an Account. For non-Firefox browsers or if UITour is not available, the flow uses normal links that allow users to log into FxA as a website only without connecting the Firefox Desktop client. This UITour flow allows the Firefox browser to determine the correct FxA server and authentication flow. This transition was introduced to later migrate Firefox Desktop to an OAuth based client authentication flow.

The script that handles this logic is /media/js/base/mozilla-fxa-link.js, and will automatically apply to any link with a js-fxa-cta-link class name. The current code automatically detects if you are in the supported browser for this flow and updates links to drive them through the UITour API. The UITour showFirefoxAccounts action supports flow id parameters, UTM parameters and the email data field.

We hope to remove the legacy non-UITour login logic after 1 or 2 ESRs.

Handling Distribution (aka China Repack)¶

The China repack of Firefox points to https://accounts.firefox.com.cn/ by default for FxA accounts signups. To compensate for this on https://www.mozilla.org (so we don’t send those visitors to the wrong place), we rely on UITour to check the distribution ID of the browser. If the distribution ID is mozillaonline (i.e. China repack), then we replace our accounts endpoints with the alternate domain specified in the data-mozillaonline-link attribute. The logic to handle this is self contained in the associated helper scripts and handled automatically.

Note

This logic does not apply to Mozilla VPN, since the product is not available in China.

Testing Signup Flows¶

Testing the Firefox Account signup flows on a non-production environment requires some additional configuration.

Configuring bedrock:

Set the following in your local .env file:

FXA_ENDPOINT=https://accounts.stage.mozaws.net/

For Mozilla VPN links you can also set:

VPN_ENDPOINT=https://stage-vpn.guardian.nonprod.cloudops.mozgcp.net/
VPN_SUBSCRIPTION_URL=https://accounts.stage.mozaws.net/

Note

The above values for staging are already set by default when Dev=True, which will also apply to demo servers. You may only need to configure your .env file if you wish to change a setting to something else.

Google Analytics Guidelines¶

For GTM datalayer attribute values in FxA links, please use the analytics documentation.