"not a single person has ever contacted us requesting support for Internet Explorer."
While that may be considered evidence of potential customers switching browsers just to use 4ormat.com, it may also be considered evidence that potential customers using IE are very much put off by being told to use another browser.
Just running the numbers on a back of envelop:
The company was founded in 2008.
Not supporting IE has saved $25,000 per year.
12 months x $7 per month = $84 per user.
330 lost users = $25,000 +/- per year
10,000 responses to the call for action * 4% using I.E. = 400 visitors who are much more unlikely to use 4ormat.com because the call to action doesn't work. Their negative experience is much more likely to lead to negative network effects than positive ones.
Even worse the lost revenue scales as the customer base grows, but the work to support IE is roughly fixed and is relatively modest.
$25,000 is 4% of $625,000 a year. Above that, the company is losing money (on the back of an envelop). With four founders, one would expect that 4ormat.com's revenue is projected to exceed that or has already.
Supporting IE means taking on board a technical debt that will follow you for the life of the project. There are lots of things that can be accomplished in ie6 but then you need to consider performance. If you're building an app that means a lot of JS and possibly DOM manipulation... which is dog slow in ie.6,7,8
Now factor in support costs. I can picture it now:
Customer: Uhhh your app sucks it's so slow.
Support: Hmm looks like you're using IE6. We've worked really hard to make our app function in every browser, however if you'd like the best possible experience then please upgrade.
Customer: What's a browser?
The best solution is to use chrome frame. The installation can be made seamless and if your app is worth using then your customers wont mind the extra 60s it takes to install.
Leaving aside the appropriateness of lumping IE6 with IE8 and 9, the support costs are already in the $100,000 number.
Slow speed of execution in IE might well be considered a vast improvement compared to the current state of affairs in regard to the potential customer's standpoint - i.e. IE not working at all.
Again, "change your browser" is a poor way to convince the customer that 4ormat.com is worth using given that the customer has already responded to the call to action.
Indeed, one might argue that there's no excuse for failing to inform the potential customer that IE is not supported before the call to action is clicked - obviously 4ormat.com is capable of testing for browser versions.
Seems win-win to simply use chromeframe. Given this is a web app which presumably customers are already invested in using (since they're paying for it), requiring a 60s one-time install seems like the best course of action for everyone involved.
Slow speed of execution in IE might well be considered a vast improvement compared to the current state of affairs
Unfortunately the general public doesn't think like that. To the average Joe your site is slow therefore it sucks.
While that may be considered evidence of potential customers switching browsers just to use 4ormat.com, it may also be considered evidence that potential customers using IE are very much put off by being told to use another browser.
Just running the numbers on a back of envelop:
The company was founded in 2008.
Not supporting IE has saved $25,000 per year.
12 months x $7 per month = $84 per user.
330 lost users = $25,000 +/- per year
10,000 responses to the call for action * 4% using I.E. = 400 visitors who are much more unlikely to use 4ormat.com because the call to action doesn't work. Their negative experience is much more likely to lead to negative network effects than positive ones.
Even worse the lost revenue scales as the customer base grows, but the work to support IE is roughly fixed and is relatively modest.
$25,000 is 4% of $625,000 a year. Above that, the company is losing money (on the back of an envelop). With four founders, one would expect that 4ormat.com's revenue is projected to exceed that or has already.