Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Send even long-gone users a fun, personal year-in-review of their stats
Guest says personal hooks perform much better than product updates; no numbers
Workedretentionnotifications
What they did
End-of-year recap in the style of Spotify Wrapped showing each user's learning stats. Even users who only used the app for a few days months earlier get a delightful, funny recap the moment they reopen. Outreach to long-lapsed users is tied to a moment and personal value rather than 'here's a product update'. Timed so returning users flow into New Year's resolution season.
What happened
Guest says outreach attached to something personal performs much better than generic product updates.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Time Reactivation Campaigns for Maximum Impact — Jackson Shuttleworth, Duolingo“we do a a big year-in-review type, similar to like a Spotify Wrapped, where at the end of the year, we're showing you stats and information about your learning”
“Much better performance, though, when we can actually attach it to something relatively personal.”
Related topics
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More from Duolingo
All 45 Duolingo tactics- Cut the free trial from 14 days to 7More conversions overall and experiment results twice as fast
- Sell a one-time ad-free month at $3, $5 or $10 to test demandUptake far above expectations; led to the subscription
- Tell users on the paywall you'll remind them on day 5 of a 7-day trialWon A/B tests by easing fear of subscription traps
- Change the buy button to say 'Try for $0.00'Beat 'Try for free' on both trial starts and trial-to-paid
- Let trial users pick which day they get the reminder before being chargedTested; added friction but built trust and delayed cancel decisions. No numbers given
- Ask new users in onboarding if they want to learn with or without adsSignificantly higher uptake; one of the biggest wins of the year
More from this episode
- Duolingo: Send one practice reminder for each missed day; stop after day 7Reminder efficacy drops sharply by day 7; users gone past day 3-4 rarely return
- Duolingo: Send tomorrow's reminder 23.5 hours after today's lesson, not at a time users pickBeat every other scheduling strategy tested, including user-chosen times
- Duolingo: Email lapsed users a weekly progress report comparing this week to lastGuest says simple activity stats get most of the value; no numbers
- Duolingo: Let a learning system pick which reminder wording each user getsPractice reminder copy under test for 6 years; no lift numbers shared
- Duolingo: Aim winback messages at back-to-school and New Year's resolution seasonGuest calls these the most important times of year; no numbers
- Duolingo: Ask active users to bring back friends who stopped using the appOne of the best-performing winbacks; beats app-sent messages, even from leaderboard strangers