Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Offer a free trial even though the app is already free
One of the biggest unlocks; guest had expected it to flop
What they did
What happened
In their words
Why Your Free Users Are Your Real Growth Engine – Cem Kansu, Duolingo CPO
Cem KansuThere's a few, and let me try to think, 10 years is a lot of time. There's a few levers that have, looking back, have really either caused tech function increases immediately or over time it really compounded.
Cem KansuSo one of them, I guess now if you work in subscriptions, now this is a no-brainer, but at the time it really wasn't. Having free trials is one. I actually, as a PM, I resisted free trials for a long time. I assumed it would completely flop.
David BarnardProduct was already free.
Cem KansuYes, exactly. It's like, why would people want to try free trials for the exact same product they've used for years? The product is free. If we were a fully premium product, free trial in my head made a lot of sense, but for freemium, like you said, I thought it didn't make sense.
Cem KansuTurns out I was wrong. Free trials are really helpful. For the obvious skeptic user that might not want to pay upfront, but they are interested in trying it out, it just makes it so easy to just jump in and try. It's very intuitive.
Cem KansuNow as a user, I love free trials because I'm like, "Well, I don't want to commit to pay. Let me give it a go."
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More from this episode
- Keep lessons free and sell learners' translations to news sitesSmall revenue; dropped by 2016 (price race and low translation quality)
- Charge $1-3 to fix a broken streakA good share of users paid; showed how much users value their streak
- Show one ad only after a lesson ends, and test it against retentionRetention mostly neutral, at most a slight hit, across ad tests
- Count ad complaints per million users and compare them to other complaintsMissing-course complaints were 3x ad complaints; ads launched
- Block gambling and sketchy ad types, even if it costs revenueAccepted lost ad revenue for better experience; no numbers
- Sell ads directly to brands and have app characters introduce themUsers like the format; slow to sell because it's custom
- Use the end-of-lesson ad slot to advertise your own paid planGuest says house ads beat programmatic ads; no numbers
- Run 3-6 month holdouts for changes whose effects show up lateNew push lifts can turn negative after about 6 weeks
- Sell a one-time ad-free month at $3, $5 or $10 to test demandUptake far above expectations; led to the subscription
- Launch a plan with no ads, offline use, and 'support our mission'About half of early buyers paid to support the app; started a run rate
- 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
- Give subscribers unlimited hearts so mistakes never stop their lessonsBig turning point: raised subscription conversion and retention
- Make paid features free when a test shows they earn littleTook a small revenue hit on purpose to grow free users
- Add new subjects inside the main app instead of launching new appsSeparate apps were 'hard mode'; in-app works better, but many users still don't know
- Offer live human tutors on demand in a higher-priced planFailed: users joined, panicked and left; later replaced by AI video call
Tags: free-trial, freemium