Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Add new subjects inside the main app instead of launching new apps
Separate apps were 'hard mode'; in-app works better, but many users still don't know
What they did
What happened
In their words
Why Your Free Users Are Your Real Growth Engine – Cem Kansu, Duolingo CPO
Cem Kansu"It is less relevant exactly what that topic is that might change over time, as long as I'm improving myself in something." That led us towards, "Well, let's make it easy for these folks to do that." So that was one.
Cem KansuThe other one is just the business realities of growing a separate app is extremely expensive. While we were like, "Why are we playing hard mode when we can play easy mode? Because in the same app, you have a user base, it's way easier to get a user that is in the main-app to try something new than get them to download an entirely new app."
David BarnardIt's so crazy to hear that from you. I mean, of all the companies with tens of millions of users and beloved and everything else, that the separate app was hard mode.
Cem KansuWe integrated there and honestly, it's worked fairly well because we do already have a lot of users that learn multiple languages per day and they started discovering it. We also did some light promos just to raise awareness on the topics.
Cem KansuThat said, this remains a bit of an unsolved problem, if I'm being honest, which is a lot of our users have no idea that we also teach math, music and chess.
Cem KansuSo next year, we're still going to try to figure out how to make sure that at least our user base that's coming to the app every day is aware that these topics exist.
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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
- Offer a free trial even though the app is already freeOne of the biggest unlocks; guest had expected it to flop
- 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
- Offer live human tutors on demand in a higher-priced planFailed: users joined, panicked and left; later replaced by AI video call
Tags: multi-product, new-subjects, cross-sell, separate-apps