Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Cut the free trial from 14 days to 7
More conversions overall and experiment results twice as fast
Workedpaywallexperimentation
What they did
Tested reducing the free trial from two weeks to seven days in several combinations with how many trials a user is eligible for. Beyond conversion, the shorter trial means experiment readouts come in 7 days instead of 14, so losing tests are killed sooner and more tests run per quarter.
What happened
Net more conversions over time (combined with trial-count changes) and experimentation velocity roughly doubled.
This shipped together with other changes, so the result can't be credited to this alone.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Clarity and Personalization Help Drive Duolingo’s Growth – Anmol Tiwari, Duolingo“overall net, we saw more conversions over time in combination with playing around with how many trials we can offer to a user.”
“we actually basically doubled our experimentation velocity because now instead of having to wait 14 days, you get your results in seven days.”
Related topics
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More from Duolingo
All 32 Duolingo tactics- 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
- 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
- Make paid features free when a test shows they earn littleTook a small revenue hit on purpose to grow free users
More from this episode
- Duolingo: 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
- Duolingo: Show what happens on each trial day and exactly how refunds workGuest says clarity beats persuasion for trial starts; no numbers
- Duolingo: When users run out of hearts, offer a free trial so they keep their lesson progressUsers much more likely to start a trial; no numbers
- Duolingo: Ask new users in onboarding if they want to learn with or without adsSignificantly higher uptake; one of the biggest wins of the year
- Duolingo: Offer the same user a free trial three or four times over timeEffective in aggregate across attempts, per guest; no numbers
- Duolingo: Give 3 free days of the paid tier, no card needed, even to current subscribersEffective for free-to-paid and for upgrading subscribers to the top tier, per guest
- Duolingo: Give users one free AI video call from the top tierEffective lever for getting people to try the feature, per guest
- Duolingo: Give the free 3 days as a reward right after a finished lessonFelt more rewarding than on the learning path; no numbers
- Duolingo: When free days end, say 'Your benefits have ended' and show how to rejoin
- Duolingo: Use each user's signals to pick between your own upgrade ads and paid adsGood wins, per guest; no numbers
- Duolingo: Let a bandit algorithm pick which upgrade ad each user sees after a lessonSome wins so far, still improving; no numbers