Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Sell a one-time ad-free month at $3, $5 or $10 to test demand
Uptake far above expectations; led to the subscription
Workedvalidationpricing
What they did
After reading reviews where users asked to pay to remove ads, tested a one-time purchase of 30 ad-free days at $3, $5 and $10 instead of a subscription.
What happened
Uptake was good and far above expectations, proving demand for removing ads; turned into a subscription.
- Stage
- 2016-2017
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Why Your Free Users Are Your Real Growth Engine – Cem Kansu, Duolingo CPO“"You can buy an ad free month of Duolingo. So for 30 days, we'll turn off the ads, but it's a one-time purchase."”
“Honestly, the uptake was good and way more than what we expected.”
Related topics
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More from Duolingo
All 32 Duolingo tactics- Cut the free trial from 14 days to 7More conversions overall and experiment results twice as fast
- 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
- Change the paywall button from 'Try for free' to 'Try for $0.00'Meaningful conversion lift over 'Try for free'; no numbers given
- 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
- Let people pick which day you remind them before their free trial endsLifted conversion; no numbers given
More from this episode
- Duolingo: Keep lessons free and sell learners' translations to news sitesSmall revenue; dropped by 2016 (price race and low translation quality)
- Duolingo: Charge $1-3 to fix a broken streakA good share of users paid; showed how much users value their streak
- Duolingo: Show one ad only after a lesson ends, and test it against retentionRetention mostly neutral, at most a slight hit, across ad tests
- Duolingo: Count ad complaints per million users and compare them to other complaintsMissing-course complaints were 3x ad complaints; ads launched
- Duolingo: Block gambling and sketchy ad types, even if it costs revenueAccepted lost ad revenue for better experience; no numbers
- Duolingo: Sell ads directly to brands and have app characters introduce themUsers like the format; slow to sell because it's custom
- Duolingo: Use the end-of-lesson ad slot to advertise your own paid planGuest says house ads beat programmatic ads; no numbers
- Duolingo: Run 3-6 month holdouts for changes whose effects show up lateNew push lifts can turn negative after about 6 weeks
- Duolingo: 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
- Duolingo: Offer a free trial even though the app is already freeOne of the biggest unlocks; guest had expected it to flop
- Duolingo: 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
- Duolingo: Change the buy button to say 'Try for $0.00'Beat 'Try for free' on both trial starts and trial-to-paid
- Duolingo: Give subscribers unlimited hearts so mistakes never stop their lessonsBig turning point: raised subscription conversion and retention
- Duolingo: Make paid features free when a test shows they earn littleTook a small revenue hit on purpose to grow free users
- Duolingo: 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
- Duolingo: Offer live human tutors on demand in a higher-priced planFailed: users joined, panicked and left; later replaced by AI video call