Duolingo · B2C · language learning app
Send tomorrow's reminder 23.5 hours after today's lesson, not at a time users pick
Beat every other scheduling strategy tested, including user-chosen times
Workednotificationsexperimentation
What they did
Instead of asking users at onboarding when they want to be reminded (morning, evening, a set time), schedule the next day's practice reminder for 23.5 hours after the user's first practice of the current day, so it tracks when they actually practiced the day before. Tested against many other scheduling strategies; user-set times lose because people are rarely free at the same time forever.
What happened
Across many tested scheduling strategies, the 23.5-hour rule 'was always a winner' and continues to win; user-chosen reminder times backfire.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Time Reactivation Campaigns for Maximum Impact — Jackson Shuttleworth, Duolingo“what was always a winner for us was scheduling the next day's notification for 23 and 1/2 hours after you practiced for the first time that day”
“we've tested a lot of different strategies here, and this is the one that continues to win.”
Related topics
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- 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
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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: 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: Send even long-gone users a fun, personal year-in-review of their statsGuest says personal hooks perform much better than product updates; no numbers
- Duolingo: Aim winback messages at back-to-school and New Year's resolution seasonGuest calls these the most important times of year; no numbers
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