Optimizing notification strategies with a distinct tone and clear call-to-action increases user engagement and retention.
Using emojis in notification titles grabs users' attention and enhances the visual appeal of notifications.
Providing streak flexibility, such as introducing the streak freeze feature, improves user retention and motivation in language learning.
Deep dives
Notifications as a Retention Lever
Notifications are a crucial driver of retention for Duolingo. They have optimized the tone, copy, and design of their notifications to make them more engaging and effective. They found that using a distinct tone and clear call-to-action in notifications works best. They also learned that emojis are more effective when used in the title rather than the body of the notification. Additionally, keeping titles under 30 characters and keeping the messaging simple has proven to be successful. Moreover, Duolingo has implemented a streak widget on iOS which has exceeded their expectations in terms of retention. The widget provides a constant reminder of users' streaks and adds a cute and interactive element to the home screen. They have found that providing more flexibility with streaks, such as introducing the streak freeze feature, has had a positive impact on retention. Overall, Duolingo continuously tests and optimizes their notification strategies to drive user engagement and retention.
Importance of Distinct Tone and Call-to-action
In optimizing their notification strategies, Duolingo has found that having a distinct tone and clear call-to-action is important in grabbing users' attention and encouraging them to take action. They have discovered that notifications with a unique and engaging tone are more effective in retaining users' interest and driving them back to the app. By providing a clear call-to-action, such as tapping to start a lesson, they guide users to take immediate actions, resulting in increased engagement and retention.
Effectiveness of Emoji Usage in Notifications
Duolingo has experimented with the use of emojis in notifications and found that emojis work best when incorporated into the title rather than the body of the notification. Emojis in the title serve as attention grabbers, drawing users' eyes to the notification and increasing the likelihood of interaction. However, when used in the body, emojis can make the notification appear crowded or noisy, potentially reducing its effectiveness. By strategically implementing emojis in the title, Duolingo enhances the visual appeal and engagement of their notifications.
Benefits of Streak Flexibility
Duolingo has recognized the significance of providing streak flexibility to users. While the streak mechanic is a powerful retention driver, they discovered that its strict nature, where a user loses their streak after one missed day, could lead to demotivation and churn. To address this, they introduced the streak freeze, allowing users to maintain their streak even if they miss a day. By incorporating streak flexibility, Duolingo has made the learning experience more forgiving and less punitive, thereby boosting retention. They have further optimized the streak freeze feature by adjusting pricing, drop rates, and the number of streak freezes users can equip, ensuring a balance between motivation and the sanctity of the streak.
Widget Impact on Retention
Duolingo's widget, displaying users' streaks on the home screen, has had a significant impact on retention. The widget serves as a constant reminder for users to engage with the app and maintain their streaks. Its interactive and personalized nature reinforces users' commitment to language learning. By actively promoting the widget through in-app promotions, Duolingo encourages users to install it, which in turn increases engagement and retention. The widget has proved successful in capturing users' attention and making the learning experience more enjoyable and convenient.
On the podcast we talk with Osman about Duolingo’s culture of experimentation, data and testing as a moat, and why passive aggressive push notifications actually work in the right context.
Top Takeaways 🧪 Leverage a culture of experimentation to create a top user experience 📊 Data and testing are Duolingo’s best moat 👍 Passive-aggressive push notifications might work in the right context
About Osman Mansur 👨💻 Product Manager (PM) at Duolingo, the global language learning app with close to 60 million active users. 💪 As PM on the retention team, Osman plays a key role in maximizing user engagement and retention through specific mechanics, with a dedicated testing and experimentation regimen. 💡 “Just by the sheer amount of data that we collect, we're really able to drill down and optimize a lot of things on the app. And it keeps us busy as a product team, because there's so much stuff that we know we can improve.” 👋 LinkedIn |Medium
[2:08] Test everything: Osman explains how the data Duolingo collects and analyzes is one of the company’s best moats. [5:26] Ideation generation: Sometimes the bottom-up approach works best for driving team roadmaps, but iteration and experimentation is at the heart of Duolingo’s testing process. [11:02] Cooperation, working together: At Duolingo, teams share what they’ve learned with each other to create a better product, but they also cross over on analysis and experimentation. [17:48] Looking back: To track long-term impact, Duolingo uses holdout experiments and looks at feature-level metrics via dashboards [25:34] Notifications 101: Osman explains how a big driver of retention and company growth has been its notification strategy, learning a lot about what does and doesn’t work along the way. [33:35] Let’s get creative: The secret to impactful retentive notifications is getting the tone right, and even conversing with users. Sterile voices don’t work — opinionated voices just might. [37:30] Keep it simple: Messaging and theme matters for notifications, and so does copy length. Reduce cognitive load to increase willingness to engage. But once you’re in the app, you can get more complex for engaged users. [40:10] Emoji titles: Osman’s team discovered that emojis are actually better in the title than in the body. Why it’s an attention grabber is still a mystery. [41:53] Falling flat: Not every experiment works, but there are still great lessons to learn. The tone of an organic character works better than a brand talking to users like marketers. [46:33] Keeping the streak going: The streak is one of the best Duolingo retention mechanics, Osman explains. He dives into how the company tinkered with it to prevent domino effect user drop offs, and how the streak widget works in iOS.
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