From 0 To 575 Million Users - Duolingo's Growth Story

I spent 20+ hours researching the Duolingo growth story so you don’t have to.

Author

Growth Classics
September 13, 2023

Ever wondered how Duolingo went from a landing page to 575 million users and a $6.5 billion valuation?

I spent 20+ hours researching the Duolingo growth story so you don’t have to.

🔥 Strap yourself in: Here's the Duolingo Playbook You've Been Waiting For!

  • 🎯 Mission-Driven Mavericks: Learn how Duolingo built a killer culture of A-players, all laser-focused on a world-changing mission.

  • 🐴 The Freemium Trojan Horse: Forget basic growth hacks. Duolingo's freemium model is the secret weapon you didn't know you needed.

  • 🤯 Viral Features You'll Want to Steal: These aren't just features; they're growth multipliers you'll be itching to share.

  • 🧪 The Experimentation DNA: Duolingo doesn't just 'try things out.' Experimentation is their lifeblood, and it should be yours too.

  • 🌟 The North Star Metric That Changed the Game: Forget vanity metrics. Discover the one KPI that skyrocketed Duolingo's Daily Active Users.

  • 🌍 Crowdsourced Genius: Duolingo didn't just build courses; they built a community that scaled their offering like Wikipedia on steroids.

  • 🧠 Mind Hacks You Can't Ignore: Duolingo's psychological tricks are so good, they're almost unfair. Learn them, use them, win.

  • 🏁 Make sure to stick around: Find out how CPO Jorge Mazal reignited Duolingo’s growth leading to a 4.5X growth in DAU in 4 years of a mature product

Bonus content:

📈 Striking TikTok Gold & The Owl That Broke the Internet: How a mascot and a social media frenzy turned Duolingo into a household name.

Here’s the founding story out the way in 20 seconds:

Meet Luis von Ahn, the genius who turned language learning into a global phenomenon.

👉 The Backstory: Luis isn't your average tech founder. Grew up in Guatemala, learned English young, and realised it doubled his income potential. Fast forward to Duke University and Carnegie Mellon, where he made his first millions by selling a game to Google and creating the Captcha. Yeah, those annoying things you type to prove you're not a robot? That was him.

👉 The Aha Moment: Around 2009-2010, after selling his second company, Recaptcha, to Google, Luis and his Ph.D. student Severin Hacker had an idea. Why not use tech to democratise education? They zeroed in on languages. Why? Because knowing English doubled your income in places like Guatemala.

👉 The Seed Money: Forget grants. Luis secured $3 million in seed funding from Union Square Investors in 2012. These were the guys who had just invested in Twitter and Tumblr. Big leagues, right?

👉 The Viral Boost: Luis gave a TED talk, and boom! Duolingo, which was just a landing page at the time, had a waiting list of 300,000 names.

🧐 Food for thought:

Studying Under a Genius: Before he was a tech mogul, Luis was soaking up wisdom from Manuel Blum, a Turing Award-winning professor at Carnegie Mellon. Talk about learning from the best to become the best! This isn't just education; it's a masterclass in genius-level thinking.

“You're the average of the five people spend the most time with”Jim Rohn.

The Zero-to-Hero Playbook: Unpacking Gina Gotthilf's Key Growth Strategies That Catapulted Duolingo from 3 Million to 200 Million Users—Without Spending a Cent on Acquisition

Duolingo skyrocketed from a user base of 3 million to a staggering 200 million—all without paid acquisition?

Meet Gina Gotthilf, Duolingo's VP of Growth and employee number 20, the mastermind behind this incredible feat. In this section, we'll dissect the key growth learnings that fueled Duolingo's meteoric rise under Gina's leadership.

Full interviews I drew from here (Growth Tribes), here (20 VC) and here (Execs).

From Googling "What is Growth?" to Growing Duolingo from 3 Million to 200 Million Users.

Duolingo’s founders turned round to Gina who was at the time hired to manage marketing & comms for Duolingo in Brazil and said:

’Our investors have said we need to hire a head of growth, we were originally going to look for an external hire but you’re helping us grow so well why don’t you become our head of growth?’

What did she do? Accepted the job and went home and googled what is “growth” and found Andrew Chen’s (General Partner a16z & growth at Uber) blog and started the learning the ins and outs of growth.

You know the outcome, 3-200M users.

💡 Takeaway: Hire for attitude, skills can be developed.

Mastering the Art of Zero-Budget PR: How Gina Turned Scarcity into Headlines for Duolingo.

Before she even knew it was called "public relations," Gina was already a PR maestro. Armed with zero budget but a knack for storytelling, she turned the spotlight onto Duolingo's tech-genius founder, Luis.

What was Gina’s mantra?

”Where can I get the most amount of eyeballs for zero budget? And how can I focus my time on that”

Her strategy? Create a narrative of scarcity and exclusivity. She started securing speaking engagements for computer science departments at Universities and tech conferences on back to back days in certain geographic locations.

Then, with a carefully crafted pitch, she offered journalists a "rare" ten-minute window to speak with this founder who they hadn’t heard of that’s getting attention from elite universities and tech conferences in the local area.

The result? A media frenzy that cost nothing but generated invaluable exposure.

🧠 Reflection question:

How can you create scarcity and exclusivity for your brands story?

What compelling story can you tell to hook media attention in without spending a dime?

Do you have a great presenter or industry titan you can leverage for speaking engagements?

Quick tip from Gina: Write a list of all the places you’d love to be featured and start with the least important, so you can continue to improve and iterate on the story as you get better.

The Butterfly Effect in Business: How "Tiny Moments" of Friction Shaped Duolingo's Monumental Success

It's often said that the devil is in the details, but at Duolingo, it might be more accurate to say that success is in the "tiny moments." Whether it was Gina's skirmishes with the design team over implementing growth initiatives or other seemingly minor internal debates that turned into their most popular features that hundreds of millions use everyday, these moments of friction had a ripple effect on the company's trajectory.

The ability of your team to sell leadership internally can dictate the long term success of the company.

🧠 Reflection question:

Think how many game changing features are left in the graveyard because someone couldn’t sell it internally.

Are you encouraging / enabling / training employees on how to sell ideas and projects internally?

A Culture of Experimentation Inspired by Addictive Games.

What do addictive video games and a language-learning app have in common? More than you might think.

From her first day as Head of Growth, Gina doubled down on the culture of experimentation at Duolingo and started to draw inspiration from the most captivating games on the market, at this time this was games like Clash Royale & Candy Crush.

Monthly meetings weren't just status updates; they were strategy sessions where the team dissected what made certain features so compelling and brainstormed how they could integrate these elements into Duolingo’s strategy.

The result? A user experience so engaging it kept users coming back day after day.

🧠 Reflection question: When was the last time you looked beyond your industry to innovate and challenge the status quo?

Gina and a Single Engineer Bootstrapped Duolingo's Growth with Zero Budget.

No budget? No problem. When Gina took the reins as Head of Growth at Duolingo, she had just one engineer by her side and not a dime for paid acquisition. Instead of seeing limitations, Gina saw opportunity. She zeroed in on notifications and CRM, focusing on projects with the highest "Return on Time Investment."

e.g. What can I test right now that has a direct impact on our north star metric

🧐 Food for thought:

If you listen to these podcasts it’s hard not to notice how passionate and personable Gina is.

I really believe her passion & soft skills are a crucial component for “growth” as a function becoming a linchpin for Duolingo’s success.

Having star players who are bought into the mission and willing to fight for resources internally is fundamental to a successful growth culture.

The North Star of Duolingo's Success: Day 1 Retention Became the Ultimate Yardstick for Every Decision

Day 1 Retention (D1) serves as a crucial metric for language-learning platforms like Duolingo, and its significance is rooted in both practical and psychological principles:

  • First Impressions: A positive initial experience sets the stage for long-term engagement, capitalising on the psychological concept of the "halo effect," where a good first impression positively influences subsequent interactions.

  • Immediate Reinforcement: High D1 indicates users are returning, which taps into the psychological principle of immediate reinforcement.

  • Habit Formation: This aligns with the psychological theory of habit formation, where consistency and repetition lead to ingrained behaviours.

  • Predictive Value: A strong D1 rate often forecasts long-term retention and overall user value, serving as a reliable early indicator of future success.

🧠 Reflection question:

Do you have a key metric that serves as your "Day 1 Retention," guiding your strategies and decisions?

How are you incorporating psychological principles to enhance this metric and create a positive feedback loop for engagement and habit formation in your own project or business?

The Masterclass in Community-Driven Growth: Unlocking the Secrets Behind Duolingo's Expansion to 90 Courses and 300 Million Users

I watched a keynote talk by Laura Nestler Ex Head of Community at Duolingo (VP Community Reddit now) so you don’t have to.

CMX Conference: The Community Growth Engine: How Duolingo Scaled to 90 Courses and 300M Users” - 2020

Here's What You Can't Afford to Miss:

  • Defining Community: Think you know what 'community' means? Prepare to have your definitions shattered and rebuilt.

  • Putting a Price Tag on Community: Ever struggled to quantify the value of your community? We'll show you how to translate social bonds into concrete metrics.

  • The Secret Sauce of Community-Driven Growth: Discover the revolutionary model that's changing the game in community expansion.

  • The Wikipedia Effect: Learn how Duolingo harnessed the power of collective intelligence, à la Wikipedia, to scale their courses exponentially.

  • Unlocking the Psychology of Community: Dive into the science of intrinsic motivation and how it can be your secret weapon for community growth.

  • From Zero to Community Hero: Hear the jaw-dropping story of how Duolingo went from no in-person events to hosting 650 real-life gatherings every single week.

What Really Defines a Community?

"Community is having a movement. People on the internet are seeking out micro-communities. Reducing the noise of the main feed. Finding people who share your very same set of niche interests."

Unleashing the 1%: How Laura Engineered Duolingo's Explosive Community Growth—And Why You Should Pay Attention

Laura, the community-building maven who wrote Yelp's playbook back in '07 and then took her Midas touch global.

In 2016, she lands at Duolingo and orchestrates a symphony of engagement that connects a staggering 300 million learners and ambassadors.

She dubs this the "Duolingo Growth Engine," and here's why you should care: it powers 85+ courses, fuels 600+ weekly real-world events, and drives over a million daily forum visits.

Laura's secret sauce from her Yelp days:

“The art of leveraging the 1% of fanatical users for outsized returns”

It's the 1, 9, 90 model, a strategy where a minuscule slice of your user base generates content that the masses devour.

Fascinatingly, this flips the traditional marketing funnel on its head!

Listen, the 1, 90 model isn't a ‘set it and forget it' strategy. To truly unlock its potential, you've got to master the art of motivation for those at the pyramid's peak.

We're talking a cocktail of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators so potent it's practically alchemy.

On the extrinsic side, think carrot-and-stick: Leaderboards that ignite competitive fires. Swag that turns users into walking billboards for your brand.

But don't stop there.

Dive deeper into the psychology of motivation with intrinsic factors.

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

Empower your top users to take the reins, let them master their domain, and connect them to a purpose greater than themselves.

Get this blend right, and you're not just building a community; you're creating an army of brand evangelists ready to propel your growth into the stratosphere. Are you in?

Laura’s scoop, and it's a narrative that'll flip your understanding of growth on its head.

The Wikipedia Phenomenon: How a Band of Volunteers Outsmarted the Experts and Rewrote the Rules of Information

Ever wonder how Wikipedia toppled giants Encarta and became the world's encyclopedia? We're talking a 'micro-community' of volunteers who didn't just outperform paid experts—they ignited a global revolution in how we access information.

This isn't just a story; it's a blueprint for community-driven growth that you'd be insane to overlook.

Capital vs. Community: The Showdown You Didn't See Coming

This next section is so eye-opening, we had to bring it to you verbatim. It's the ultimate face-off: Capital vs. Community. And spoiler alert: When a community is united by a shared mission, not even the deepest pockets can compete.

”In Dan Pink's talk about the puzzle of motivation, he gives you this question.

He says let's pretend that you want to start an online encyclopedia. We're going to decide which model to use.

Model one, we're going to give significant funding and resources, we're gonna hire paid experts in their field that are curating the most high-caliber content, we're gonna market it by one of the largest tech companies of its day. You are getting money, you are getting experts.

Or model B, let's just have an open collaboration project. Let's not pay anybody anything. Let's not invite any experts to participate. Let's just have people contribute stuff that they think they know about and trust that the rest of the market will self-regulate itself.

As Dan Pink says, there is not a single sober economist in the world that would have bet on model B.

And yet, this is exactly how Wikipedia beat Encarta. A micro-community of intrinsically motivated people, 200,000 of them, created 48 million pages of content that is now consumed by 500 million individual people every single month. This is going from a fuzzy buzzword to a quantifiable business objective."

Community Isn't a Side Hustle—It's Your Secret Growth Engine.

Are You Capitalising on It?

Listen, if you're still treating community as a 'nice-to-have,' you're leaving serious money on the table. Laura's message is crystal clear: Your community isn't just a feel-good forum; it's a high-level business strategy that should be driving your entire operation.

Let's get real for a second. If you can't articulate the value of the community you're grinding on daily, how can you expect the C-suite to get it? Time to shift gears.

🚀 Forget the Vanity Metrics—Show Me the Money

Laura throws down the gauntlet: Can you measure the real ROI of your community?

Because if you're still counting likes, you're missing the point.

  • What's the uptick in user retention for community participants?

  • How much more are these engaged users spending on your product?

  • And let's talk savings—what's the community's impact on your bottom line?

This isn't just a challenge; it's a wake-up call.

How community helped Duolingo scale Wikipedia style

🚀 From 4 to 37 Language Courses: The Community-Driven Revolution

Back in 2012, Duolingo was a fledgling startup with just four language courses. Fast forward, and they're a linguistic powerhouse with 37 courses. The secret sauce? Community.

🛠️ The Tools Were Basic, But The Vision Wasn't

Forget the Silicon Valley sheen. Duolingo started with a basic landing page and clunky internal tools. But they had something money can't buy: a community hungry to contribute and a proof of concept that was pure gold.

🔥 Validation Before Scale

They didn't shoot for the moon right out of the gate. They laid the foundation, tested the waters, and only then hit the scale button.

They validated their concept with basic tools that offered access to their language creation tools and a landing page. Once they knew they were onto something, they built the rigorous community and brand safety systems to scale it.

💡 The Takeaway

Don't get caught up in the bells and whistles. Start small, validate your idea, and then go all-in. And never underestimate the power of a community to help you scale. Duolingo did it, and so can you.

A little bit of extra flair 👌

They even gave autonomy to internal language creation teams to leaverage Duolingo’s community to create new courses in the structure of their the language learning methodology and A/B test this against existing courses!

“By providing volunteers with the technical tools and infrastructure necessary for designing their language courses, Duolingo transformed passionate individuals into valuable contributors responsible for shaping the platform's content offerings – a win-win situation fostering both personal investment and user satisfaction.”

Source here

Pouring fuel on the fire!

By creating forums they empowered the community as a whole to get involved as if a user needed help with pronunciation or another problem they could simply post in the forum and get instant feedback from the community.

“Every user on Duolingo has the help of the largest language learning community only one click away” - Laura Nestler

🌍 Mind-Blowing Fact: Duolingo has more people learning Irish than there are native Irish speakers. Let that sink in.

🧠 Reflection question

Where are you connecting users to better your product and to support each other?

🤔 Food for Thought

What mission-driven initiatives are you sidelining that your community could be championing right now?

How Duolingo took on events?

Why stop there? Next Laura decided events were the next frontier of community driven growth for Duolingo to take on.

They decided to use the same playbook they ran on their online community for in real life events..

The three key steps in Duolingo's community growth playbook:

  1. Validate an Early Concept: Start by validating your idea with a minimal setup to see if it has potential.

  2. Test Things That Aren't Scalable: Once the concept is validated, experiment with various approaches without worrying about scalability at this stage.

  3. Systematise: After determining what works, build systems to scale the validated concept.

“Earn your resources, don’t defend them”

Here is how it went ⬇️

First 12 months…

First two years…

 Now they run so many they measure in weeks…

The sheer volume of events might send shivers down the spines of many.

However, Laura aims to unveil the true face of these occurrences.

She wanted to jolt the organisation into recognising the actual lives touched by this product every single day.

Unlocking Laura's Secret Sauce: A Peek into Her Game-Changing Playbook

1️⃣ Grassroots Grit Over Glamour: Forget the allure of high-tech solutions. Laura was all about boots-on-the-ground action. She reached out to over 500 locals via email and made personal appearances at events to grasp the real-world challenges her event leaders faced. The revelation? Language learning and noisy bars don't mix.

2️⃣ Rapid-Fire Experimentation: Laura wasn't lost in daydreams of grandeur; she was knee-deep in the field. She rigorously tested over 20 different venues, from co-working spaces like WeWork to the quiet corners of local libraries. The mission? Discover what resonates, and then go all in.

3️⃣ Streamlined & Strategic: Why aim for the stars when the moon will do? Laura started with a straightforward landing page. Her guiding principle? Tackle the immediate problem, and only then set your sights on the next audacious goal.

A Metaphor We Can't Ignore:

“Focus on getting the plane airborne; inflight entertainment can wait.”

👊 The Takeaway:

Begin with a humble start, validate relentlessly, and when the time is right—skyrocket.

👀 The Secret Ingredient in Duolingo Communities' Success:

“Passionate individuals hungry for genuine, niche micro-communities.”

The Unsung Heroes? Dedicated Volunteer Event Hosts Behind Every Gathering.

These event hosts were fueled by a purpose far grander than personal gain, reveling in the weekly transformations they witnessed among their participants.

Dive into this Inspiring Tale of a Host and Participants Changing Lives in the Real World:

I’m going to finish this section with Laura’s closing words:

”People interact with brands on a human level. They seek to identify with brands that can speak to their own ethos. Brands that make us feel something. In a world that is constantly inundated with numbers and metrics and analytics, if I can give you one word of advice, it's to embrace that duality of the qualitative and the quantitative. Knowing that this is the intersection where community can make the most impact, both measurable and immeasurable.”

Watch the CMX talk in full here

I’ve summarised a breakdown of how Jorge Mazal, Ex CPO of Duolingo 4.5x DAU of a mature product in 4 years from his amazing article in Lenny’s newsletter here

This man cooked up a storm.

When the Head of Product joined Duolingo in late 2017, the app was already a titan, most downloaded in its category and boasting hundreds of millions of users.

But here's the twist: growth was hitting the brakes.

By mid-2018, Daily Active Users (DAU) were crawling at a single-digit growth rate year-over-year. For a startup with investor eyes watching, this was a red flag.

So, what flipped the narrative?

A cocktail of strategic moves: the introduction of leaderboards, a renewed focus on push notifications, and the optimisation of the "streak" feature. These weren't minor tweaks; they were growth catalysts.

The result? A 4.5x surge in DAU over four years, propelling Duolingo toward its 2021 IPO.

Phase 1 → Increase gamification

The Gamification Play:

Gamify to retain users, not just gain them. The logic? Top games had more stickiness but they had no idea which gamification mechanics would work.

Duolingo dipped its toes into gamified features inspired by Gardenscapes.

New feature, major effort: a counter for users to answer questions in limited tries.

Sub note:

  • Jorge got buy in from leadership alongside the chief designer to create a new gamification team, with an engineering manager, an engineer, a designer and PM.

💥 Outcome:

Total. Bust. No uptick in DAUs. Zero retention change. Team morale? Down the drain, team disbanded.

On the bright side, Jorge gets a crash course in leadership and company culture.

Phase 2 - Referrals

After a disappointing run with gamification, Duolingo shifted gears, forming an Acquisition Team inspired by Uber's successful referral program.

The bait? A free month of their premium subscription, Super Duolingo.

The outcome, however, was underwhelming—a mere 3% uptick in new users. Despite doubling down on tweaks and iterations, the breakthrough remained elusive. It was a clear signal: a new growth strategy was urgently needed.

Take a deep breath 😅

After consecutive moves counter inspired by Gardenscapes and a referral program modeled after Uber, Duolingo's product lead found themselves in a period of introspection. The issue wasn't just the features themselves but the lack of contextual adaptation.

Gardenscapes relied on strategic moves, something Duolingo lessons didn't require, making the moves counter a dull add-on. Similarly, Uber's pay-as-you-go model made referrals a constant incentive, while Duolingo's offer of a free premium month failed to entice its most active users, who were already subscribed.

Jorge left this attempt realising he needed a better way of successfully borrowing ideas

He now asks himself these these three questions:

  • Why is this feature working in that product?

  • Why might this feature succeed or fail in our context, i.e. will it translate well?

  • What adaptations are necessary to make this feature succeed in our context?

Phase 3: The secret sauce

How adapting a user model changed their growth trajectory 🚀

While Duolingo has always been a data junkie, especially when it comes to A/B testing, Jorge and the team took it up a notch. Taking cues from the data landscapes at Zynga and MyFitnessPal, they've shifted gears to mine their data for game-changing insights.

So what's the big revelation? From his time at Zynga's Jorge adopted their savvy approach to user segmentation and retention metrics.

Think CURR, NURR, RURR, and the lesser-known SURR.

  • Current users retention rate (CURR): The chance a user comes back this week if they came to the product each of the past two weeks

  • New users retention rate (NURR): The chance a user comes back this week if they were new to the product last week

  • Reactivated user retention rates (RURR): The chance a user comes back this week if they reactivated last week

They introduced an additional metric, SURR:

  • Resurrected User Retention Rate (SURR): The probability that a user who has returned from a prolonged absence last week will engage again this week.

These aren't just alphabet soup; they're the metrics that not only measure but also forecast growth. And here's the kicker: CURR turned out to be the superstar, influencing Daily Active Users (DAU) five times more than any other metric. Why? Because once you're an active user, you're likely to stay in that lane.

Picture this: Duolingo's user base is a dynamic landscape of 'engagement buckets.' Each user, whether a first-timer or a seasoned pro, lands in one of these buckets daily. It's a closed-loop system, a symphony of user engagement with only new users breaking the pattern.

The VIPs of this system—the top four buckets shaping DAU:

  1. New Users: Just stepping into the Duolingo world.

  2. Current Users: The loyalists who've been active in the past week.

  3. Reactivated Users: Those making a comeback after a short break.

  4. Resurrected Users: The ones re-emerging after a month or more.

The buckets sort users into different groups based on how much they engage with the app. Every user is in just one of these buckets each day. These buckets cover all users who have ever used Duolingo, so no one is left out.

Arrows show how users move from one bucket to another, using metrics like CURR, NURR, RURR, and SURR. These metrics have shifted to daily counts instead of weekly. When you put the buckets and arrows together, you get a system that's almost a closed loop, with new users being the only gap.

The model categorises inactive users into three distinct buckets based on their level of engagement:

  • At-risk WAU: Users inactive today but active within the last 6 days.

  • At-risk MAU: Users inactive for the past week but active within the last 23 days.

  • Dormant Users: Those inactive for the past 31 days or more.

These buckets allow for straightforward calculations of DAU, WAU, and MAU, making it easier to track these metrics over time—a key feature of the model.

By adjusting the rates at which users move between these buckets—represented by arrows—the model can simulate the cumulative impact on DAU, essentially serving as levers for growth.

To understand these levers' impact, daily data snapshots were taken, creating a historical record of user behaviour. This data was then used to run simulations, adjusting a single rate by 2% every quarter for three years while keeping other rates constant.

The simulations helped identify which levers had the most significant impact on DAU growth.

But that's not the whole story. Lurking in the background are the 'At-risk' and 'Dormant' users, each a puzzle piece in the grand scheme of user engagement.

Duolingo turned these metrics into actionable levers.

A slight tweak and you're looking at a ripple effect across DAU, Weekly Active Users (WAU), and Monthly Active Users (MAU).

Duolingo's game-changer is CURR (Current User Retention), a metric that's more than just a number—it's a growth phenomenon. The secret? Current Users have this unique knack for looping back into their own bucket, setting off a compounding effect that skyrockets growth.

When CURR shifts, it's not a nudge; it's a seismic jolt to your growth metrics.

Here is where things get interesting: Duolingo made a full-on strategic pivot. They shifted their focus from the age-old game of new-user retention to the untapped potential of CURR.

The data backs it up: CURR's impact on Daily Active Users (DAU) is a staggering six times greater than its influence on Monthly Active Users (MAU). That's not just an insight; it's a revelation that led to a complete overhaul in strategy.

Acting on this, Duolingo formed a new Retention Team, making CURR its North Star metric. This wasn't just a tactical move; it was a strategic masterstroke, redefining their growth priorities based on the differential impact of CURR.

Leaderboards

In a strategic pivot to boost the stagnant Current User Retention Rate (CURR), Duolingo decided to double down on gamification, learning from past missteps. The team introduced a revamped leaderboard system, inspired by similar features in Zynga's FarmVille 2. Unlike FarmVille, Duolingo's leaderboard was streamlined to avoid adding complexity to the language-learning experience. Users were automatically included and could climb the ranks through consistent engagement.

The results were staggering. Overall learning time shot up by 17%, and the number of highly engaged learners—those dedicating at least an hour a day for five days a week—tripled. While the impact on CURR was still being assessed, traditional retention metrics like D1 and D7 showed significant improvement. The leaderboard didn't just gamify Duolingo; it became a pivotal tool for user retention, marking the Retention Team's first major breakthrough.

🧠 Psychological principles this taps into:

  • Social comparison theory

  • Self determination theory

“The Self-Determination Theory proposes that humans require activities that satisfy three core psychological needs (Ryan and Deci 2002).

1. The need for competence (feelings of efficiency)

2. The need for autonomy (the freedom to complete tasks freely without external pressure)

3. The need for social relatedness (the feeling of belonging to social groups)”

”The fundamental principle of a leaderboard is to compare yourself to others, it is its very definition. However, having the ability to view your rank against others seems to strike a nerve in the digital learning world. The fear appears to stem from the desire to be perceived as talented in comparison to your peers.”

Source here

Push notifications

Energised to keep users engaged, Duolingo's Retention Team revisited the potential of push notifications, a growth vector that had plateaued over the years. Taking a lesson from Groupon's cautionary tale of overusing email notifications, Duolingo established a foundational rule: protect the channel. This meant no increase in notification frequency without strong justification and CEO approval.

Armed with this constraint, the team had the freedom to optimise other aspects like timing, templates, and copy.

Through relentless A/B testing and algorithmic adjustments, they accumulated a series of small and medium wins that led to consistent year-over-year gains in Daily Active Users (DAU).

The strategy underscored the importance of balancing aggressive optimisation with channel preservation.

🧠 Psychological principles this taps into:

  • FOMO (Fear of missing out):

    • By instilling a feeling of urgency or exclusivity in your push notifications, you can leverage people's natural fear of missing out to encourage immediate action.

  • Desire for achievement:

    • Those push notifications aren't just reminders; they're challenges. "Earn 20 more points today" isn't a nudge, it's a call to action that taps into our innate drive to achieve. It's not just about learning a language; it's about winning at it. And when you win, you feel good—simple as that. So, if you're in the app game, take a leaf out of Duolingo's book. Make your notifications not just seen, but felt.

  • Breaking through the noise (Reticular activation system, RAS):

    • The RAS is like your brain's personal filter. It helps you focus on what's important and tune out the rest. Imagine walking into a noisy room and still being able to hear your friend's voice—that's your RAS at work. It decides what information gets your attention. By personalising your push notifications you break through the noise of someone’s day and hook their focus onto one simple message that intends to drive a desired action.

Streak feature

In a quest for growth, Duolingo's Retention Team unearthed a goldmine: the "streak" feature. The simple concept—showing users their consecutive days of app activity—had untapped potential.

A 10-day streak significantly reduced user drop-off, prompting the team to innovate around this feature.

Their first win was the "streak-saver" notification, alerting users at risk of losing their streak. This was followed by enhancements like calendar views, animations, and streak rewards, each contributing to improved retention.

The streak feature has become a cornerstone of Duolingo's engagement strategy. It not only boosts user motivation but also enhances Daily Active Users (DAU) and retention.

One user even boasted a 1,435-day streak, underlining the feature's impact.

🧠 Psychological effect this taps into = The endowment effect

The endowment effect describes a circumstance in which an individual places a higher value on an object that they already own than the value they would place on that same object if they did not own it.

People are far more likely to action in the aid of avoiding loss.

Full article by Jorge Mazal linked here

Lenny’s newsletter link here

Bonus psychological principles Duolingo use to turn casual learners into language addicts.

🏁 Goal gradient effect:

Coined by behaviorist Clark Hull in 1932, the Goal Gradient Effect states that as people get closer to a reward, they speed up their behavior to get to their goal faster. In other words, people are motivated by how much is left to reach their target, not how far they’ve come.

As Hull put it in his original research:

“Rats in a maze run faster as they near the food box than at the beginning of the path.”

How does Duolingo leverage this psychological principle?

Duolingo brilliantly leverages the Goal Gradient Effect by breaking down the daunting task of language learning into smaller, digestible topics. Each topic comes with its own progress bar, and as you fill it up, your motivation and speed naturally increase. It's a psychological nudge that keeps you sprinting toward each mini-goal, turning a complex journey into a series of rewarding sprints.

Pre-Commitment:

Ever heard of pre-commitment? It's the psychological hack that Duolingo uses to lock you in. You set a goal, like practicing for 10 minutes a day, and suddenly, you're in. You've committed, and now you don't want to break that streak. It creates a personal narrative in your head that you’ve agreed to something, making it harder to quit. It's not just about learning anymore; it's about keeping your word to yourself. Duolingo gets this, and it's why they have you set daily goals right from the get-go. It's not just clever; it's genius.

 From Zero to 7.5 Million: The Meteoric Rise of Duolingo’s Tik Tok and the Strategies That Fueled Its Growth:

Duolingo’s Tik Tok here

There are many brands in the running for the champion of Tik Tok but one that really stands out from the crowd is Duolingo.

To put this number in context, here are the number of followers from some of the giants have:

Side note ⬇️

It took Duolingo until their 37th post to have their first viral moment but since they found their first viral recipe it has swelled to over 7.5 million followers.

”On September 30, the Duolingo account had its first major viral hit.

When you're just tryna do your work without being terrorized by an owl," an on-screen caption reads, panning to a giant Duo suit sitting on a bank of desks as a TikTok sound saying, "how am I supposed to live, laugh, love in these conditions" plays in the background. The video has amassed over 700,000 likes and 3.3 million views.”

Source here

Link to Tik Tok here

Source here

So who is behind Duolingo’s rise to Tik Tok?

Linkedin profile here

Zaria joined Duolingo as a graduate from the University of Oregon in the year 2020 as a social media coordinator and just over 3 years later has taken Duolingo’s Tik Tok all the way to 7.5 million followers disrupting the ways brand themselves on Tik Tok forever.

How does Zara keep on top of trends?

I found an interesting snippet from an interview with Zara did with Tech Radar:

”A lot of our storylines on TikTok started with funny videos and memes we've seen on the internet, such as Duo being a big fan of Dua Lipa – that came to be because people would mix up our names, such as Do-a-libra and other ways. Another story is about how Duo hates Google Translate, which is just a funny play for the character to us and the audience." Parvez explains.

"Once trends would pop up, we'd match the trends to the ideas we already had, and that really allowed space for quick approvals for new videos, so these could go live sooner than usual. Being proactive rather than reactive helped break through the noise."

Full article here

💡 Takeaways:

  • As a team keep your ear to the ground for the latest trends popping up on Tik Tok

  • Have a set of ideas that you’re working on as well as having a backlog so when a trend pops up you’ll be able to get approval from brand / legal even faster

  • Start listening to your comment section, the next big viral trend or funny storyline for your brand could come from the comment section!

Let's zoom in on the Tik Tok strategy, it’s unhinged.

A daring dive into the world of unhinged marketing.

Duolingo is one of the pioneering brands in the era of unhinged marketing.

The phrase "unhinged marketing" might send shivers down the spines of brand managers and legal teams, but for Duolingo's iconic green owl, it's been a game-changer—fueling explosive growth on TikTok like never before.

I found this snippet from a Hubspot article titled “How Duolingo struck social media gold with unhing content”. Full article here

“What is unhinged marketing?

When brands take less of a polished, perfect approach to social, and embrace more chaotic conversational moments, it’s often referred to as unhinged marketing. If you see a social media post and think “How did that get approved?” it can likely be considered unhinged.

This approach was first popularised on Twitter when Wendy’s became infamous for “roasting” social media users and openly shading the competition. Since then, other companies including Popeye’s and McDonald’s found viral moments by sending sassy Tweets.”

This article by Hubspot goes on to break down the strategies behind Duolingo’s viral success.

What are Zara’s core strategies:

1️⃣ Laughs Over Ads: Forget the hard sell; Duolingo is making people laugh. They've turned their mascot, Duo, into a comedy legend. The genius part? They're selling without selling, often highlighting their free app while keeping the vibe light and funny.

2️⃣ Trend Surfing: Duol is following ts; they're owning them. Whether it's jumping on the SelGomez vs.ley Bieber drama or showing up in style for the Barbie movie premiere, they're making waves while staying true to their language-learning mission.

3️⃣ The Soap Opera Effect: Duolingo has mastered the art of storytelling. They've got ongoing sagas that keep you coming back for more. We're talking about Duo's hilarious beef with Google Translate, his not-so-secret crush on Dua Lipa, and the internal comedy sketches featuring their legal team trying to rein Duo in.

And it's not just for show; their daily active users have shot up by 62%.

They're not just entertaining; they're growing.

Full article here

🔥 Key Takeaways 🔥

Be More Than a Brand: Turn your company into a character people want to follow. Create a persona that resonates.

Ride the Cultural Wave: Don't just observe trends; participate in them. But do it in a way that aligns with your brand's core message.

Storylines seal the deal: Keep your storylines consistent. It's not just about one viral hit; it's about building a long-term relationship with your audience. Think about the Marvel universe or a stand up comedy routine, how can you keep that narrative going.

Let’s talk attribution!

In a really interesting interview Zara Parvez did with Rex Woodbury (Link to article here) he asked Zara a question regarding the all important question of attribution:

“Can you map ROI on the TikTok account? How do quantify user acquisition

Yup, we can. When you open app, you’re presented with a “How Did You Hear About Us?” TV and social media—TikTok specifically—is an option you can click. Whenever a Tik Tok goes viral, we’ve witnessed a stark increase of users from that survey. Interestingly enough, we also see a spike in resurrected users.”

⬆️ ”The “How did you hear about Duolingo?” page in the sign-up flow, to track attribution”

Link to the full article by Rex Woodbury here

Sources used: