Ali Abouelatta Profile picture
Nov 21, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
This is one of the 🤯🤯🤯 experiments we ran on the Duolingo Retention team :
After a user starts a new streak, we used to show them this screen to pick a “Streak Goal”

The kicker is we never stored this information anywhere, nor did we do anything with it!

It was a one-time fleeting interaction.
But we knew how important setting and completing goals is to build new habits so we weren’t (totally) surprised when Streak Goals turned out to be a HUGE retention win.

Weeks after users saw this screen, they were still retaining better than those that did not.
A few years later, we decided to dial it up a notch, which is where it gets crazier.

Instead of showing this screen when you start a new streak, we removed the preselected option and forced every user to select a goal.

We added a lot of friction!
The streak goal is not something we reference anywhere on the app, nor do we track it. Beyond a user committing to one, we don't do anything with it.

Users who select 3 days get the same experience that those who select 7, 14 or 30
And the results from adding a whole ton of friction below our minds!

- Users selected higher goals than before
- Users did not drop off despite the extra friction
- Users retained way better FOR WEEKS after seeing this screen.
This experiment lead to a big insight for the Retention team: The power of good friction!

Good friction is friction we add to the experience that increases users’ motivation by getting them to actively assess their end goal.

Once they do, it stays with them for a LONG LONG TIME
Also: WE’RE HIRING!!!!

Slide into my DMs

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Ali Abouelatta

Ali Abouelatta Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @abouelatta_ali

Feb 6, 2023
We ran 100's of experiments @ Duolingo in 2022.

These 4 helped were big for retention:

1) Widgets that “come to life”

Our take: Duo gets progressively more frustrated throughout the day if you haven’t done your lesson.
2) App Icons as a communication channel

Our take: A special app icon, unlocked after reaching a 30 day streak. The icon emphasizes your streak status

(So every time you unlock your phone, and see the new icon, you are a bit more motivated to extend your streak)
3) Highlighting commitment

Our take: When a user selects streak goal we ask them to “Commit to their goal” instead of a simple “Continue”
Read 5 tweets
Nov 28, 2022
99 tech companies & how they got their first customers 🧵
1. Dribbble: They sent out swag to friends and family. Image
2. Monzo: Gave one of their investors an early prototype card.

She was so excited about the payment push notifications that she immediately tweeted about it, which led to a Techcrunch article in May. Then doubled down on PR
techcrunch.com/2015/05/24/mon…
Read 100 tweets
Oct 20, 2022
A 🧵about doing Product "the @Duolingo way"

(POV: A junior PM, 90 days into the job)
Duolingo is one of the few companies that scaled a consumer subscription business to 100m+.

The reason, I think, is our extremely strong Product Org!

There are 6 things we do differently:
1. We spend ~70% of our time identifying new high-ROI opportunities rather than grooming Jira boards.

We love empowering our engineers.
Read 8 tweets
Sep 15, 2022
At @duolingo, we ran 100s of A/B tests on our notifications.

We learned a ton from these experiments.

Here are our top 5 tips for writing copy that converts to DAUs 🧵
1. Each notification should have a distinct tone and CTA.

This is especially important if you send users more than 1 notification/day. Image
2. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

We are all power users of the app, and it is easy to forget that not everyone is.

Every time we tested copy that was over complicated the message it lost by a BIG MARGIN
Read 6 tweets
Nov 30, 2021
🧵 53 practical “to-dos” to get your first 1000 customers

(inspired by strategies from Uber, Loom, MongoDB + many more)
1/ Create a reality show:
e.g :Gimlet Media's Startup podcast is a great example.

gimletmedia.com/shows/startup
2/Create irrelevant cool stuff
e.g Kapwing, a video editing startup, got PR (and as a result customers) from creating a site to help fire-evacuatees see satellite images of their home
Read 10 tweets
Sep 6, 2021
1/ Getting your emails past the gmail promotions filter:
2/ Some context: every Sunday I send out a newsletter to over 20k people.

At first, it seemed completely random which newsletters land in primary vs. promotion.
3/ Over the past couple of months I spent sometime playing around and testing different hypothesis.

More or less, I have a decent understanding how the gmail promotions filter works.
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(