Failures of duolingo to growth

Hey, I'm a marketing manager working for a gamification-centric design studio, and I’ve been diving deep into how gamification drives growth and retention in apps. A few months back, I came across an inspiring story about Jorge Mazal (former CPO of Duolingo) and how Duolingo achieved 4.5x growth through some smart gamification tweaks and product strategies. It really hit home for me because of the parallels I see in what we do at our studio. Let me share the highlights!

Gamification Tweaks

• Challenge: Duolingo was a top ed-tech app in 2018, but growth had stagnated.
• Focus: Instead of chasing new users, the team decided to focus on retention by enhancing gamification.
• Inspiration: They drew ideas from games like Gardenscapes, specifically the "moves counter," which added urgency and excitement.
• Implementation: Duolingo introduced a feature where users had limited tries to complete a lesson before restarting.
• Outcome:
  • Total flop. 😬
  • No improvement in retention or daily active users (DAU).
  • Key takeaway: The team learned the importance of understanding user context before implementing ideas.

Referral Program

• Strategy: Inspired by Uber’s referral playbook, Duolingo offered free months of Super Duolingo to users who brought in friends.
• Result:
  • A modest 3% increase in new users.
  • However, it wasn’t the game-changer they hoped for.
• Lesson Learned: Copying strategies without tailoring them to the audience’s needs doesn’t yield effective results.

Now, I’m curious: What’s your experience with gamification in apps? Have you come across strategies that clicked—or flopped? Let’s chat!

Submitted February 04, 2025 at 08:56AM by Reasonable_Act_3457 https://ift.tt/YWkxK7c