Feliz Lunes! Cómo estás hoy?

I watched this Tiktok and took it as a sign to finally do the Duolingo case study that I have been meaning to for a while now. I am a daily Duolingo user - 122 days strong lol, no way Imma let that streak go, and as the TikTok shows - this owl got me taking lessons in the bathroom and other weird places. I have hung up or stopped friends mid-sentence because it’s almost midnight and I have to put a lesson in before the day ends. “Hold that thought, I just need 3 mins” Yo! That owl has me in a chokehold!

My marketing brain is so jealous though because if the apps I manage had this level of brand awareness, talkability, active users, and retention I would die! So how does Duolingo do it?

Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning platforms with over 500 million users worldwide and they acquired 80% of these users organically 🤯

There are so many things that Duolingo has done right but in the interest of time (and attention span tbh) I will speak to a few major things that they have done that I think we can all learn from.

The core of their strategy is product-led growth which is a strategy that’s all about creating loyal fans who in turn bring in other users through word-of-mouth, the strongest marketing tactic in the history of time. Some major tenets of this strategy are:

Gamification:

Duolingo turned learning a language into a game with points and in-app currency called Gems. They have leaderboards where you get ranked against other users and there are different leagues such as silver, bronze, gold, sapphire, and ruby… if none of that phases you, they have streaks -which is a count of the number of days you have done a lesson which means the longer your streak the more incentive you have to keep it going. All these tactics are psychologically proven habit-forming ‘tricks’ and Duolingo has used them all to make sure they cover their bases when it comes to human behavior. For example, in my case, leaderboards don’t work on me - I can easily ignore being demoted from the top spot by some random person I don’t know on the internet but I have found people who really care that Rosemari has overtaken them by 10 points. What gets me however is that streak number - I cannot let myself lose 122 days of work!

The freeze buttons that give you the grace of missing a day because life happens is yet another genius tactic Duolingo has employed - I would be utterly demoralized if one single mistake cost me my 122 days and Duolingo knows this so to get you back, they freeze your streak for a day or two to give you time and space to be human and then gently or not so gently (I’m looking at you Lily) remind you to come back and do a lesson. I know that those freezes are the reasons I still have 122 days on me. What’s more, these freezes can be purchased in-app with your gems (experience points that you get from practicing).

They have also broken down the learning into stages or milestones and there is always pomp and fanfare every time you complete a level, leaving you feeling a sense of accomplishment.

They offer quests, mini-challenges, and badges for completing the quests and challenges, they have daily quests and monthly challenges to keep you engaged and entertained all while elevating the daunting feeling of learning a new language.

Another gamification aspect is the ‘lives’ you have - you have 5 hearts on the free version and each mistake you make costs you a heart. If you lose all your hearts, you cannot take a lesson for several hours and you get a notification when your hearts are full again. The paid version however offers unlimited hearts which is a great incentive to pay from premium.

Social:

Duolingo has incorporated a socialization aspect to the app where you can create a profile, add friends, and carry out friend quests together. You can congratulate and encourage friends and these features not only incentivize you to keep going since your friends can see your progress but also contribute to their organic growth.

Characters and notification:

There are characters created within Duolingo that have specific personalities making Duolingo feel more relatable (and dare I say human) than the robotic and impersonal nature of apps. As social beings, we always gravitate toward experiences that are personified/feel human.

Duolingo sends notifications often and they use their characters’ personalities to keep the notifications varied, interesting and compelling.

Outside the App, Duolingo is very active on social media, and not only do they create content on their pages - they are active on other people’s comment sections - which means they get ‘free’ visibility by commenting on other people’s posts. Honestly, this is a massively underrated tactic that start-ups are sleeping on!

Last but not least - Duoling recently changed their app icon to some distorted, tired-looking version of Duo and I believe this was truly for talkability's sake - I have seen TikToks, podcasts, Reddit, and even LinkedIn posts of people speculating why the icon is so - many thought that it’s because they haven’t been taking their lessons - but as a daily user I disagree because my icon was the same - it doesn’t matter though - people are talking about it left right and center and more people are converting from these conversations.

These tactics are not new, Duolingo just took them and RAN with them - so I urge you today to look into your product or service - what can you borrow from Duolingo that will increase brand awareness, talkability, active users, or retention of your offering?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

P.S: Great satisfaction comes from sharing with others

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