This episode is shorter than usual and will be featured in RevenueCat’s State of Subscription Apps report. On the podcast: Keeping users engaged through habit-forming experiences, Duolingo’s approach to reactivating churned users, and why building daily habits is the foundation for long-term retention success. Top Takeaways: 🏎️ Act fast - most users don’t come back after a week The best time to re-engage a churned user is within the first three to four days . Duolingo found that users who stay away for longer become significantly harder to bring back. They send daily reminders for up to seven days , stopping when effectiveness drops. 📅 Use behavioral signals to personalize timing Instead of relying on fixed schedules, time win-back messages based on past engagement patterns . Duolingo schedules reminders 23.5 hours after a user last engaged , ensuring notifications land at a moment when the user is most likely to take action. 👥 Use social connections for long-term reactivation For users who have been inactive for weeks or months, social reactivation beats app-driven outreach . Duolingo prompts active users to bring back their friends, which consistently outperforms standard win-back campaigns - even leaderboard competitors drive higher reactivation rates than app reminders. About Jackson Shuttleworth: 🌟 Head of Retention at Duolingo, focused on keeping users engaged and driving daily habit formation through innovative features and thoughtful strategies. 📈 Jackson brings expertise in user reactivation, data-driven experiments, and crafting experiences that foster long-term loyalty and growth. 💡 "The easiest way to retain a user is to never let them churn. It’s all about building habits and delivering value consistently." 👋 Connect with Jackson on LinkedIn! Resources: Duolingo’s Website Follow us on X: David Barnard - @drbarnard Jacob Eiting - @jeiting RevenueCat - @RevenueCat SubClub - @SubClubHQ
