Strategic friction via haptics and animations significantly boosts user retention
Jackson Shuttleworth · Behind the product: Duolingo streaks | Jackson Shuttleworth (Group PM, Retention Team) · Dec 15, 2024 · at 1:01:20
Duolingo Group Product Manager Jackson Shuttleworth discusses the retention psychology behind using tactile haptics and celebratory animations at milestone moments in the Duolingo app.
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“Your phone, you know, like there being a really cool haptic pattern as you extend your streak all of this stuff wins and it's cool because I think it wins There's a few reasons. One is it just makes you feel good, right? You know, you get some cool moment in your streak and we celebrate you and we celebrate you in this visual way and your phone's buzzing. It just like feels awesome. The other thing it does is it like causes you to pause on that screen. And I think there's this desire as you think through a lot of, you know, as PMs think through like, oh, how can I get users through this funnel as painlessly as possible? You know, I talked about good friction early. There's a lot of times where I don't, I want you to stop. I want you to stop and like land on this screen. You gotta be careful not to do this for too many screens, right? But like, for the one big ones, sometimes I just want you to pause there and enjoy the moment. Cause if I can get you to enjoy the moment more, you're gonna care more about your streak and you're gonna be coming back tomorrow. And so animations that are cool and that cause you to like really soak it in haptics, you know, that feel good. All of that comes together to make you really focus on that moment. All of that just gets users more connected to their streak. So animation in the right times works well. And it's something we've had when Quite a lot.”
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