Super Gifting
0→1 Product · Monetization · Mobile + Web
$22K/day in incremental bookings
Design lead for a 0→1 subscription gifting experience, launched as a small experiment and scaled into a major holiday revenue surface.
Context
Learners deeply value their streaks, and Duolingo already celebrates milestone moments with strong visual language.
This project explored whether those same moments could invite learners into a purchase experience, i.e. reframing a discount as something earned, not offered.
Timeframe
March - April 2025
From Idea to Experiment
Hypothesis: Would learners be willing to buy Super for someone else?
We launched a small, focused v1 to validate the behavior before investing heavily.
Outcome
$4K/day on launch
Clear signal that gifting unlocked new purchase intent
Iterating Toward Scale
Early signal showed gifting worked - but only when the value was immediately clear and the experience felt flexible.
Expanding options, including offering Family Plan as a gift
Clarifying value, with a bulleted list of what the recipient gets
Testing new hooks, to better frame gifting as a thoughtful gesture rather than a purchase
Outcomes
Steady growth through fall
Clear signal to scale for the holiday season
Scaling for the Holidays
By winter, gifting became a prominent seasonal surface.
The experience was expanded with new hooks and polished to support high-volume holiday traffic without losing its emotional core.
Outcomes
$80K/day peak bookings (Dec 19)
$466K bookings in December
Modular monetization pattern that can be used for any holiday
