Daily Missions
Turning a library into a personal trainer. Users opened the app and faced a library with no guidance. Daily Missions replaced it with one algorithm-assigned task per day, built around the Watch → Activate → Speak learning loop.
- +12%day-1 retention
- +18%day-2 retention
- +27%day-7 retention
- +20%week-2 retention
The project
- Role
- Product Designer + Product Manager
- Timeline
- September 2025–June 2026 (~9 months)
- Company
- RealLife English, B2C ESL app
- Team
- Head of Product, 2 engineers, marketing, analytics, teaching team
- Tools
- Figma · Maze · CleverTap · Firebase A/B · Claude
Executive summary
RealLife English had great content and a compelling methodology. What it didn't have was a path. Users opened the app and faced a library with no guidance. Daily Missions replaced the open-ended library with a single, algorithm-assigned task per day, structured around the Watch → Activate → Speak learning loop.
In an A/B test with new users, the new version beat the old one on every retention day with data: day 1 +12%, day 2 +18%, day 7 +27%, week 1 +14%, week 2 +20%. Rollbacks were very low for a full UX redesign. Results were measured right after launch, before any optimization.
The bet held for premium users. The open problem: most free users who complete one mission never return. That is a trigger problem, not a product problem.
PM signals
- Full lifecycle ownership: strategy through measurement, no PM above, no dedicated specialists below. Every research session, sprint, design decision and data question had major influence from me.
- Research-driven stakeholder alignment: used behavioral evidence to shift a product leader's preference, then collaborated to reach a stronger outcome than either starting position.
- Causal thinking in measurement: A/B test designed to isolate the product's effect from YouTube content, push campaigns and seasonal variation. Same cohort window, new users only.
- Honest impact reporting: distinguished directional signals from confirmed results. Flagged confounds proactively: a scarcity timer bug, an onboarding event gap, early-adopter self-selection in CSAT.
- Commercial diagnosis: identified that flat conversion reflected a free-tier activation gap preceding monetization, not a product quality or pricing problem. Handed off as prioritized input for the next roadmap phase.
Hands-on: product designer hybrid
I redesigned the transition art direction, the onboarding and the app's core screens, ran usability tests, and redesigned the new free and premium limits and flows.