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Perlego Mobile Strategy

Repositioning Perlego’s mobile app as a learning companion — not a secondary product.

I led the strategic effort to define mobile’s unique value and shape a roadmap that increased weekly reading time by 42%, boosted the iOS App Store rating from 3.7 to 4.5 and Android from 3.2 to 4.0 

Context

As Perlego’s mobile usage continued to grow, it became clear that the app had untapped potential beyond simply replicating the web experience. With mobile offering unique behaviours and use cases — particularly for students learning on the go — we saw an opportunity to define a clear product strategy that would reposition the app as a core part of the learning experience. The challenge was to align the team and stakeholders around this new vision, understand how users were engaging with the platform, and shape a roadmap that reflected mobile’s distinct value within the product ecosystem.

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My role

I led the initiative to define the mobile app’s positioning and long-term strategy. I worked across discovery, user research, PMF analysis, stakeholder alignment, and roadmap definition to establish a new vision for mobile — one that recognised its unique value and role in students’ daily lives.

Outcomes

  • Delivered a clear, evidence-backed product strategy that repositioned mobile as a companion product, shaping roadmap priorities and influencing company-wide decision-making

  • Improved internal perception and secured continued investment in the mobile team

  • Introduced features aligned with mobile-first behaviours, including text-to-speech, offline reading, and a new onboarding experience

  • Weekly average reading minutes increased by 42% (from 22.4 to 32 mins), indicating deeper mobile engagement

  • Improved app store ratings by 8 points on both iOS and Android within six months

  • Defined a clear mobile audience and tailored in-app messaging accordingly

  • Failed download rate dropped by 40%, increasing trust in mobile onboarding and usability

  • Positive sentiment toward the app improved by 14 points, rising from 22% to 36% in a single quarter

Approach

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1. Grounding the Vision

  • Aligned with Perlego’s mission and the historical context of the mobile product

  • Facilitated discussions to highlight the importance of having a mobile-specific strategy

  • Brought stakeholders together to agree on success metrics, risks, and decision-making criteri

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2. Research & Discovery

  • Conducted user interviews and designed qualitative research around the mobile journey

  • Identified three behavioural user types: Deep Divers, Swimmers, and Skimmers

  • Mapped out end-to-end journeys from awareness → app discovery → content consumption → value recognition

  • Used PMF analysis, in-app data, and survey feedback to identify key friction points and opportunity areas

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3. Competitive & Strategic Insight

  • Compared user expectations with our current mobile value proposition

  • Performed competitor analysis to identify market gaps

  • Identified risks, strengths, and priority areas for improving content discovery, offline access, and onboarding

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4. Strategy Definition

  • Proposed a new product positioning: “Your learning companion on the go”

  • Prioritised features that matched the needs of mobile-first students (e.g. Read Aloud, offline access, onboarding)

  • Removed features that no longer aligned with the vision

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Learnings

This project was a turning point. It proved that mobile deserves its own narrative — not as a mirrored version of the web, but as a distinct product shaped by user behaviour and contextual needs.


By clearly framing the value of learning on the go, we shifted internal perception, created clarity for the team, and rebuilt confidence in the product’s potential. Most importantly, we were able to recenter the mobile experience around students’ real lives, making the product feel more relevant and useful — not just smaller.

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