⚡️ Product Strategy
🖋️ Case study
Supporting Learning on the Go with Read Aloud
Helping students fit study into their daily lives by launching Read Aloud — a feature that doubled mobile engagement, increased long-term reading, and became a highly valued tool among multitaskers and neurodivergent learners.
Context
Perlego’s mobile user base was growing rapidly, especially among students juggling study with work, commuting, or daily routines. Feedback and usage patterns revealed an unmet need: users wanted to continue learning even when reading wasn’t possible. At the same time, we saw an opportunity to improve accessibility and make the platform more inclusive.
Our goal was to explore, prototype, and launch a Read Aloud feature that was simple, intuitive, and aligned with different user needs — from multitaskers to neurodivergent learners.
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My role
I co-led the initiative to bring Read Aloud to mobile. I partnered with product and engineering to define scope, user stories, and success metrics. I conducted qualitative research, usability testing, and worked closely with QA to ensure a smooth and inclusive playback experience. I also supported our go-to-market and internal alignment efforts to position Read Aloud as a learning enabler, not just an accessibility feature.
Approach
🎧 Feature scoping & rollout planning
Defined Read Aloud MVP and planed progressive releases
🧪 Usability testing
Ran qualitative sessions on playback speed, chapter transitions, and multitasking behaviour.
🛠 Experience optimisation
Refined key pain points like start/end location cues and voice pacing based on feedback.
📊 User & engagement research
Identified power users most likely to benefit (Extenders, Researchers, Assignees), with tailored testing across these segments.
💬 Feedback collection loop
Measured satisfaction and repeat usage intent through post-use surveys.
🚩 Accessibility-first design
Ensured WCAG compliance, voice clarity, and ease of control for users with different needs.
Audio wasn’t just a support feature — for many students, it became a preferred way to absorb knowledge. Read Aloud helped learners fit Perlego into more moments of their day, turning passive time into productive learning.
Designing a seamless experience for multitaskers, ensuring feature discoverability, accessibility, and clarity across iOS and Android.
We introduced smart onboarding, intuitive playback controls, and in-context prompts (like “end of chapter” alerts), improving adoption and user satisfaction — with 33% of mobile users engaging with Read Aloud.
Make audio learning intuitive and flexible — helping users listen on their terms while highlighting key capabilities.
Driving activation and creating feedback loops
We designed lightweight prompts and contextual banners, launched feedback modules, and supported a smooth beta rollout — leading to double the engagement for app RA users vs. web-only and increased LTV among adopters.
Drive awareness, trial, and feedback loops for Read Aloud to guide refinement and rollout across platforms.
Outcomes
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100% coverage of eligible ePubs with Read Aloud
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33% of mobile app users adopted Read Aloud, with 70% content coverage
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Read Aloud adopters were twice as likely to read 3+ books in their first 4 months
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In the US, RA users read more and stayed longer than non-users
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Engagement doubled for users who adopted RA, compared to web-only users
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Most users rated it “easy” to use (50%) and over 60% said they’re likely to use it again
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User quote: “I enjoy the read aloud. I’m usually on the go so being able to glide this feature is great.”
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Learnings
Read Aloud reminded us that accessibility is not a niche — it’s a multiplier. By giving users more ways to engage on their terms, we increased both inclusion and retention. It also proved the value of rolling out progressively with feedback loops, allowing us to refine the experience in real-time. This feature changed how students interacted with Perlego — making learning truly portable.