Simon & Schuster, a globally recognized publishing leader, is redefining language education with its highly regarded Pimsleur Language Programs. Offering immersive audio lessons and practical vocabulary training via web and mobile applications, Pimsleur delivers a seamless, flexible, and engaging learning experience for users anytime, anywhere.
A strategic approach to innovation and growth
As its user base expanded, Simon & Schuster seized the opportunity to further enrich the Pimsleur platform by continuously investing in innovation. Through advanced data analytics, streamlined operations, and enhanced team collaboration, they have elevated performance, improved customer satisfaction, and unlocked new monetization opportunities.
To drive this evolution, Simon & Schuster partnered with Thoughtworks in 2017, embarking on a long-term collaboration to expand digital capabilities, enhance the learning experience, and future-proof the platform. Over the years, this partnership has fueled a series of strategic advancements, focusing on three key areas:
1. Advancing the customer app experience
With continuous enhancements, including AI-driven features and personalized content, the Pimsleur app delivered an immersive, intuitive, and engaging learning journey grounded in the proven Pimsleur Method. Regular updates enhanced functionality, ensuring users enjoyed a seamless, feature-rich experience that evolved with their needs.
2. Enhancing backend systems for seamless product and entitlement management
By strengthening the backend architecture of the Pimsleur app, we enabled scalable and efficient management of language course offerings and user entitlements. This upgrade allowed teams to focus more on enriching the learner experience rather than managing operational complexities. A centralized system gave administrators greater control over course configurations, streamlined B2B and direct-to-consumer sales workflows, and improved tracking of learner progress. It also unlocked opportunities for personalized, data-driven marketing and simplified integrations across our digital ecosystem.
3. Transforming the website and e-commerce experience
A re-engineered e-commerce platform and revamped website created a seamless, high-performance digital experience. This included the creation of a proprietary e-commerce front end for pimsleur.com, which significantly improved stability, flexibility, and ease of order management. A newly developed CMS empowered administrators to quickly update website content, while a streamlined purchasing experience ensured greater reliability and customer satisfaction.
Innovation milestones
Through its partnership with Thoughtworks, Simon & Schuster has delivered a series of transformative enhancements across the Pimsleur digital experience. The mobile and web apps were relaunched with innovative features that improved accessibility and boosted user engagement. Behind the scenes, the team built a scalable backend system to manage customer entitlements, track learning progress, support B2B sales, and enable seamless platform integrations. Building on this foundation, AI-powered features like Voice Coach for pronunciation and bite-sized Mini Lessons enriched the language-learning journey. Most recently, the launch of a custom-built e-commerce front end for pimsleur.com significantly enhanced site stability, operational flexibility, and streamlined order management.
The right technology stack for an evolving product
Simon & Schuster and Thoughtworks built a future-proof platform using AWS cloud technologies, including:
Reliable hosting on AWS S3.
API-driven automation powers essential workflows, data transfer, and premium features, significantly enhancing accessibility and user experience.
AWS CloudWatch for real-time monitoring, business analysis, and quick issue resolution to ensure 24/7 stability and optimal performance.
Powering continuous improvement with DAMO Managed Services
As the Pimsleur platform grew in both functionality and user base, Simon & Schuster recognized the importance of ensuring seamless performance, efficient product updates, and sustainable growth. To support this expansion, they partnered with Thoughtworks’ Digital Application Management and Operations (DAMO) services, enabling them to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and drive continuous improvement.
To improve collaboration between maintenance and delivery teams, infra-as-code was implemented for all environment setups to provide uninterrupted support across the platform. Machine learning algorithms were integrated to optimize app infrastructure and management, automate routine tasks and improve the quality of software updates and patches. These advancements led to an improvement in incident management through DAMO’s detect and respond root cause analysis, significantly boosting efficiency.
Outcome: Improved customer experience and continued growth
The integration of advanced DAMO services has dramatically boosted the efficiency of critical customer information APIs. These optimizations ensure users receive faster, more accurate responses, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and engagement.
As a result, Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur Language Programs has continuously grown monthly active users, and App store ratings consistently rose above 4.3 on Android and 4.5 on iOS.
This expanding, satisfied user base has enabled Simon & Schuster to amplify their societal contributions. By widening access to premium educational resources, they continue to support lifelong learning and promote cultural appreciation worldwide.
Powered by Thoughtworks’ DAMO services and an advanced tech stack, Pimsleur Language Programs are set to achieve ongoing growth and deliver immersive, next-level language-learning experiences worldwide.
By continuously iterating to optimize performance and user experience, Thoughtworks helped us achieve significant growth in user volume and revenue.
