With These Tools, Blinkist Makes Its Million App Users Happy

Martin Gardt9/13/2023

The short text app relies on a subscription model - this does not work without the appropriate software.

Table of contents
  1. Scaling and Understanding
  2. Managing subscriptions - and informing about them
  3. Good cooperation is the deciding factor
  4. These are the tools that Blinkist uses
For nearly ten years, Blinkist has been providing its users with the key points of non-fiction books in an app. The basis of the business model: functioning technology - especially for managing subscriptions. Sebastian Schleicher, Co-CTO of Blinkist, shows us behind the scenes which tools the successful German startup relies on.
If you want to learn something in short time windows, you should definitely take a look at Blinkist. The company founded in 2012 summarizes non-fiction books in its app in so-called Blinks - key statements that can be read in about 15 minutes. In so-called Shortcasts, there are the also in 15-minute listening versions. The concept is catching on. According to its own statements, Blinkist has over 19 million users from all around the world. The company generates revenue through a subscription model. Unlimited access to over 4,500 Blinks costs €12.99 per month. If you take out an annual subscription straight away, you pay €79.99 - €6.67 per month. But which tools does Blinkist use to manage all the content and users?
In our series „Tech Stack“ companies from the digital sector reveal which tools they use and why they have chosen precisely these software solutions. Do you want more information about suitable tools? Then check out our software rating platform OMR Reviews.

Scaling and Understanding

Sebastian Schleicher, Co-CTO bei Blinkist
Sebastian Schleicher, Co-CTO at Blinkist
Even though Blinkist was early in the app business, one marketing channel was huge for success. „Without Facebook Ads we wouldn’t have been able to scale so successfully“, says Blinkist Co-CTO Sebastian Schleicher to OMR. „We have maxed out Lookalike Audiences from Facebook and internally constantly optimized and automated, which audiences we should upload.“
Decisive for the scaling of an app model in a second step is to understand from which channel, which campaign new users really come from. For this, Blinkist uses the tool Adjust in operation, which recently celebrated one of the biggest exits in the adtech business. Blinkist is also based in Berlin - they know each other. „We have used Adjust for Mobile Ad Conversion Tracking from the beginning. The huge advantage: Campaigns can be measured across the media break. Normally, the information about new users is lost from the App Store“, explains Schleicher. Even after Apple's privacy initiative, the tool provides reliable attribution - preventing the marketing team from flying blind.

Managing subscriptions - and informing about them

At least as important as understanding the behavior of users is for Blinkist the working management of subscriptions – which are central to the business model. „We use Recurly for our subscription management. With this, you are buying something that otherwise you would have to build yourself“, says Sebastian Schleicher. The tool offers the complete technical infrastructure, which is needed for a subscription model: management of payments, invoicing, handling of free trial periods. Using such a tool allows Blinkist to scale the subscription business worldwide – without having to make a big effort with its own developers. „My technology approach: Focus on your company's core asset and build only that yourself. Buy everything else, otherwise it will always be more expensive in the end“, says Schleicher. „We would never outsource our content management system.“
Blinkist Abo
This is how Blinkist informs its customers about the subscription model. The technology behind it is provided by the tool Recurly
Directly related to the subscription management is the customer relationship management (CRM). Customers who have cancelled need to be reactivated and those who cancelled during the free trial period need to be addressed. And because there is also a free version with one Blink per day included, Blinkist also knows many potential customers for the paid version. „Our B2C CRM mainly runs on Braze. With this, we realize for example email campaigns or send users the suitable offer directly to the apps after registration“, explains the Co-CTO of Blinkist. In combination with another tool, Braze also helps to send individual mail offers: „We use Amplitude, to analyze the behavior of users in the app and build dashboards for this. By now, data from here can also be exported directly to Braze and we can thus address new user segments without any additional technical effort.“

Good cooperation is the deciding factor

Perhaps the most important tools for the company but have less to do with technological processes, as rather with a human level. „Mail, Calendar, Docs, Drive. Google Workspace is the all-in-one solution for the largest parts of our business. From business reports, over meeting alignment, mails, central login. Our entire company is built on Google. It's simply, uncomplicated, extremely reliable, and super integrated“, says Sebastian Schleicher. „We wanted a solution that worked completely in the browser and was in use worldwide at the same time. When we founded Blinkist, Google was a pioneer in this area, and we still love the toolsuite today.“
For internal communication, another software is also used: „Like probably many, we also rely on Slack for our internal communication. We have been Slack customers for years and are delighted with the steady growth of the platform“, says Schleicher. „We come from a chat generation and knew from the start that emails were not the appropriate medium. Therefore, we decided very early on for the newcomer in the business chat environment at the time.“ To keep an eye on internal projects, Blinkist relies on Asana – and thus completes the internal communication triad, which OMR also uses,. „Project management mainly runs on Asana. Only our product development uses Jira. Asana also serves us for meeting control with agendas, notes, etc.“, says Sebastian Schleicher and thus comes to the big problem child in Blinkist's tech stack.
„The entire product development depends on Jira, although the tool is rather bad and outdated. The software has been milked by Atlassian for years and only recently started to be developed slowly and badly. I'm surprised that nobody has been able to compete with Jira“, he explains. Sebastian Schleicher should definitely keep an eye on the category „Project Management Software & Tools“ on OMR Reviews. Perhaps with the help of your ratings he will soon find a better alternative.

These are the tools that Blinkist uses

Here's a list of all the tools that are used at Blinkist:


Martin Gardt

Martin kümmert sich vor allem um neue Artikel für OMR.com und den Social-Media-Auftritt. Nach dem Studium der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft ging er zur Axel Springer Akademie, der Journalistenschule des Axel Springer Verlags. Danach arbeitete er bei der COMPUTER BILD mit Fokus auf News aus der digitalen Welt und Start-ups. Am Wochenende findet Ihr ihn auf der Gegengerade im Millerntor.

All Articles of Martin Gardt

Software mentioned in the article

Product or service categories mentioned in the article

Product Management
Product management software is a specialized digital solution that helps businesses efficiently organize, plan and execute product management tasks and processes. It offers a variety of features and tools that assist product managers, product teams, and other stakeholders in developing, managing, and optimizing products throughout their entire lifecycle. These software solutions encompass a broad range of features for organizing and executing informed product plans. A key feature is requirement management, which allows for capturing, documenting, and prioritizing customer requirements, market needs, and internal objectives. This ensures structured management and tracking of requirements throughout the entire product development process. Furthermore, product management tools offer features for idea and innovation management. Teams can capture, evaluate and promote the exchange of innovative concepts. This enables collaborative teamwork to generate and assess new product ideas. Product management software also includes features like roadmapping and release management. These enable visualization of product roadmaps with planned features, milestones, and schedules. Release management ensures a coordinated and timely market introduction of products that meet the requirements. Unlike project management software, the focus in product management is specifically on the requirements of product management. While product management software focuses on planning, coordinating and executing projects in general, product management software offers specific features and tools tailored to the unique challenges of product management. It assists in the development and management of products throughout their entire lifecycle, from idea generation and requirement definition to market release and continuous improvement. To be included in the product management category, a tool should include the following features: * Users should be able to prioritize development tasks and organize them in a backlog list * Roadmapping features to track product development progress * Integration with tools for analyzing user feedback and tracking bugs * Provision of analysis on product releases * Creation and development of software products and features
Subscription-Management
Subscription management software helps companies track all activities related to the sale of subscription-based products. In addition to popular Software-as-a-Service subscriptions (SaaS), more and more companies are offering digital and even physical products in a subscription model. Most departments in subscription-based companies can use subscription management software, but these software programs are primarily used in sales, marketing, or accounting. Subscription management systems are offered either as full-fledged software suites or as standalone solutions. Subscription management suites combine multiple software solutions such as subscription billing software and subscription revenue management software. Standalone software provides all subscription management features in an integrated system. Subscription management software can be integrated with other software solutions such as e-commerce platforms, payment tools, and accounting software. Tools for managing subscriptions offer all the features to define and manage different subscription plans for software, digital and/or physical products, manage the prices of subscription packages and discounts and special offers, and give users the ability to customize their plans, packages and multi-year contracts. The software also allows you to measure sales and revenue generated by subscriptions and manage renewals, cancellations, and other changes to subscriptions. Furthermore, subscription management software helps identify new sales opportunities, such as up-selling and cross-selling, stores customer information such as invoices, contracts and payments, and enables automatic payments via a selection of different payment methods.
Customer Engagement Plattform (CEP)
A Customer Engagement Platform is a technology platform that enables businesses to interact with their customers via various channels, strengthen their relationships, and build long-term loyalty. In contrast to traditional Customer Data Platforms, such platforms stand out due to their ability to deliver and coordinate results in real-time across all online touchpoints (e.g., display advertisements) and onsite touchpoints (such as product listings, shopping carts, etc.). This real-time synchronization allows businesses to respond immediately to current developments and individual customer interactions, thus continually improving the customer experience. An attribute of advanced CEPs is their ability to expand user profiles with each additional click within the same session. This dynamic profile creation allows for a precise and constantly updated view of the customers' needs and preferences, enabling more personalized and relevant interactions. In addition, AI is increasingly being used in Customer Engagement Platforms to provide a deeper and nuanced understanding of the customer base. Another feature of modern CEPs is their innovative data management. Through efficient data processing, real-time operation of the platform is possible at comparatively low costs. This is particularly important as fast reaction times and updates in customer interaction can be crucial. To qualify as a Customer Engagement Platform, a tool should have the following characteristics and features: * Centralized customer management * Multichannel capabilities for communication * Process automation * Features for customer retention and personalization * Analysis and reporting functions
Web Analytics
Web Analytics Tools measure the traffic on websites and online shops, giving operators an overview of how many users visit each day. This way, owners of an online presence know who visits their website, where the users come from, and which content and areas are performing well. Demographic data, online conversions, and other metrics provide companies with insight into customer behavior and thus potential for optimizing the website. Therefore, the use of a Web Analytics Tool can be crucial for success and differentiation from the competition. Web Analytics Tools usually consist of the following functions: Measurement of traffic (total visits, sessions of individual visitors, behavioral analysis and the medium through which the visitor came), segmentation of traffic by device, demographics, geography and groups of people, real-time measurements and tracking of specific conversions such as a completed purchase. To fully understand, analyze, and optimize your website or online shop, Web Analytics Tools have become indispensable. Web Analytics Tools are often used in conjunction with Content Management Systems or Shop Systems to analyze user behavior. They also often offer integrations to Conversion Rate Optimization Software as well as A/B testing software to optimize the user experience. You want to improve in the field of Web Analytics and learn from experts? Then the OMR Professionals Guide to Digital Marketing Analyticswith over 100 pages of concentrated expert knowledge is just the thing for you. If you prefer an e-learning format, you can further educate yourself in the 10-week OMR Academy Digital Marketing Analytics E-Learning Course and learn everything you need to know about Web Analytics.
Office Suites
Office Suites (also known as office packages) are software packages that include a variety of applications needed for daily work in companies. Basic components of such a suite are word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. Often, additional applications such as email programs, databases or simple graphics programs are also included. For companies, Office Suites are of great importance as they combine a variety of functions in one package, thus facilitating work and keeping costs manageable. By using an Office Suite, work processes can be made more efficient, resulting in time and cost savings. In addition, the use of an Office Suite can enhance the quality of work results and improve teamwork. A software must contain at least the following functions and features to be considered an Office Suite: * An application for word processing * A spreadsheet software * A presentation software
Business Instant Messaging
Instant messaging services for businesses, also known as instant messaging services or business messenger platforms, are used in organizations and enable easy and fast communication using text-based instant messages. In addition to sending messages between individuals, employees can communicate in predefined groups or teams using instant messaging software. Some instant messengers also offer other forms of communication such as voice chats, video chats or the recording of video and voice messages. Instant messengers respond to the fast pace of today's communication and the requirements for remote work. They make many emails unnecessary, as simple questions or concerns can be clarified uncomplicatedly via instant message. Furthermore, business messaging services have the advantage that no personal or business phone number is needed to quickly contact colleagues. The business messenger apps of the providers can also be easily used on Android phones or iPhones. Other features of instant messenger tools include the sending of media such as photos and videos. They also offer many practical add-ons such as tagging or linking people, notifications and reminders and the ability to set a status. Additionally, they often offer integrations and interfaces with project management tools, task management software, cloud storage, CRM systems, HR software and more. Instant messenger providers are often part of a social intranet solution or are used as a supplement to it. The biggest difference to video conferencing software is that the focus of instant messaging services is on continuous and immediate communication with text messages and usually only offer video calls with individuals. Video conference tools on the other hand are designed for video calls with more than two participants at a fixed date and additionally offer a chat function.
Project Management
Project management solutions aid users in managing team goals and long-term projects, as well as coordinating individual tasks. In a nutshell: they assist project managers in planning and executing their projects. Among other things, this can enhance personal and team productivity, tasks can be clearly divided and individually allocated, and progress can be tracked. Furthermore, schedules can be created and viewed at any time. Thanks to integrated chat functions, teams remain in constant contact. Especially in larger projects, project management solutions can contribute to ideally coordinating tasks. They can be used in every industry in principle. Some solutions are more focused on planning (calendars, to-do lists, milestones, etc.), while others are more focused on collaboration (forums, chats, whiteboards, etc.). However, there are also hybrid solutions available. The key here is which solution best suits one's own or the company's needs. In many cases, it may also make sense to combine multiple solutions. Good to know: Project management solutions are closely related to task management solutions, but they differ in size and scope. While the former ensure that users can manage teams of individuals, plan resources sensibly, and measure effectiveness, the latter merely show individual efforts and deadlines and ensure that projects can be managed autonomously.

Related articles