Eargo Inc (EAR) 2021 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Eargo First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded.

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，並歡迎參加 Eargo 2021 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，今天的電話會議正在錄音。

I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Nick Laudico, Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

現在我將會議交給東道主投資者關係副總裁 Nick Laudico 先生。先生，您可以開始了。

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Eargo First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. The press release and slides to accompany this call are available on our investor relations website at ir.eargo.com. Please note, we have also provided supplemental historical financial information at the end of the slide presentation. As a reminder, both this live call and a digital replay will be available on our IR website.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 Eargo 2021 年第一季財報電話會議。本次電話會議附帶的新聞稿和投影片可在我們的投資者關係網站 ir.eargo.com 上取得。請注意，我們還在幻燈片演示的末尾提供了補充的歷史財務資訊。謹此提醒，我們的 IR 網站上將提供現場通話和數位重播。

Joining me on today's call are Christian Gormsen, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Adam Laponis, Chief Financial Officer. Christian and Adam will provide prepared remarks, and then we will open the call to Q&A.

與我一起參加今天電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Christian Gormsen；亞當‧拉波尼斯 (Adam Laponis)，財務長。克里斯蒂安和亞當將提供準備好的發言，然後我們將開始問答環節。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that some of the matters discussed in this conference call will contain forward-looking statements regarding future events as outlined in our slides. We wish to caution you that such statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, are forward-looking in nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual events or results may differ materially. The factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially include, but are not limited to, factors referenced in our press release today as well as our filings with the SEC. We will also be discussing non-GAAP financial results on today's call. Please refer to today's press release and slide presentation for a full GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議中討論的一些事項將包含有關我們幻燈片中概述的未來事件的前瞻性陳述。我們希望提醒您，此類陳述是基於管理層當前的預期和信念，具有前瞻性，存在風險和不確定性，實際事件或結果可能存在重大差異。可能導致實際結果或事件出現重大差異的因素包括但不限於我們今天的新聞稿以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中提到的因素。我們也將在今天的電話會議上討論非公認會計準則財務表現。請參閱今天的新聞稿和幻燈片演示，以了解完整的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表。

With that said, I will now turn the call over to Christian.

話雖如此，我現在將把電話轉給克里斯蒂安。

Thank you, Nick, and good afternoon, everyone. Following a record fourth quarter, I'm pleased to report that we again delivered outstanding performance in the first quarter of 2021, further increasing our confidence in our 2021 guidance and longer term financial objectives.

謝謝尼克，大家下午好。繼創紀錄的第四季之後，我很高興地報告，我們在 2021 年第一季再次取得了出色的業績，進一步增強了我們對 2021 年指導和長期財務目標的信心。

Before turning the call over to Adam for a more detailed review of our first quarter financial performance and 2021 guidance, I will briefly highlight some of our key revenue and volume growth drivers and provide an update on the upcoming launch of Eargo 5, our most revolutionary product efforts.

在將電話轉交給Adam 更詳細地審查我們第一季度的財務業績和2021 年指導之前，我將簡要強調我們的一些關鍵收入和銷量增長驅動因素，並提供有關即將推出的Eargo 5 的最新信息，這是我們最具革命性的產品產品努力。

Starting on Slide 5. We delivered strong first quarter net revenue growth of approximately 74%. Our first quarter growth was particularly impressive given that we did not have the benefit of a new product launch or growth from repeat customers compared to the first quarter of 2020. We also delivered gross systems shipped growth of over 66% and a return accrual rate of approximately 23%, an improvement of 8 points year-over-year. Both revenue and volume growth in the first quarter were supported by several drivers.

從幻燈片 5 開始。與2020 年第一季相比，我們沒有從新產品的推出或回頭客的成長中受益，因此我們第一季的成長尤其令人印象深刻。率約23%，較去年增加8個百分點。第一季的營收和銷售成長均受到多個驅動因素的支持。

First is the further penetration into the insurance market. Our insurance opportunity remains large and underpenetrated as we are still only serving less than 2% of what we consider to be our immediately addressable insurance market. Secondly, growth was also driven by the continued scale-up of both digital marketing and our national media presence, driving consumer awareness of both our innovative products and the Eargo brand. These investments once again delivered volume growth across both cash pay and insurance customers, as we leverage our media dollars to attract multiple customer types and achieve scalability on operating expenses.

首先是保險市場的進一步滲透。我們的保險機會仍然很大，但滲透率較低，因為我們仍然只服務於我們認為可立即解決的保險市場的不到 2%。其次，數位行銷和全國媒體影響力的持續擴大也推動了成長，提高了消費者對我們創新產品和 Eargo 品牌的認識。這些投資再次帶來了現金支付和保險客戶數量的成長，因為我們利用媒體資金來吸引多種客戶類型並實現營運費用的可擴展性。

We know national advertising is a successful tool in attracting these diverse customer types and building consumer awareness of Eargo's innovative products, distribution model and telecare approach to audiology.

我們知道，全國性廣告是吸引這些不同客戶類型並提高消費者對 Eargo 創新產品、分銷模式和聽力學遠距照護方法的認識的成功工具。

What we continue to be impressed by are the ways in which our team continuously leverages data analytics to methodically balance the mix of digital, TV and traditional offline media. During the second quarter, we are investing in creative, website, support and training ahead of the late second quarter launch of Eargo 5, preparing to introduce this game-changing product to both new and existing customers. Supporting all of this growth is what we believe is the most established and integrated telecare model in the hearing industry today, an important part of our competitive moat.

令我們印象深刻的是，我們的團隊不斷利用數據分析來有條不紊地平衡數位、電視和傳統線下媒體的組合。在第二季度，我們將在第二季末推出 Eargo 5 之前對創意、網站、支援和培訓進行投資，準備向新舊客戶介紹這款改變遊戲規則的產品。我們認為，支持所有這些成長的是當今聽力產業中最成熟、最整合的遠距照護模式，這是我們競爭護城河的重要組成部分。

Our platform is simple, convenient, personalized, scalable and completely transforms the consumer journey. Consumers can schedule telecare appointments with our licensed hearing professionals before purchase, offering convenient clinical support and hearing screening in the comfort of their own home. This has proven to be a powerful conversion tool that we plan to further leverage with the launch of Eargo 5. But it doesn't stop with product purchase. This innovative infrastructure and highly trained team of telecare-based hearing professionals work just as hard post purchase to engage customers to sure -- ensure an outstanding customer experience and build long-term Eargo brand loyalty. It is becoming more evident that telecare is here to stay, not just in hearing but across health care.

我們的平台簡單、方便、個人化、可擴展，徹底改變了消費者的旅程。消費者可以在購買前與我們持有執照的聽力專家安排遠距照護預約，在舒適的家中提供方便的臨床支援和聽力篩檢。事實證明，這是一個強大的轉換工具，我們計劃在推出 Eargo 5 時進一步利用它。這種創新的基礎設施和訓練有素的遠距照護聽力專業人員團隊在購買後努力吸引客戶，以確保卓越的客戶體驗並建立長期的 Eargo 品牌忠誠度。越來越明顯的是，遠距護理將繼續存在，不僅在聽力領域，而且在整個醫療保健領域。

As a pioneer in bringing a vertically integrated telecare experience to hearing care, we believe we are all well positioned to lead the disruption of this large and underpenetrated market as more consumers realize that is simply a better, more efficient way to solve for hearing loss. We will continue to invest in telecare to extend our competitive advantage and support our long-term revenue growth expectations.

作為將垂直整合的遠距照護體驗引入聽力保健領域的先驅，我們相信，隨著越來越多的消費者認識到，這只是解決聽力損失的一種更好、更有效的方法，我們都處於有利位置，能夠引領這個龐大且滲透不足的市場的顛覆。我們將繼續投資遠距護理，以擴大我們的競爭優勢並支持我們的長期收入成長預期。

Turning now to Slide 6, and a key growth driver for the second half of the year, Eargo 5. We are incredibly excited as we approach the initial launch of our most revolutionary product ever, late in the second quarter. As we've discussed, Eargo 5 will be operating on a completely new platform across hearing instruments, charger and mobile app. We have tested the product with a range of experienced users and the response has been nothing short of outstanding. Starting with the fundamentals of helping people hear better, our users have told us that Eargo 5 delivers significant sound quality and feedback cancellation improvements over an already impressive Neo HiFi. Eargo 5 will also deliver more audiological gain, allowing the device to fit more people with hearing loss at the more severe end of the moderate hearing loss category.

現在轉向 Slide 6，以及今年下半年的關鍵成長動力 Eargo 5。正如我們所討論的，Eargo 5 將在一個涵蓋助聽器、充電器和行動應用程式的全新平台上運行。我們已經與一系列經驗豐富的用戶測試了該產品，反應非常出色。從幫助人們聽得更好的基本原理開始，我們的用戶告訴我們，與已經令人印象深刻的 Neo HiFi 相比，Eargo 5 提供了顯著的音質和反饋消除改進。 Eargo 5 也將提供更多的聽力增益，使該設備能夠適合更多中度聽力損失類別中較嚴重的聽力損失人士。

Moving beyond the fundamentals, Eargo 5 will also feature a smaller physical design, allowing us to fit more people who previously may not have been good candidates for an in-the-canal design and/or improve fit for existing users such as me. But the feature we are most excited about is Eargo 5's in situ hearing screen and profile adjustment capabilities. Customers will be able to measure their hearing loss in real-time, in real situations versus inside an audio booth using the hearing aid itself either by themselves or while conducting a telecare appointment with one of our licensed hearing professionals. They can then calibrate their devices or work with our licensed hearing professionals to adjust the profiles and sound settings, which are pushed to the hearing aid in real-time while the device is in the ear canal. This is a new level of consumer experience, making an already easy to use product even easier while delivering the highest level of personalization.

除了基本功能之外，Eargo 5 還將採用更小的物理設計，使我們能夠適應更多以前可能不適合耳道內設計的人，和/或改善對像我這樣的現有用戶的貼合度。但我們最興奮的功能是 Eargo 5 的原位聽力螢幕和設定檔調整功能。客戶將能夠在真實情況下即時測量他們的聽力損失，而不是在音頻亭內使用助聽器本身或與我們的一位持證聽力專家進行遠距護理預約。然後，他們可以校準他們的設備或與我們持有執照的聽力專業人員合作來調整配置文件和聲音設置，當設備位於耳道中時，這些配置文件和聲音設置會即時推送到助聽器。這是一種新的消費者體驗水平，使本已易於使用的產品變得更加容易，同時提供最高水準的個人化。

Other features include a custom designed lithium-ion battery, co-developed with the world leader in microbatteries VARTA out of Germany, inductive charging with no metal contacts and waterproof functionality, all of which we believe will further improve the day-to-day functionality of the device that sits in a harsh environment, inside the ear canal.

其他功能包括客製化設計的鋰離子電池（與德國微電池領域的世界領導者 VARTA 共同開發）、無金屬觸點的感應充電和防水功能，我們相信所有這些都將進一步改善日常功能該設備位於耳道內的惡劣環境。

In parallel with the launch of Eargo 5, we are also launching a totally redesigned mobile companion app that will take user experience to new levels. This app will enable many of the functions I just described, such as in situ hearing assessment and profile adjustments as well as embedded telecare scheduling and video call functions, deepening the connection between the consumer and our licensed hearing professionals.

在推出 Eargo 5 的同時，我們也推出了一款完全重新設計的行動配套應用程序，它將把用戶體驗提升到新的水平。該應用程式將實現我剛剛描述的許多功能，例如現場聽力評估和配置文件調整以及嵌入式遠端護理安排和視訊通話功能，從而加深消費者與我們持證聽力專業人員之間的聯繫。

We believe the launch-related investments we are making in the second quarter will support an exciting Eargo 5 introduction to consumers, and we continue to expect a late second quarter launch with material revenue contribution beginning in the third quarter.

我們相信，我們在第二季度進行的與發布相關的投資將支持令人興奮的 Eargo 5 向消費者的推出，我們繼續預計第二季末的發布，並從第三季開始貢獻實質收入。

Before turning the call over to Adam, I want to deliver a special thank you to our R&D and software teams who have worked tirelessly to make this product everything we hoped it would be. We are incredibly fortunate to have such an impressive and dedicated professionals driving the future of Eargo and helping more people hear better.

在將電話轉給 Adam 之前，我要特別感謝我們的研發和軟體團隊，他們不懈地努力，讓這款產品成為我們所希望的一切。我們非常幸運能夠擁有如此令人印象深刻且敬業的專業人士推動 Eargo 的未來並幫助更多的人聽得更好。

Let me now turn it over to Adam for his review of our financial results.

現在讓我把它交給亞當，讓他審查我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Christian. Given Christian's thorough discussion of revenue drivers, I will start with gross systems shipped. As a reminder, we define the system as 2 hearing aids, a charging case and starter accessories shipped as a single unit.

謝謝，克里斯蒂安。鑑於 Christian 對收入驅動因素的深入討論，我將從已發貨的總系統開始。提醒一下，我們將該系統定義為 2 個助聽器、一個充電盒和入門配件作為一個單元發貨。

First quarter 2021 gross systems shipped were 11,704, up 66.5% year-over-year. The year-over-year change was driven by strong performance of our data-driven approach to demand generation, national advertising and increased penetration of the insurance market.

2021 年第一季系統總出貨量為 11,704 個，較去年同期成長 66.5%。這項同比變化是由我們以數據驅動的需求產生方法、全國性廣告和保險市場滲透率提高的強勁表現所推動的。

As expected, gross systems shipped were slightly down sequentially due to the strong holiday promotion volumes in the fourth quarter and a product launch in the second quarter of this year as compared to first quarter launches in previous years.

正如預期的那樣，由於第四季度的假日促銷活動強勁以及今年第二季度的產品推出（與往年第一季度的推出相比），系統總出貨量環比略有下降。

First quarter 2021 return accrual rate was 23.2% compared to 28.2% in the first quarter of 2020 and 24.2% in the fourth quarter of 2020. The reduction in our return rate was driven primarily by a higher mix of insurance customers.

2021 年第一季的應計回報率為 23.2%，而 2020 年第一季為 28.2%，2020 年第四季為 24.2%。

Moving to non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP operating expenses. Our discussion of financial metrics at the gross margin line and below will be on a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation expense. Please refer to our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation included in today's earnings release. First quarter non-GAAP gross margin was 72.2% compared to 63.2% in the first quarter of 2020 and 70.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020. The year-over-year gross margin expansion was primarily due to a decrease in sales returns as a percentage of gross systems shipped, higher average selling prices and lower cost of goods sold.

轉向非公認會計原則毛利率和非公認會計原則營運費用。我們對毛利率線及以下的財務指標的討論將基於非公認會計原則，其中不包括以股票為基礎的薪資費用。請參閱今天的收益發布中包含的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表。第一季非公認會計準則毛利率為 72.2%，而 2020 年第一季為 63.2%，2020 年第四季為 70.8%。百分比、更高的平均銷售價格和更低的銷售成本。

First quarter non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses were $15.0 million or 68.0% of net revenues compared to $10.7 million or 84.7% of net revenues in the first quarter of 2020. The increase was driven by expanded investments in demand generation, including national advertising as well as Eargo 5 launch preparations.

第一季非GAAP 銷售和行銷費用為1,500 萬美元，佔淨收入的68.0%，而2020 年第一季為1,070 萬美元，佔淨收入的84.7%。 ，其中包括全國廣告支出以及 Eargo 5 的發布準備工作。

Non-GAAP research and development expenses were $3.7 million or 16.8% of net revenues compared to $2.6 million or 20.9% of net revenues in the first quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses were $5 million or 24.8% of net revenues compared to $5.8 million or 46.1% of net revenues in the first quarter of 2020. On a non-GAAP basis, we experienced an increase in G&A due to higher costs associated with being a public company. These increases, however, were offset by IPO cancellation expenses incurred back in Q1 of 2020. Non-GAAP net operating loss for the first quarter 2021 was negative $8.2 million compared to a non-GAAP net loss of negative $11.2 million in the first quarter of 2020.

非GAAP 研發費用為370 萬美元，佔淨收入的16.8%，而2020 年第一季為260 萬美元，佔淨收入的20.9%。 %。然而，這些成長被2020 年第一季發生的IPO 取消費用所抵銷。美元。

Finally, we had cash and cash equivalents of $201.6 million as of March 31, 2021.

最後，截至 2021 年 3 月 31 日，我們的現金和現金等價物為 2.016 億美元。

Now turning to guidance. Due to our high degree of confidence and our ability to drive growth and capitalize on the momentum in our business, we are raising full year 2021 net revenue guidance to $89 million to $93 million, up from $87 million to $93 million. We expect revenue growth to be driven by robust volume growth with stable customer ASPs and stable return accrual rates as compared to how we exited 2020. Looking at revenue cadence for the remainder of the year, we expect the second half of 2021 to generate approximately 52% of full year revenue.

現在轉向指導。由於我們充滿信心以及推動成長和利用業務勢頭的能力，我們將 2021 年全年淨收入指引從 8,700 萬美元至 9,300 萬美元上調至 8,900 萬美元至 9,300 萬美元。與2020 年結束時相比，我們預計營收成長將由強勁的銷售成長、穩定的客戶平均售價和穩定的回報應計率推動。產生約52佔全年收入的百分比。

Turning to gross margin guidance. We are reiterating GAAP gross margin guidance of between 68% and 71%. We are also reiterating non-GAAP gross margin guidance of between 70% and 72%. This guidance reflects our confidence in continued consumer adoption through the remainder of 2021, particularly with the launch -- initial launch of Eargo 5 in late Q2.

轉向毛利率指引。我們重申 GAAP 毛利率指引為 68% 至 71%。我們也重申非 GAAP 毛利率指引為 70% 至 72%。這項指引反映了我們對消費者在 2021 年剩餘時間裡繼續採用的信心，特別是在第二季末首次推出 Eargo 5 的情況下。

I would now like to turn it back to Christian for summary closing remarks.

現在我想把它轉回給克里斯蒂安，讓其總結總結發言。

Thanks, Adam. We are very pleased with our results for the first quarter of 2021 and how this momentum positions us for our strong 2021. We remain focused on executing our strategic initiatives this year, including driving volume growth through customer mix, scale-up of both digital and offline demand generation and of course, the launch of Eargo 5.

謝謝，亞當。我們對2021 年第一季的業績感到非常滿意，也對這一勢頭為我們在2021 年的強勁表現奠定了基礎。數位化和離線需求的產生，當然還有 Eargo 5 的推出。

Our initial progress on these initiatives gives us increased confidence in achieving our full year revenue and gross margin guidance. We remain focused on our mission of helping more people hear better and couldn't be more excited for what the future holds for Eargo.

這些措施的初步進展使我們更有信心實現全年收入和毛利率指引。我們仍專注於幫助更多人聽得更好的使命，並且對 Eargo 的未來感到無比興奮。

That concludes my prepared remarks, and I would like to turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.

我準備好的發言到此結束，我想將電話轉回給接線生進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Robbie Marcus of JPMorgan.

（操作員指令）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的羅比·馬庫斯。

Congrats on a nice quarter. Maybe to start, a couple of things. The first was, how did the mix of patients look in the quarter? You exceeded expectations. Was just hoping to get a better sense of, was it repeat customers, was it new direct-to-consumer customers? And how much was due to the insurance channel?

恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度。也許首先要講幾件事。第一個問題是，本季患者的組成如何？你超出了預期。只是希望更了解是回頭客還是直接面對消費者的新客戶？保險通路的費用是多少？

Good to talk, Robbie. Christian here. We saw growth in both cash pay and insurance. We did not see a lot of repeat, so that was significantly lower than we had seen in prior quarters as expected. So that was sort of the development. So again, where we are pleased is the fact that we were able to grow both cash pay and insurance and specifically on the mix item.

很高興說話，羅比。基督徒在這裡。我們看到現金支付和保險都有成長。我們沒有看到太多重複，因此這明顯低於我們在前幾個季度看到的預期。這就是發展的一部分。同樣，令我們感到高興的是，我們能夠增加現金工資和保險，特別是在混合項目上。

Yes. Again, it goes back to, Robbie, we were pretty close to where we were during that Q3 last year in the high-40s on insurance. So the mix came in pretty much in line with expectations. And we talked about it, I believe, in prior conversations. We expect the full year 2021 insurance mix to be roughly where it was in the back half of 2020, of the mid-40s.

是的。再說一次，羅比，我們在保險方面非常接近去年第三季的 40 多歲水準。所以這個組合幾乎符合預期。我相信，我們在之前的談話中討論過這個問題。我們預計 2021 年全年保險組合將大致與 2020 年下半年 40 年代中期的水平相同。

Got it. Okay. So it implies pretty nice direct-to-consumer growth as well in the quarter. So maybe second from me, the return rate, I think, it was a record low for you at 23%. Maybe you could just touch on what drove that. And I think in the past, we've been thinking maybe something like 25% was the low, but how low do you think this can trend down now as you're breaking barriers towards the bottom end here.

知道了。好的。因此，這意味著本季直接面向消費者的成長也相當不錯。那麼，也許我認為第二點是退貨率，我認為，這對你們來說是創紀錄的低點，為 23%。也許你可以談談是什麼推動了這一點。我認為在過去，我們一直認為 25% 之類的數字可能是最低值，但是當你打破這裡的底部壁壘時，你認為現在這個數字可以下降到多低。

Yes. No, no, you put it right. We are ahead of our own expectations, and I think this is really due to the diligence of our support team and how do we really keep optimizing the user experience. We're not changing our overall assumptions on what we can do with return rate. There will be fluctuations from time to time here. We definitely got a little bit of benefit by the slightly better mix that Adam just talked about on the insurance side. Again, it's early to say. We will keep hunting this one, but we're not changing our assumptions on where we can take the return rates going forward.

是的。不不不，你說得對。我們超越了我們自己的預期，我認為這確實歸功於我們支援團隊的勤奮以及我們如何真正不斷優化使用者體驗。我們不會改變我們對回報率的整體假設。這裡時不時會有波動。亞當剛才在保險方面談到的稍微更好的組合確實讓我們受益匪淺。再說一次，現在說還太早。我們將繼續尋找這一目標，但我們不會改變我們對未來回報率的假設。

Got it. And if I could squeeze one more in here. On guidance, you beat by $2 million versus the Street in first quarter. You raised the low end of guidance by $2 million as well. I know you typically have a very conservative approach towards setting expectations, but just want to make sure anything to read into that or it was just the low end and not the midpoint that went up or is it just really early in the year still?

知道了。如果我能再在這裡擠一個就好了。根據指導，第一季您比華爾街高出 200 萬美元。您還將指導下限提高了 200 萬美元。我知道你通常在設定預期方面採取非常保守的方法，但只是想確保有什麼可以解讀的，或者只是低端而不是中點上升，或者只是今年早些時候？

No, no. And again, we've been getting some great support and guidance here. And we feel great and -- given the strength of Q1, we feel even better about our full year guidance. But it is like you said, this is -- we're 1 quarter into a year and it's definitely tumultuous year that we are looking into. So we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but we do feel very good about where we are right now. So that's the logic.

不，不。再次，我們在這裡得到了一些強烈的支持和指導。我們感覺很棒，考慮到第一季的強勁表現，我們對全年指引感覺更好。但就像你說的，現在已經是一年的第一個季度，我們正在研究的這絕對是動蕩的一年。所以我們不想超前，但我們確實對現在的處境感覺很好。這就是邏輯。

Our next question comes from Margaret Kaczor of William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自威廉·布萊爾的瑪格麗特·卡佐爾。

I was hoping to start a little bit on the April trends or even at the beginning of May. Are you guys seeing any pullback potential in demand as audiologist clinics open up or patients begin to return there or you're actually seeing maybe more demand as patients start to go to restaurants and be mobile and try to be more in groups?

我希望從四月份甚至五月初開始了解一些趨勢。隨著聽力學家診所的開放或患者開始返回那裡，你們是否看到需求有任何回落的潛力，或者隨著患者開始去餐廳、流動並嘗試更多地分組，你們實際上看到可能有更多的需求？

Those are all valid questions there. Again, we don't give specific quarterly guidance in terms of what we're doing here. We're definitely seeing -- there's always moving pieces in the sort of demand landscape. I would say, we're really benefiting here from having multiple ways of driving our demand, be that through digital, be that through TV, be that through more direct mail activities as well. So we're not seeing any major changes that are changing any of our outlooks in terms of the business here. I think we -- what we really have built, Margaret, is a model that is really resilient to sort of large macro changes. And I think we also have the ability to adapt our media mix and how we focus our business based on what it's telling us. So this is something we track real-time and we're making adjustments real-time, but we are not giving sort of specific guidance to the quarter here.

這些都是有效的問題。同樣，我們不會就我們在這裡所做的事情提供具體的季度指導。我們確實看到──在需求格局中總是存在著變化的部分。我想說，我們確實受益於多種方式來推動我們的需求，無論是透過數字，透過電視，還是透過更多的直郵活動。因此，我們沒有看到任何重大變化會改變我們對這裡業務的任何看法。瑪格麗特，我認為我們真正建立的是一個能夠真正適應大型宏觀變化的模型。我認為我們也有能力根據媒體的資訊調整我們的媒體組合以及我們如何集中業務。因此，這是我們即時追蹤的內容，我們正在即時進行調整，但我們不會在此給出本季度的具體指導。

Okay. Fair enough. I had to try.

好的。很公平。我必須嘗試一下。

Of course.

當然。

So as we think of Eargo 5, and I'll have one more too. But as I think of Eargo 5 and that launch, I know you guys talked about it being more material in the back half of this year. What have you guys traditionally seen when you've launched a new product? Does that give you a short-term bolus, is it a long-term bolus? Does it help you on close rates? What are the metrics we should be looking at for success for that launch?

當我們想到 Eargo 5 時，我還會再擁有一台。但當我想到 Eargo 5 和那次發佈時，我知道你們談到今年下半年它會變得更加重要。當你們推出新產品時，通常會看到什麼？這是否為您提供短期推注，還是長期推注？它對您的成交率有幫助嗎？我們應該關注哪些指標來衡量此次發布的成功？

Yes. So really what we've seen, and I think the best example we have was the launch of Eargo HiFi last year in Q1. It's really a long-term impact. So for us, what's going to be key with Eargo 5, it's a brand new platform, everything is new around us and we do believe it has a lot of potential. The key is not to drive a short-term impact or a spike in Q3, but it's really -- this is a platform that we will be driving going forward. So that's really our emphasis. I think that's also the KPI, I would say. What is the user reception? Are we delighting that? And where we really see this as -- we see it on conversion rate, the other piece we see is really on returning customers, right? And I think this is where we do have expectations that we can drive a higher level of returning customers when we launch Eargo 5. And then the rest is more, how do we really continue to build the long-term growth of Eargo? And this is an important platform in terms of improving also our telecare approach given all the higher degree of personalizations and integrations that we can do.

是的。所以我們確實看到了，我認為最好的例子是去年第一季推出的 Eargo HiFi。這確實是一個長期的影響。所以對我們來說，Eargo 5 的關鍵是，它是一個全新的平台，我們周圍的一切都是新的，我們確實相信它有很大的潛力。關鍵不是要在第三季產生短期影響或飆升，但這確實是我們將推動的平台。這確實是我們的重點。我認為這也是 KPI。用戶接待情況如何？我們對此感到高興嗎？我們真正看到的是——我們看到的是轉換率，我們看到的另一部分實際上是關於回頭客，對嗎？我認為這就是我們確實期望在推出 Eargo 5 時能夠吸引更高水平的回頭客。鑑於我們可以做到的更高程度的個人化和集成，這是改進我們的遠距照護方法的重要平台。

Okay . And then just one last one for me. I was hoping to touch on competition a little bit just because we've started getting more questions around that. Have you seen any changes to the competitive environment either today or in the future and that could be some of the online services companies like hear.com or some of the other manufacturers maybe outside of the Big 5 that could be looking at you and saying, "Oh, I can just go ahead and copy you guys."

好的 。然後是我的最後一件事。我希望能稍微談談競爭問題，因為我們已經開始收到更多有關競爭的問題。您是否看到今天或未來的競爭環境發生了任何變化，這可能是一些在線服務公司（例如hear.com）或其他一些製造商可能在五巨頭之外，可能會看著您並說： “哦，我可以繼續模仿你們。

Expected from you.

對你的期望。

It's an easy one.

這是一件容易的事。

Yes, exactly. No, there's obviously a lot of things happening in the hearing industry. And I think it's proving the potential of this industry in general across hear.com, across Lively, Bose with their recent release, Sonova's recent acquisition of Sennheiser consumer. So there's definitely a lot of activity in this space. Back to my earlier comments about Eargo, I think we are not seeing that impact our business. To be fair, none of this outside Bose's announcement is new. Hear.com has been around, Lively has been around for a long time. So this is not anything -- it's not a new dynamic. In the industry, I think it's just more visibility. And so the industry, which is something we will always applaud. So we haven't seen anything that is sort of making us think extra hard about what we're doing. I think, if anything, we're feeling more confident that what we are building being fully vertically integrated is still a very differentiated and a unique value proposition that will hopefully continue to push our leadership in terms of driving penetration into this industry.

對，就是這樣。不，聽力產業顯然發生了很多事情。我認為，hear.com、Lively、Bose 最近發布的產品以及 Sonova 最近收購的 Sennheiser 消費者產品都證明了這個行業的潛力。所以這個領域肯定有很多活動。回到我之前對 Eargo 的評論，我認為我們沒有看到這對我們的業務產生影響。公平地說，除了 Bose 的公告之外，所有這些都不是新鮮事。 Hear.com 已經存在，Lively 已經存在很久了。所以這沒什麼——這不是一個新動態。在行業中，我認為這只是更高的知名度。這個行業也是如此，我們將永遠為之喝采。所以我們還沒有看到任何事情讓我們更認真地思考我們正在做的事情。我認為，如果有的話，我們更有信心，我們正在建構的完全垂直整合仍然是一個非常差異化和獨特的價值主張，有望繼續推動我們在推動滲透到這個行業方面的領導地位。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Larry Biegelsen of Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Larry Biegelsen。

A couple to start on Eargo 5. So Christian, what still needs to be done before you launch? And have you decided if there's going to be a price premium?

一對夫婦將開始使用 Eargo 5 那麼 Christian，在發布之前還需要做些什麼？您是否決定是否要溢價？

Good questions as always, Larry. Where we are with Eargo 5 is planning the back-end of the ramp. So this is more of the logistics supply chain piece of it. We have gone through our registrations and all of it, right. We are constantly monitoring all of the feedback we're getting from test users in terms of sort of the software experience. But from a hardware point of view, we're fully locked in and it's more a ramp, right? So now it's really tuning on the software and how do we actually position this the right way. Prior question to Margaret, our focus here is really how do we bring this new platform out in a way that allows us to continue to delight our customers? So that's really the time line piece of it or the remaining blocks in front of us.

一如既往的好問題，拉里。我們對 Eargo 5 所做的工作是規劃坡道的後端。所以這更多的是物流供應鏈的一部分。我們已經完成了註冊和所有的工作，對吧。我們不斷監控從測試用戶那裡獲得的有關軟體體驗的所有回饋。但從硬體的角度來看，我們已經完全鎖定了，它更像是一個斜坡，對吧？所以現在真正需要對軟體進行調整，以及我們如何以正確的方式實際定位它。之前問瑪格麗特的問題是，我們的重點實際上是如何以一種讓我們能夠繼續取悅客戶的方式推出這個新平台？所以這實際上是它的時間軸部分或我們面前的剩餘塊。

On the price point, we've debated this a lot. We believe it's very, very important to drive more access into this category. So we're not going to be introducing Eargo 5 at a premium and this is not out of a lack of confidence in the product. On the contrary, we do believe by bringing out a revolutionary product at a similar price point to what we're seeing today, we can drive hopefully even stronger conversions and motivate more people to get into the industry. So it's something that we, from a strategic point of view, are very proud of being able to do. And again, very consistent with what we baked into our guidance here just to preempt that question.

關於價格，我們已經爭論了很多。我們認為，推動更多人進入這個類別非常非常重要。因此，我們不會以溢價推出 Eargo 5，這並不是因為對產品缺乏信心。相反，我們確實相信，透過以與我們今天所看到的價格相似的價格推出革命性產品，我們有望推動更強勁的轉化並激勵更多的人進入該行業。因此，從策略角度來看，我們為能夠做到這一點感到非常自豪。再說一次，這與我們在此處納入指南的內容非常一致，只是為了先解決這個問題。

Christian, just to follow-up. How derisked do you think the late Q2 launch is, based on what you said that there are some software tweaks, how derisked is the late Q2 launch?

克里斯蒂安，只是為了跟進。根據您所說的一些軟體調整，您認為第二季末發布的風險有多大？

I feel very comfortable or else we wouldn't be talking about this openly on this call, right? I'm wearing the hearing aids, as we speak, right. I think for us, it's more how do we scale the launch, and that's why we're also saying, we will see material revenue impact in Q3. But from a product readiness point of view, both from a hardware point of view, from an acoustic point of view, I've never felt better around where we are, right? Obviously, there's a lot of things that you need to tie together at the end of the day, but sort of core hardware plus core audiological. This is the best I felt with any Eargo product launch.

我感覺很舒服，否則我們不會在這次電話會議上公開討論這個問題，對嗎？正如我們所說，我戴著助聽器，對吧。我認為對我們來說，更重要的是如何擴大發布規模，這就是為什麼我們也說，我們將在第三季看到實質的收入影響。但從產品準備的角度來看，無論是從硬體的角度還是從聲學的角度來看，我從來沒有對我們所處的位置感覺更好，對吧？顯然，最終您需要將很多東西結合在一起，但核心硬體加上核心聽力學。這是我在 Eargo 產品發布過程中感受最好的一次。

Christian and maybe, Adam, I'm trying to understand kind of the guidance and the Eargo 5 impact because the benefit seems so clear. And you said, kind of this is the biggest product launch in the company's history. So why wouldn't there be an inflection in the business given these large number of improvement? Your guidance seems to imply a modest sequential increase in dollar sales. If I look at that 52% for this year that you talked about, Adam, that's lower than what we saw in 2019, in 2020. So help me reconcile what seems like the pretty important and should be successful launch for you guys with the guidance you gave?

Christian，也許還有 Adam，我正在嘗試了解這種指導和 Eargo 5 的影響，因為它的好處似乎很明顯。你說，這是公司史上最大規模的產品發表。那麼，既然有如此大量的改進，為什麼業務不會改變呢？您的指導似乎意味著美元銷售額將適度持續成長。 Adam，如果我看看你提到的今年的 52%，這比我們在 2019 年和 2020 年看到的要低。給了？

Yes. No, no, maybe I'll start and I'll definitely let Adam give you the nuance here. I think what's been so important in everything that we've done from a guidance point of view, since we started exploring the public markets with you, has really been, we want to base it on what we've seen historically if we don't want to make assumptions to pushing things to a new level, right? That does not mean we're not going to lean into opportunities. We will always do that. And I hope -- I also believe that we have proven that we will do that. But in terms of basing our guidance on higher conversion rates or higher adoption, I think we would be putting a lot of risk into our guidance and that's not what we've set out to do. But Adam, you can probably provide more on that.

是的。不，不，也許我會開始，我一定會讓 Adam 告訴你這裡的細微差別。我認為，自從我們開始與大家一起探索公開市場以來，從指導的角度來看，我們所做的一切事情中最重要的是，我們希望以我們歷史上看到的情況為基礎，如果我們不這樣要做的話。這並不意味著我們不會抓住機會。我們將永遠這樣做。我希望——我也相信我們已經證明我們會做到這一點。但就我們的指導基於更高的轉換率或更高的採用率而言，我認為我們會為我們的指導帶來很大的風險，而這並不是我們打算做的。但是 Adam，你可能可以提供更多相關資訊。

Christian, you said it well. I think, Larry, my approach, the team's approach has always been, let's put into guidance things we know we can achieve and we feel very confident in. So we are -- you can hear it -- if you can't hear it from tone, I'll say it directly, we feel very good about having opportunity to meet and exceed our guidance in 2021. I think for me the biggest opportunity and the things I'm thinking about it as we built this are really around, let's not get ahead of ourselves on the pricing, let's not get ahead of ourselves on the REC rate, let's not get ahead ourselves in the volume. But we see opportunity across the board to outperform in every area on a full year basis.

克里斯蒂安，你說得好。我認為，拉里，我的方法，團隊的方法一直是，讓我們將我們知道可以實現並且我們感到非常有信心的事情納入指導。語氣上來說，我會直接說，我們對有機會在2021 年達到並超越我們的指導感到非常高興。著，我們不要在定價上超前，在 REC 利率上不要超前，在數量上不要超前。但我們看到全年各領域都有超越大盤的機會。

Got it. And just last from me. Christian, how are you thinking about the time lines for opportunities outside of the DTC model such as the omnichannel opportunity, international and other insured markets?

知道了。就在我最後。 Christian，您如何看待 DTC 模式之外的機會（例如全通路機會、國際和其他保險市場）的時間軸？

Yes. No, this is another part that we've really been doubling down on our investments in through Q1 and into Q2. So first of all, I believe in all of these opportunities. As we've spoken about before, specifically, given the construction and plan designs within the insurance markets, we're not expecting any meaningful insurance to happen inside this year. But there are a lot of moving elements in the marketplace right now given that obviously the world is opening up more and more and people can get out and about more, which is also opening some of the additional omnichannel opportunities. When and to what scale that's going to happen is hard to predict, but it's something that we are very focused on. We are building our teams to be able to execute on it. But I can't give any guidance on specific timing here other than when something happens we definitely believe that we are in the ready spot to participate when opportunities come up. I hope that's a fair way of putting it.

是的。不，這是我們在第一季和第二季確實加倍投資的另一部分。首先，我相信所有這些機會。正如我們之前談到的，特別是考慮到保險市場的建造和規劃設計，我們預計今年內不會有任何有意義的保險。但目前市場上有許多變化的因素，顯然世界正在變得越來越開放，人們可以出去走走，這也帶來了一些額外的全通路機會。這種情況發生的時間和規模很難預測，但這是我們非常關注的事情。我們正在建立我們的團隊，以便能夠執行它。但我無法就具體時間給予任何指導，除非發生某些事情，我們絕對相信，當機會出現時，我們已經準備好參與。我希望這是一個公平的表達方式。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Mr. Laudico for any closing remarks.

我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回勞迪科先生以供結束發言。

Thanks, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call today. This concludes the Eargo first quarter 2021 earnings conference call.

謝謝接線員，也謝謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。 Eargo 2021 年第一季財報電話會議到此結束。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect. Have a great day.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。你們都可以斷開連線。祝你有美好的一天。