LegalZoom.com Inc (LZ) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the LegalZoom fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Madeleine Crane, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 LegalZoom 第四季和 2023 年全年財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人、投資者關係主管瑪德琳·克蘭 (Madeleine Crane)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Welcome to LegalZoom's fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings conference call. Joining me today is Dan Wernikoff, our Chief Executive Officer; and Noel Watson, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，接線生。歡迎參加 LegalZoom 的第四季和 2023 年全年財報電話會議。今天加入我的是我們的執行長 Dan Wernikoff；以及我們的財務長諾埃爾·沃森 (Noel Watson)。

As a reminder, we will be making forward-looking statements on this call. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as believe, expect, plan, anticipate, will, intend, and similar expressions and are not and should not be relied upon as a guarantee of future performance or results.

提醒一下，我們將在這次電話會議上做出前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述可以透過使用「相信」、「期望」、「計劃」、「預期」、「意願」、「打算」和類似表達等詞語來識別，並且不能也不應被視為對未來業績或結果的保證。

Such forward-looking statements are based on management's assumptions and expectations and information available to us as of today's date. These forward-looking statements are also subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements.

此類前瞻性陳述是基於管理階層的假設和期望以及截至今天為止我們可取得的資訊。這些前瞻性陳述也受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。

These risks and uncertainties are referred to in the press release we issued today and in the Risk Factors section of our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.

我們今天發布的新聞稿以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-Q 表格最新季度報告的風險因素部分提到了這些風險和不確定性。除法律要求外，我們不打算公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述，無論是由於任何新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

In addition, we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. We use non-GAAP measures in making decisions regarding our business and we believe these measures provide helpful information to investors.

此外，我們也將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。我們使用非公認會計準則衡量標準來制定有關我們業務的決策，我們相信這些衡量標準為投資者提供了有用的信息。

These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are set forth in the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.legalzoom.com. I will now turn the call over to Dan.

這些非公認會計原則財務指標不應被孤立考慮，也不能取代根據公認會計原則編制的結果。所有非 GAAP 衡量標準與最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準的對帳均在我們網站的投資者關係部分列出，網址為 Investors.legalzoom.com。我現在將把電話轉給丹。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining our call. 2023 was a pivotal and productive year at LegalZoom. We deployed a new freemium lineup, built out multiple new subscription offerings and created a unified post formation experience. All of these accomplishments put us in a strong position as we enter 2024, and I'm excited to share the progress we continue to make against our strategy.

大家下午好，感謝您加入我們的通話。 2023 年對 LegalZoom 來說是關鍵且富有成果的一年。我們部署了新的免費增值產品線，建立了多個新的訂閱產品，並創建了統一的後期體驗。所有這些成就使我們在進入 2024 年時處於有利地位，我很高興與大家分享我們在策略方面繼續取得的進展。

But first, I'd like to recap the financial performance for the year, starting with Q4 results. In Q4, revenue came in at $159 million, up 8% year over year. Subscription revenue grew 17% and accounted for over two-thirds of the quarter's revenue.

但首先，我想回顧今年的財務業績，從第四季的業績開始。第四季營收為 1.59 億美元，較去年同期成長 8%。訂閱收入成長了 17%，佔該季度營收的三分之二以上。

Adjusted EBITDA for the period was $33 million, reaching a 21% margin. Formations, as measured by census data grew 9% in Q4. Largely as a result of terminating multiple partnerships and our decision to restructure our sales organization at the end of Q3, our total formations declined 2% year over year.

該期間調整後 EBITDA 為 3,300 萬美元，利潤率達 21%。根據人口普查數據衡量，第四季的編隊成長了 9%。主要由於終止多個合作夥伴關係以及我們在第三季末重組銷售組織的決定，我們的總組成數量比去年同期下降了 2%。

LLC units sold directly, where our premium lineup is end market grew slightly faster than the macro. We have now substantially lapped the impact of the new lineup rollout. For the full year 2023, we delivered the following business results. Revenue was $661 million or 7% increase year over year. Subscription revenue grew to $413 million, which represents growth of 15% for the year. Full year adjusted EBITDA increased 86% to $119 million, reaching an 18% margin.

LLC 單位直接銷售，我們的高階產品陣容是終端市場成長略快於宏觀市場的成長速度。我們現在已經充分感受到了新陣容推出的影響。2023 年全年，我們實現了以下業務成果。營收為 6.61 億美元，年增 7%。訂閱收入成長至 4.13 億美元，全年成長 15%。全年調整後 EBITDA 成長 86%，達到 1.19 億美元，利潤率達 18%。

The macro remained healthy throughout the year with census formations, up 8% year over year. In 2023, our business formations grew 23%, driving 14% share growth for the year. LegalZoom branded LLC growth was 29% for the year, over 3 times faster than the macro.

全年宏觀經濟保持健康，人口普查數據年增 8%。2023 年，我們的業務成長了 23%，帶動當年市佔率成長 14%。LegalZoom 品牌的有限責任公司今年的成長率為 29%，比宏觀經濟快 3 倍以上。

Taking an even longer view of this business from 2019, when I joined at the end of the year, we've seen the formations macro grow at a 12% compounded annual growth rate, while we've had a CAGR for LegalZoom formations of 19%.

從 2019 年我在年底加入時開始更長遠看待這項業務，我們看到編隊宏觀複合年增長率為 12%，而 LegalZoom 編隊的複合年增長率為 19 %。

During this time, the number of businesses that have formed with us annually has doubled to almost [600,000]. Equally important, our mix of subscriptions has increased from 51% to 62% of total revenue. Even though we believe very much in the long-term strength of this macro, our goal is to grow independent of it, shifting more revenue to subscriptions as the most critical strategy to achieve this dislocation.

在此期間，每年與我們合作的企業數量幾乎翻了一番[600,000]。同樣重要的是，我們的訂閱組合佔總收入的比例從 51% 增加到了 62%。儘管我們非常相信這一宏觀經濟的長期優勢，但我們的目標是獨立發展，將更多收入轉移到訂閱上，作為實現這一混亂的最關鍵策略。

As a result of this shift and continued formations growth, we've been able to grow our subscription revenue by 19% CAGR since 2019. We've been steadily recasting LegalZoom as a more modern software player in the legal compliance and now financial space. When I joined, we focused on bringing the right team. As we build out the broader organization, we invested heavily in infrastructure to enable more product velocity.

由於這一轉變和持續成長，自 2019 年以來我們的訂閱收入複合年增長率達到 19%。我們一直在穩步將 LegalZoom 重塑為法律合規領域和現在的金融領域更現代的軟體播放器。當我加入時，我們專注於打造合適的團隊。當我們建立更廣泛的組織時，我們在基礎設施方面投入了大量資金，以提高產品速度。

Modernizing our infrastructure has allowed us to drive better order efficiency, which in turn enabled the launch of our freemium lineup. We committed to being more product-led and less dependent on marketing spend, and we've clearly delivered against that objective, reducing our sales and marketing cost by 20% last year, while still increasing our SMB product sessions by 25%.

基礎設施的現代化使我們能夠提高訂單效率，從而推出我們的免費增值產品線。我們致力於更加以產品為主導，減少對行銷支出的依賴，我們已經明確實現了這一目標，去年將我們的銷售和行銷成本降低了 20%，同時仍將 SMB 產品會議增加了 25%。

This focus is what helped us to achieve a dual goal. Step-function increases in both share and profitability in 2023. As we delivered this new core lineup and increased efficiencies, we also invested heavily in building out e-signature, books, and business licenses into a completely redesigned MyLZ experience.

這種專注幫助我們實現了雙重目標。2023 年，份額和獲利能力將呈現階梯式成長。在我們交付這條新的核心產品線並提高效率的同時，我們也投入大量資金將電子簽名、書籍和營業執照建構成完全重新設計的 MyLZ 體驗。

We also released our AI-powered legal form summary tool Doc Assist. We fully revamped our legal forms library, and we set the foundation for our reimagined legal expert experience. We ended the year by launching a new compliance service LegalZoom's beneficial ownership information report or BOIR.

我們也發布了人工智慧驅動的法律表格摘要工具 Doc Assist。我們全面改造了法律表格庫，並為重新構想的法律專家體驗奠定了基礎。我們在年底推出了新的合規服務 LegalZoom 的受益所有權資訊報告（BOIR）。

This product helps customers satisfy the federally mandated reporting rules under the Corporate Transparency Act, which went into effect on January 1 of this year. This is a new federal compliance requirement by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN.

該產品可協助客戶滿足今年 1 月 1 日生效的《企業透明度法案》中聯邦政府規定的報告規則。這是金融犯罪執法網絡（也稱為 FinCEN）提出的新的聯邦合規要求。

This compliance requirement will impact roughly 90% of all business entities. Failure to comply with this new law can result in civil and criminal penalties. It's another example of how dynamic the compliance environment is in the US.

這項合規要求將影響約 90% 的商業實體。不遵守這項新法律可能會導致民事和刑事處罰。這是美國合規環境充滿活力的另一個例子。

We were one of the first to market with a solution with pre-sales of BOIR service launching in early December. To reinforce our position as our customers' trusted partner for legal and compliance matters, we've included the entitlement for our existing total compliant subscribers.

我們是首批推出解決方案的公司之一，並於 12 月初推出了 BOIR 服務預售。為了鞏固我們作為客戶在法律和合規事務方面值得信賴的合作夥伴的地位，我們為現有的所有合規訂戶提供了權利。

We're also marketing the service to our remaining customer base and net new customers engaged with LegalZoom for the first time as a result of this compliance requirement. We expect BOIR to be a contributor to our transaction units and revenue in 2024, and that contribution will be somewhat muted as we included for free with our most highly engaged subscribers.

由於這項合規性要求，我們也向剩餘客戶群和首次與 LegalZoom 合作的淨新客戶推銷該服務。我們預計 BOIR 將在 2024 年為我們的交易單位和收入做出貢獻，但這種貢獻將有所減弱，因為我們免費向參與度最高的訂閱者提供了這種貢獻。

As we look forward to 2024, as we've done each year since going public, we're establishing additional area of focus for the new year, While we're still laser focused on gaining share, in 2024, we're putting more emphasis on growing the lifetime value across our base of active customers.

正如我們展望 2024 年一樣，正如我們自上市以來每年所做的那樣，我們正在為新的一年建立更多的重點領域，雖然我們仍然專注於獲得份額，但在 2024 年，我們將投入更多強調提高我們活躍客戶群的終身價值。

We now have all the tools to enable better commercialization of our formation adjacent offerings and to better monetize our existing base post formation. While we do expect to rebuild share as we lap our partner exits in the back half of 2024, our plans to balance share gains with stronger revenue per customer.

我們現在擁有所有工具，可以使我們的編隊相鄰產品更好地商業化，並更好地使我們現有的基地後編隊貨幣化。雖然我們確實預計隨著我們的合作夥伴在 2024 年下半年退出，我們會重建份額，但我們計劃在份額收益與每位客戶的收入成長之間取得平衡。

Let's now turn to an update on progress against our strategy beginning with the first strategic pillar, scale the business. At the core of what we do, efficiently processing government filings is our most critical priority. Our investments in automation allowed us to process a material number of SMB orders in 2023 without any agent interaction. The main beneficiary as our customers as their orders are fulfilled quicker.

現在讓我們從第一個策略支柱——擴大業務——開始了解我們策略的最新進展。作為我們工作的核心，高效處理政府備案是我們最重要的優先事項。我們對自動化的投資使我們能夠在 2023 年處理大量中小企業訂單，而無需任何代理互動。主要受益者是我們的客戶，因為他們的訂單履行得更快。

In parallel, we continue to introduce integrated support through chat. The combination of both of these investments has meant that in 2023, we had a nearly 40% year-over-year decrease in voice contacts per order, while increasing our customer care Net promoter score. Put another way our variable cost press SMB order dropped by over 20% in the year.

同時，我們繼續透過聊天引入整合支援。這兩項投資的結合意味著，到 2023 年，我們每筆訂單的語音聯繫次數比去年同期減少了近 40%，同時提高了我們的客戶服務淨推薦值。換句話說，今年我們的變動成本印刷機 SMB 訂單下降了 20% 以上。

We're still mid-course in our investment in the fulfillment experience and have expectations for higher efficiencies in 2024. Separately, we continue to actively test our lineup. Over 60% of our base is now choosing the free formation package as part of their initial purchase.

我們對履行體驗的投資仍處於中期，並期望在 2024 年實現更高的效率。另外，我們繼續積極測試我們的陣容。我們超過 60% 的用戶現在選擇免費組成套餐作為其首次購買的一部分。

This has led to a 14% share growth in 2023, slightly below our goal for the year, but a significant improvement. While we're pleased with the step function improvement, our share growth was impacted by the previously communicated partnership exits in the back half of 2023, a headwind that will continue in the first half of 2024.

這導致 2023 年份額增長 14%，略低於我們今年的目標，但有顯著改善。雖然我們對階梯功能的改進感到滿意，但我們的份額增長受到了先前通報的 2023 年下半年合作夥伴關係退出的影響，這一不利因素將在 2024 年上半年持續存在。

As a result, we expect full year market share in 2024 to be slightly lower than full year 2023 with the back half of the year returning to year over year growth. We still have opportunities to improve our formations lineup the adjacent services we market and the mobile experience for our free customers.

因此，我們預計 2024 年全年市佔率將略低於 2023 年全年，下半年將恢復年成長。我們仍然有機會改進我們的陣容、我們行銷的鄰近服務以及免費客戶的行動體驗。

You should expect to see the free lineup deviate from our premium SKUs over the next couple of quarters, along with a more significant mobile experience improvement that will benefit all our customers, but disproportionately free traffic has free prospects SKU more mobile.

您應該預計在接下來的幾個季度中，我們的免費產品陣容將與我們的優質SKU 有所不同，並且行動體驗將得到更顯著的改善，這將使我們所有的客戶受益，但不成比例的免費流量使免費潛在SKU 的行動性更強。

We have one additional priority under the strategy of scaling the core. Since 2021 and post the COVID spike, our estate planning business has declined approximately 20%, which has been a background headwind to our overall growth. Consumer space hasn't been an area of focus, given limited resources and significant investment opportunities in small business.

在擴展核心的策略下，我們還有一項優先事項。自 2021 年以來，在新冠肺炎疫情激增之後，我們的遺產規劃業務下降了約 20%，這對我們的整體成長構成了背景阻力。鑑於小型企業的資源有限和龐大的投資機會，消費領域一直不是重點領域。

But as we continue to build out our team and increase our infrastructure investments, we now have resources to invest in our consumer business. Many of the investments in fulfillment and modernizing our questionnaire technology are directly applicable to reimagining our consumer products. While we haven't talked a lot about it over the past years, we remain a leading player in the consumer legal space with the tip of the spear being a estate planning.

但隨著我們繼續組建我們的團隊並增加基礎設施投資，我們現在有資源投資於我們的消費者業務。許多對問卷技術的實現和現代化的投資都直接適用於重新構想我們的消費產品。雖然過去幾年我們對此沒有進行太多討論，但我們仍然是消費者法律領域的領導者，其中矛頭就是遺產規劃。

There will be more to talk about here in the coming quarters and also as I unpack our export strategy in a few minutes. We're excited about the opportunities for growth in both business formations and estate planning with the combination of these markets, representing a refreshed serviceable addressable market of approximately $13 billion.

在接下來的幾個季度中，以及我在幾分鐘內解開我們的出口策略時，我們將有更多內容要討論。我們對這些市場的結合所帶來的業務組建和遺產規劃的成長機會感到興奮，這代表著一個價值約 130 億美元的更新的可服務可尋址市場。

Turning to our second key pillar, build the ecosystem where our serviceable addressable market is approximately $15 billion. Today, our registered agent and compliance offerings represent approximately two-thirds of our subscription revenue.

轉向我們的第二個關鍵支柱，建立一個生態系統，其中我們的可服務目標市場約為 150 億美元。如今，我們的註冊代理和合規產品約占我們訂閱收入的三分之二。

Registered agents and compliance are core needs for our customers when they form, and we continue to experience healthy attach and stable retention rates. We're focused on providing superior compliance products and experiences for our customers in order to drive further growth and retention.

註冊代理和合規性是我們客戶形成時的核心需求，我們將繼續體驗健康的附著力和穩定的保留率。我們致力於為客戶提供卓越的合規產品和體驗，以推動進一步的成長和保留。

Roughly four months after including LZ Books in our LLC formations flow, we have over 7,500 paid subscribers. As our channel is proving to be healthy our team is focusing on driving active use as soon as our customers become operational. Most importantly, we continue to innovate in books. In the quarter, we focused on tools to promote the benefit of combining LZ Books with LZ Tax.

將 LZ Books 納入我們的 LLC 組建流程大約四個月後，我們已經擁有超過 7,500 名付費訂戶。由於我們的管道被證明是健康的，我們的團隊將專注於在客戶開始營運後立即推動積極使用。最重要的是，我們在圖書方面不斷創新。本季度，我們將重點放在促進 LZ Books 與 LZ Tax 相結合的優勢的工具。

In January, we added a tax center and LZ Books to promote our tax expertise. The LZ Books tax center includes estimated tax calculations and easy to digest view of Schedule C deductions in the tax savings widget that allows our customers to see the value of LZ Books has provided. In addition, books customers who are subscribed to LZ Tax or provided a seamless one-click experience to share their data with their LZ Tax expert.

一月份，我們增加了稅務中心和 LZ Books，以推廣我們的稅務專業知識。LZ Books 稅務中心包括預估稅計算和節稅小部件中易於理解的附表 C 扣除視圖，使我們的客戶可以看到 LZ Books 提供的價值。此外，也為訂閱 LZ Tax 或提供無縫一鍵式體驗的客戶預訂，以便與 LZ Tax 專家分享資料。

We've seen overall engagement with books increased following the rollout of our tax prep campaign with active subscriber engagement and growing 17% from October to January. And even though we just launched books in our LLC formation flow at the end of 2023 of the tax customers that have begun the filing process this season over 10% are using our books product.

我們發現，在推出稅務準備活動後，圖書的整體參與度增加，訂戶參與度很高，從 10 月到 1 月增加了 17%。儘管我們剛剛在 2023 年底在 LLC 組建流程中推出了書籍，但在本季度開始報稅流程的稅務客戶中，超過 10% 正在使用我們的書籍產品。

This past year we launched a lot of new products and we now have the ability to grow with our customers. We know that many of our customers form before their operational and their needs continue to evolve with time. Historically, we've had to introduce all of our services and information flow because there wasn't a post formation experience.

去年我們推出了許多新產品，現在有能力與客戶一起成長。我們知道，我們的許多客戶都是在營運之前就形成的，他們的需求隨著時間的推移而不斷變化。從歷史上看，我們必須引入我們所有的服務和資訊流，因為沒有組建後的經驗。

This year, we'll be focusing on post formation, engagement, commercialization and monetization opportunities with the goal of expanding the lifetime value of our customers. Today, an immaterial amount of revenue comes from products that are attached after the formation. We're seeing continued growth in miles engagement as we direct more of our activities to the platform.

今年，我們將重點放在職位形成、參與、商業化和貨幣化機會，目標是擴大客戶的終身價值。如今，相當一部分收入來自於組成後附加的產品。隨著我們將更多活動轉移到該平台，我們看到里程參與度持續成長。

Since the beginning of 2023, we've seen a 40% increase in returning users with over 75% of active users continuing to visit the site 30 days after their initial formation. Over the past year, we built the infrastructure that enables the business profile. This profile is the foundation of better segmentation, more effective targeting and faster questionnaire completion.

自 2023 年初以來，我們發現回訪用戶增加了 40%，其中超過 75% 的活躍用戶在最初形成後 30 天繼續造訪該網站。在過去的一年裡，我們建立了支援業務概況的基礎設施。此設定檔是更好的細分、更有效的定位和更快完成問卷的基礎。

It's also a key component of an omnichannel marketing strategy with higher value opportunities address through sales and lower valued solutions targeted through self-directed channels like MyLZ.

它也是全通路行銷策略的關鍵組成部分，透過銷售解決更高價值的機會，並透過 MyLZ 等自主管道解決低價值的解決方案。

Finally, the key focus for us in the coming year will be setting the foundation for the cross-sell of our expert services. While still very early, we believe many of our existing products like LZ Books, Doc Assist in our legal forms library or natural entry points to discover a higher value tax and expert services, which brings us to our final strategic pillar, integrate experts.

最後，我們來年的重點將是為我們的專家服務的交叉銷售奠定基礎。雖然還很早，但我們相信我們的許多現有產品，如LZ Books、法律表格庫中的Doc Assist 或自然切入點，可以發現更高價值的稅收和專家服務，這使我們達到最終的戰略支柱：整合專家。

Today, we are well into the third season of our LZ Tax offering and while we are mid-course and adjusting our go-to-market strategy, we're excited about where this product and business is headed. As a reminder, late last summer, we announced a reset of our LZ Tax strategy in order to better target and retain tax customers.

今天，我們的 LZ Tax 產品已進入第三季，雖然我們正處於中期調整我們的上市策略，但我們對該產品和業務的發展方向感到興奮。提醒一下，去年夏末，我們宣布重新調整 LZ 稅務策略，以便更好地瞄準並留住稅務客戶。

While we expect these changes will result in a 4-point headwind to subscription revenue growth in fiscal year 2024. We believe it was the best course of action for the long-term trajectory of this business, we expect tax to be accretive to our overall subscription growth in 2025. Since adjusting our attach strategy and tax, we've realigned our sales effort and made significant product and service enhancements based on our learnings from prior seasons.

儘管我們預計這些變化將導致 2024 財年的訂閱收入成長出現 4 個百分點的阻力。我們相信這是該業務長期發展軌蹟的最佳行動方案，我們預計稅收將促進 2025 年我們的整體訂閱成長。自從調整我們的附加策略和稅收以來，我們重新調整了我們的銷售工作，並根據前幾季的經驗教訓對產品和服務進行了重大改進。

Our new tax experience includes a simplified tax prep process, clear progress tracking, matching to a dedicated tax preparer and reviewer, and the ability to communicate with these experts quickly and directly via chat within MyLZ. While we plan to provide more details in our LZ Tax season during our Q1 earnings call. Initial feedback from our customers has been very positive.

我們的新稅務體驗包括簡化的稅務準備流程、清晰的進度追蹤、與專門的稅務準備人員和審核人員匹配，以及透過 MyLZ 內的聊天快速直接與這些專家溝通的能力。我們計劃在第一季財報電話會議期間提供 LZ 納稅季的更多詳細資訊。我們客戶的初步回饋非常正面。

Our CPAs are also very happy with the changes as we now have the complete process from onboarding up to filing on our own platform. Well, this practice management platform is currently being used by our tax experts is also designed and built with our legal experts in mind. Over time, this platform will be used by our attorney network to efficiently and seamlessly collaborate with our legal customers.

我們的註冊會計師也對這些變更感到非常滿意，因為我們現在擁有從入職到在我們自己的平台上提交的完整流程。那麼，我們的稅務專家目前正在使用的這個實踐管理平台也是在設計和建造時考慮到我們的法律專家的。隨著時間的推移，我們的律師網絡將使用該平台與我們的法律客戶進行高效、無縫的協作。

Importantly, we believe this kind of also helps extend beyond the existing services we offer today, we continue to build a strong network of attorneys, invest in our own law firm in Arizona to build and evolve our AI tools and the critical platform infrastructure improvements. The combination will enable us to surface important legal insights and link our customers to experts.

重要的是，我們相信這種方式也有助於超越我們今天提供的現有服務，我們繼續建立強大的律師網絡，投資我們在亞利桑那州的自己的律師事務所來構建和發展我們的人工智能工具以及關鍵的平台基礎設施改善。此次合併將使我們能夠提出重要的法律見解，並將我們的客戶與專家聯繫起來。

Through this new platform, attorneys will become increasingly efficient in performing the work with the goal being to bring down the extra cost and begin to standardize the experience of working with an attorney. Equally important, all the capabilities we built will also allow us to expand into other legal matters.

透過這個新平台，律師的工作效率將提高，目標是降低額外成本並開始標準化與律師合作的體驗。同樣重要的是，我們建立的所有能力也將使我們能夠擴展到其他法律事務。

The export opportunity is our largest, representing a $23 billion serviceable addressable market, and we look to make meaningful progress against it in 2024. Democratizing law as a cornerstone of LegalZoom foundation and history, and we look forward to continuing to innovate on affordable tech-enabled legal services. I'm excited about the progress we continue to make across each of our strategic pillars and the opportunities ahead of us that will drive growth in every area of our business.

出口機會是我們最大的機會，代表著價值 230 億美元的可用目標市場，我們希望在 2024 年在此方面取得有意義的進展。將法律民主化作為 LegalZoom 的基礎和歷史的基石，我們期待繼續在負擔得起的技術支援的法律服務方面進行創新。我對我們在每個策略支柱上繼續取得的進展以及我們面前的機會感到興奮，這將推動我們業務各個領域的成長。

The great strides we are taking in our business are powered by the hard work, creativity and innovation throughout our entire organization. I'd like to thank all of our LegalZoom employees for our successful 2023. I'd also like to specifically thank Rich Preece, our Chief Operating Officer for his leadership and significant contributions to LegalZoom since joining the company with me in 2019.

我們業務的巨大進步得益於整個組織的辛勤工作、創造力和創新。我要感謝所有 LegalZoom 員工，讓我們在 2023 年取得成功。我還要特別感謝我們的營運長 Rich Preece 自 2019 年與我一起加入公司以來對 LegalZoom 的領導和做出的重大貢獻。

As you may have seen in the 8-K filed earlier this afternoon, Rich is transitioning from LegalZoom at the end of March. We wish Rich the best in his future pursuits. And with that, let me turn the call over to Noel.

正如您可能在今天下午早些時候提交的 8-K 中看到的那樣，Rich 將於 3 月底從 LegalZoom 過渡。我們祝福 Rich 在未來的事業中一切順利。接下來，讓我把電話轉給諾埃爾。

Thanks, Dan, and good afternoon, everyone. We had a strong fourth quarter with both revenue and adjusted EBITDA exceeding our expectations. Before I share details on the quarter as well as guidance for Q1 and the full year 2024. I'd like to reflect on the strong execution of our team. Investments in our infrastructure are paying off as we experienced ongoing efficiency improvements in many areas of our business.

謝謝丹，大家下午好。我們在第四季度表現強勁，營收和調整後 EBITDA 都超出了我們的預期。在我分享本季度的詳細資訊以及第一季和 2024 年全年的指導之前。我想反思我們團隊的強大執行力。我們對基礎設施的投資正在得到回報，我們在許多業務領域都經歷了持續的效率改進。

Today, we are only halfway through our roadmap of investments in technology and automation, which we expect will support continued margin enhancement in the years ahead. Next, our product delivery, we rolled out a record number of products and services in 2023, providing many new opportunities for commercialization.

如今，我們在技術和自動化方面的投資路線圖才剛完成一半，我們預計這將支持未來幾年利潤率的持續提高。接下來是我們的產品交付，我們在 2023 年推出了創紀錄數量的產品和服務，為商業化提供了許多新的機會。

Finally, we successfully executed a new business strategy and have experienced stable customer retention during this transition. The results of these efforts are evident in our latest financial performance and support our expectations to deliver both revenue growth and increase profitability in 2024.

最後，我們成功執行了新的業務策略，並在轉型過程中實現了穩定的客戶保留。這些努力的成果在我們最新的財務表現中顯而易見，並支持我們在 2024 年實現收入成長和獲利能力提高的預期。

I'll now shift to provide additional details on our results for the quarter. Please note, all comparisons will be on a year over year basis unless otherwise stated. As announced last quarter, we are no longer reporting partnership revenue as a stand-alone item.

我現在將提供有關本季業績的更多詳細資訊。請注意，除非另有說明，所有比較都將逐年進行。正如上季宣布的那樣，我們不再將合作夥伴收入作為獨立項目進行報告。

Beginning this quarter, partnership revenue has been incorporated into our transaction and subscription revenue line items. All prior period comparisons in my remarks today also reflect this change. Please refer to the supplemental presentation posted on our Investor Relations website for more details. Total revenue was $159 million for the quarter or up 8%. We completed 113,000 business formations in Q4, down 2%.

從本季開始，合作夥伴收入已納入我們的交易和訂閱收入項目中。我今天講話中所有前期比較也反映了這一變化。有關更多詳細信息，請參閱我們的投資者關係網站上發布的補充簡報。該季度總營收為 1.59 億美元，成長 8%。第四季我們完成了 113,000 個企業組建，下降了 2%。

Our market share of business formations was 9.7% down sequentially in year-over-year. While we continue to see growth in our LLC formation product headwinds from exiting certain partner channel relationships and the impact from our sales reorganization drove the formation and market share declines.

我們的企業組成市佔率年減 9.7%。雖然我們繼續看到有限責任公司組建產品的成長，但由於退出某些合作夥伴通路關係而面臨阻力，而我們的銷售重組的影響推動了組建和市場份額的下降。

Transaction revenue was $52 million, down 6%, driven by an 8% decline in average order value partially offset by a 2% increase in transaction units. We recorded 215,000 transaction units in the quarter. The 2% increase was a result of strength in LLC formations and other SMB products such as annual reports, offset by lower consumer transactions in the impact from partnership exits.

交易收入為 5,200 萬美元，下降 6%，原因是平均訂單價值下降 8%，但部分被交易數量增加 2% 所抵消。本季我們錄得 215,000 個交易單位。2% 的成長是有限責任公司組建和其他中小企業產品（如年度報告）實力增強的結果，但被合夥企業退出影響的消費者交易減少所抵消。

Average order value was $242 for the quarter, down 8% due to our lower price lineup and an increasing mix of our lower price formation and non-formation business transaction products. We expect AOV to decline in the mid-single digits in Q1 2024, with some choppiness in AOV trends in the following quarters as we lap the impact of partnership exits and BOIR timing where we expect to see higher order volumes in Q1 and even more so in Q4.

本季平均訂單價值為 242 美元，下降 8%，原因是我們的價格較低，以及價格較低的形成和非形成業務交易產品的組合不斷增加。我們預計AOV 將在2024 年第一季下降到個位數左右，並且在接下來的幾個季度中，AOV 趨勢會出現一些波動，因為我們受到合作夥伴關係退出和BOIR 時機的影響，我們預計第一季的訂單量會更高，甚至更多在第四季。

For the full year, we expect this will translate into a low single digit decline in AOV compared to the full year 2023. Subscription revenue was $107 million in the fourth quarter, up 17% due to continued growth in our subscription unit base and ARPU expansion.

對於全年而言，我們預計與 2023 年全年相比，AOV 將出現較低的個位數下降。由於我們的訂閱單位基數持續成長和 ARPU 擴張，第四季度訂閱收入為 1.07 億美元，成長 17%。

Subscription revenue outperformed our expectations, driven primarily by retention improvements in our compliance subscriptions. We ended the quarter with over 1.5 million subscription units, up 7% and continued strength in core compliance, where growth was partially offset by the impact from the exit of legacy partner relationships.

訂閱收入超出了我們的預期，這主要是由於我們的合規訂閱保留率的提高。本季結束時，我們的訂閱單位數量超過 150 萬，增長了 7%，核心合規性持續強勁，但傳統合作夥伴關係退出的影響部分抵消了這一增長。

We also saw strength in our virtual mail and forms in e-signature subscriptions. Excluding the contribution from partner channel units, our subscription units increased 14% year-over-year in Q4. Our 2024 subscription units will be impacted by the continued roll-off of approximately 100,000 units from our partner channel exits, which will result in low single digit year over year growth in subscription units in the first half of the year.

我們也看到了虛擬郵件和電子簽名訂閱表格的優勢。排除合作夥伴通路單位的貢獻，我們的訂閱單位在第四季年增 14%。我們 2024 年的訂閱單位將受到合作夥伴管道退出約 100,000 個單位的持續下滑的影響，這將導致今年上半年訂閱單位的同比增長率較低。

We expect sequential improvement in subscription unit growth in the back half of the year. ARPU came in at $277 for the quarter, up 7% driven by the transition of lower-priced partner channel subscriptions. Turning to expenses and margins where all of the following metrics are on a non-GAAP basis. Fourth quarter gross margin was 68% compared to 70% in Q4 2022. The year over year decrease was driven by higher filing fees as a percentage of revenue as California reinstated filing fees in the third quarter of last year following a 12-month pause.

我們預計今年下半年訂閱單位成長將較上季改善。本季 ARPU 為 277 美元，由於低價合作夥伴頻道訂閱的轉變，成長了 7%。轉向費用和利潤，以下所有指標均基於非公認會計原則。第四季毛利率為 68%，而 2022 年第四季為 70%。年比下降的原因是申請費佔收入的比例上升，加州在暫停 12 個月後於去年第三季恢復了申請費。

Looking ahead, in Q1 2024, we expect to see a similar year over year decline in gross margins due to the aforementioned impact of reinstated California filing fees. For the full year, we expect our gross margin to be relatively stable versus 2023, with margin improvements in our core business continuing to be offset by lower gross margin services such as virtual mail and LZ Tax.

展望未來，由於恢復加州申請費的上述影響，我們預計 2024 年第一季毛利率將出現類似的年減。就全年而言，我們預計與 2023 年相比，我們的毛利率將相對穩定，核心業務的利潤率改善將繼續被虛擬郵件和 LZ Tax 等毛利率較低的服務所抵消。

Sales and marketing costs were $43 million in the quarter, or 27% of revenue, down 4-percentage-points from last year. Customer acquisition marketing costs were down sequentially due to seasonality, but up by $1 million or 4% in the same time last year.

本季銷售和行銷成本為 4,300 萬美元，佔營收的 27%，比去年下降 4 個百分點。由於季節性因素，獲客行銷成本環比下降，但去年同期增加了 100 萬美元，即 4%。

Non-CAM sales and marketing expense was down $4 million or 27% as a result of ongoing efficiencies we have implemented in our marketing strategy as well as the impact from the reorganization of our sales team. We expect total sales and marketing costs to remain relatively flat in 2024, as we fully realize the benefits from the sales reorganization, which translates to approximately $8 million of savings for the year.

由於我們在行銷策略中不斷提高效率以及銷售團隊重組的影響，非 CAM 銷售和行銷費用下降了 400 萬美元，即 27%。我們預計 2024 年總銷售和行銷成本將保持相對平穩，因為我們充分認識到銷售重組的好處，這意味著全年可節省約 800 萬美元。

These savings will be more than offset by an increase in CAM, including higher levels of brand spend as we look to optimize our mix of brand and performance spend. Technology and development costs were $16 million, up $2 million or 14% as we invest in product and engineering talent.

這些節省將被 CAM 的增加所抵消，其中包括更高水準的品牌支出，因為我們希望優化品牌和績效支出的組合。技術和開發成本為 1,600 萬美元，由於我們對產品和工程人才的投資，增加了 200 萬美元，即 14%。

Looking ahead, we expect full year technology and development expenses to grow at a slightly accelerated rate versus 2023 as we shift further into a product-led growth organization. General and administrative expenses were $15 million or down 5%. We expected modest increase in G&A expenses in 2024 as we remain committed to expense discipline.

展望未來，隨著我們進一步轉向以產品為主導的成長型組織，我們預計全年技術和開發費用的成長速度將較 2023 年略有加速。一般及行政費用為 1,500 萬美元，下降 5%。由於我們仍致力於支出紀律，我們預計 2024 年一般管理費用將小幅增加。

Our strong performance in the fourth quarter resulted in $33 million of adjusted EBITDA or a 21% margin compared to $27 million of adjusted EBITDA margin of 18% the same time last year. Deferred revenue decreased by $9 million in the quarter.

我們第四季的強勁表現導致調整後 EBITDA 達到 3,300 萬美元，利潤率為 21%，而去年同期調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 2,700 萬美元，利潤率為 18%。本季遞延收入減少了 900 萬美元。

As of December 31, 2023, our cash and cash equivalents were $226 million. We had no debt outstanding and no outstanding borrowings under our $150 million revolving credit facility. We did not repurchase any shares in the fourth quarter under our existing $100 million share repurchase program.

截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日，我們的現金和現金等價物為 2.26 億美元。我們的 1.5 億美元循環信貸額度下沒有未償債務，也沒有未償還的借款。我們在第四季沒有根據現有的 1 億美元股票回購計畫回購任何股票。

For the full year 2023, we repurchased approximately 5.9 million shares for a total of $55 million or an average cost of $9.35 per share, which represents a reduction of approximately 3% of our prior year fully diluted share count.

2023 年全年，我們回購了約 590 萬股股票，總成本為 5,500 萬美元，平均成本為每股 9.35 美元，比前一年完全稀釋的股票數量減少了約 3%。

Subsequently year end, we have been active in our share repurchase program, and we plan to continue to opportunistically repurchase shares of our common stock as part of our balanced approach to capital allocation.

隨後的年底，我們一直積極開展股票回購計劃，並計劃繼續擇機回購普通股，作為我們平衡資本配置方法的一部分。

Our 2024 capital allocation priorities remain consistent. We were first prioritize organic investments in the business, followed by strategic acquisitions, and lastly, stockholder returns via repurchases of our common stock. Our strong cash position enables us flexibility to execute against all three of these priorities simultaneously.

我們 2024 年的資本配置優先事項保持一致。我們首先優先考慮對業務的有機投資，其次是策略性收購，最後是透過回購普通股來實現股東回報。我們強大的現金狀況使我們能夠靈活地同時執行所有這三個優先事項。

I will now provide guidance for the first quarter and full year 2024. For the first quarter of 2024, we expect total revenue of $172 million to $176 million or 5% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. We expect first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $25 million to $27 million or 15% margin at the midpoint.

我現在將為 2024 年第一季和全年提供指導。我們預計 2024 年第一季的總營收為 1.72 億美元至 1.76 億美元，中間值年增 5%。我們預計第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 2,500 萬至 2,700 萬美元，中間利潤率為 15%。

For the full year 2024, we expect total revenue of $700 million to $720 million or 7% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. This includes the following drivers, a 4-point headwind to subscription revenue growth from the shift in our LZ Tax strategy which is more pronounced in the first half of the year.

對於 2024 年全年，我們預計總收入為 7 億至 7.2 億美元，中間值年增 7%。這包括以下驅動因素，我們的 LZ 稅收策略的轉變對訂閱收入成長產生了 4 個百分點的阻力，這一點在今年上半年更為明顯。

The roll-off of approximately 100,000 subscription units from the wind down of certain partner channel relationships, which will also be more pronounced in the first half of the year. We expect to roll off to be fully completed by the end of 2024.

由於某些合作夥伴通路關係的結束，訂閱單位數量減少了約 10 萬個，這在今年上半年也將更加明顯。我們預計將於 2024 年底全面完成。

We are also projecting a slower macro Census EIN growth relative to the 8% growth we experienced in 2023. Our guidance philosophy continues to incorporate current quarter trends and conservatism in the following quarters.

我們也預計，與 2023 年 8% 的成長相比，宏觀人口普查 EIN 成長將放緩。我們的指導理念繼續結合當前季度的趨勢和接下來幾季的保守主義。

Based on the trends we are seeing today, we expect low single digit growth in formations macro in Q1. For the full year, we currently expect flat to low single digit growth in the formations macro, which translates into some deterioration versus Q1 levels for the remainder of the year.

根據我們今天看到的趨勢，我們預計第一季宏觀地層成長將呈現低個位數成長。就全年而言，我們目前預計宏觀地層成長將持平至低個位數成長，這意味著今年剩餘時間內與第一季水準相比會出現一些惡化。

As a reminder, the macros showed strong acceleration in the back half of 2023, creating a more challenging comparison. We expect full year adjusted EBITDA of $135 million to $145 million or 20% margin at the midpoint. And with that, let's please open up the call for questions.

提醒一下，宏觀經濟在 2023 年下半年表現出強勁加速，形成更具挑戰性的比較。我們預計全年調整後 EBITDA 為 1.35 億美元至 1.45 億美元，中間利潤率為 20%。現在，讓我們開始提問。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

Ron Josey, Citi.

羅恩喬西，花旗銀行。

Hey, guys. This is Jake on for Ron. Thanks for taking the question. Basically, I wanted to ask about the bundling test and iterate approach that you guys took in 4Q. What were your top learnings regarding your pricing lineup?

大家好。這是傑克為榮恩代言的。感謝您提出問題。基本上，我想問一下你們在第四季採取的捆綁測試和迭代方法。關於您的定價陣容，您最重要的經驗是什麼？

Any plans there to make pricing or bundling changes more permanent? And then second is really more on mobile app optimization. I wanted to just get a sense for any progress you've made optimizing mobile perhaps for the for the freemium approach and the opportunities there? Thanks so much.

有沒有計劃讓定價或捆綁銷售的變化更加持久？其次是更多關於行動應用程式優化。我只是想了解您在優化行動裝置方面取得的任何進展，也許是為了免費增值方法以及那裡的機會？非常感謝。

Great. Thanks for the question, Jake. Yeah, on the first point on testing and we've been pretty clear that, that's an ongoing effort that we'll have. And really if you think about what's happened over the last year, a portion of our customers and the majority of our customers are coming in through our free SKU's, which changes some of the behavior around some of the subscriptions that we also market within the formations flow.

偉大的。謝謝你的提問，傑克。是的，關於測驗的第一點，我們已經非常清楚，這是我們將持續努力的。事實上，如果你想想去年發生的事情，我們的一部分客戶和大多數客戶都是透過我們的免費 SKU 進入的，這改變了我們也在組織中行銷的一些訂閱的一些行為流動。

And so we've done lots of different tests on just to remind you, the goals of those tests, we kind of look at it as a one-year bookings or one year return and we always lean towards the mix of subscriptions. If all other things are neutral.

因此，我們做了很多不同的測試，只是為了提醒您，這些測試的目標，我們將其視為一年預訂或一年回報，我們始終傾向於訂閱組合。如果所有其他事情都是中性的。

We also prefer to have more customers coming into our ecosystem because we feel confident that over time we're going to get better and better at post formation monetization. And so if you step back, it's sort of a the rubric we have is that we want the transactional costs upfront to be as low as possible to get that mix to subscription.

我們也希望有更多的客戶進入我們的生態系統，因為我們相信，隨著時間的推移，我們將在形成後貨幣化方面變得越來越好。因此，如果你退後一步，我們的原則是，我們希望前期交易成本盡可能低，以便將這種組合進行訂閱。

And the more we have success in the post formation monetization side, the more just beats that flywheel and allows us to take less upfront pricing from our customers. So most of the testing that we do is sort of aligned with that strategy and we learn something every single time, we do one of these tests, and we'll continue to do it. But there's nothing to announce about what we're changing and we also are in a competitive environment.

我們在形成後貨幣化方面取得的成功越多，就越能超越飛輪，並使我們能夠從客戶那裡獲得更少的前期定價。因此，我們所做的大多數測試都與該策略保持一致，我們每次都會學到一些東西，我們會進行其中一項測試，並且我們將繼續這樣做。但我們沒有什麼可以宣布的改變，而且我們也處於競爭環境中。

So we don't like to flag exactly what we're going to change in the upcoming quarters. Mobile is a huge focus for us roughly half of our sessions today that come in the traffic with prospects is through mobile and it converts about a third of what our desktop does.

因此，我們不想明確指出我們將在接下來的幾季中進行哪些更改。行動裝置是我們的一大焦點，目前我們的會議中大約有一半的潛在客戶流量來自行動裝置，它的轉換率約為桌面裝置的三分之一。

So I'm right off the bat, there's an opportunity there, and that's also a place where as you continue to increase the free messaging, you see the mix increase as well in terms of the prospects that come in through mobile. So that's a that's a place where you will see us doing multiple things starting in the next quarter and where I think you'll see a new experience around mobile from us that is really addressing some of the concerns we have around conversion.

所以我馬上就說，那裡有一個機會，而且當你繼續增加免費訊息傳遞時，你會看到透過行動裝置進入的潛在客戶的組合也在增加。因此，從下個季度開始，您將看到我們做多項事情，我認為您將看到我們圍繞行動裝置提供的新體驗，這確實解決了我們對轉換的一些擔憂。

Andrew Boone, JMP Securities.

安德魯·布恩，JMP 證券。

Thanks so much, for taking my questions. I wanted to go back to business formations and your guys thoughts on 2024. It's a little bit hard to parse thinking about share gains. Understood branded LZ is taking share, but how do we think about share gains for 2024 and how you guys are thinking about that?

非常感謝您回答我的問題。我想回到 2024 年的商業形態和你們的想法。思考股票報酬有點難解析。了解品牌 LZ 正在搶佔份額，但我們如何看待 2024 年的份額成長以及你們對此有何看法？

And then the beneficial ownership report seems like a significant opportunity. I think you guys said 90%-plus of US businesses are available now for this report. Can you just help us understand the size of this opportunity and how you guys are approaching it in 2024 and when exactly this should start to hit the model? Is it more of a 4Q thing or should have roll through the year? Thanks so much.

然後受益所有權報告似乎是一個重要的機會。我想你們說過 90% 以上的美國企業現在都可以閱讀這份報告。您能否幫助我們了解這個機會的規模以及你們在 2024 年如何抓住這個機會，以及這個機會到底什麼時候開始影響模型？這更多的是第四季的事情還是應該貫穿全年？非常感謝。

Yes, thanks for the questions, Andrew. Yeah, on the market share side, there are a lot of moving parts here and just to say one more time, the partnership exits are really making that a little bit more cloudy as well as us making structural changes in our sales organization.

是的，謝謝你的提問，安德魯。是的，在市場佔有率方面，這裡有很多變化的部分，再說一次，合作夥伴關係的退出確實讓情況變得更加陰雲密布，同時我們也在銷售組織中進行了結構性變革。

So in the near term, as we think about the first half of next year, we expect the overall number to be lower than it was in the prior year. When we start to see at the end of the year, though we'll start to see a rebuilding of the share gains as more of the mix and the compares are right against our direct business.

因此，從短期來看，當我們考慮明年上半年時，我們預計總數將低於去年。當我們在年底開始看到時，我們將開始看到份額收益的重建，因為更多的組合和比較對我們的直接業務是正確的。

So that's something that I think over time, it's going to right itself. We expect to exit the year from a standpoint of our direct channel up year over year on share, albeit slightly and I think the thing that we continue to do though, is we balance monetization.

所以我認為隨著時間的推移，它會自行修正。從我們的直接通路份額逐年上升的角度來看，我們預計今年會結束，儘管略有上升，但我認為我們繼續做的事情是平衡貨幣化。

I mean, if you were to go back thematically and think about last year, we specifically provided share goals, partially because we were also providing profitability goals. We want to make people understand that this was not just about profitability, but it's about customer growth. Now that we've got a much larger base of customers.

我的意思是，如果你回顧去年的主題，我們特別提供了份額目標，部分原因是我們也提供了獲利目標。我們想讓人們明白，這不僅是獲利能力的問題，還涉及客戶成長的問題。現在我們已經擁有了更大的客戶群。

We're starting to think more and more about monetization and also just deviating the base of customers into free customers who are highly price-sensitive. But we still have a lot of premium customers as well. And so we want to focus our energy there as well. So there's a lot of things to consider here, especially as that customer count gets larger over time. Your compounds when we think about new products, which also dovetails with your question, maybe on BOIR.

我們開始越來越多地考慮貨幣化，並將客戶群轉向對價格高度敏感的免費客戶。但我們仍然有很多優質客戶。所以我們也想把精力集中在那裡。因此，這裡有很多事情需要考慮，特別是隨著客戶數量隨著時間的推移而增加。當我們考慮新產品時，您的化合物也與您的問題相吻合，也許是在 BOIR 上。

So BOIR's, a really interesting opportunity, we very purposely included the entitlement to this offering with our existing compliance customers. We felt like if you have a subscription called total compliance and someone's previously bought it, but it should include entitlement to new compliance requirements that are coming out. And so that is something that actually mutes the opportunity a little bit.

因此，BOIR 是一個非常有趣的機會，我們特意將這項產品的權利納入了我們現有的合規客戶。我們覺得，如果您有一個名為“完全合規性”的訂閱，並且之前有人購買過它，但它應該包括即將發布的新合規性要求的權利。所以這實際上有點削弱了機會。

But we also feel like it's an opportunity to acquire new customers into our franchise, and we still have other customers who don't subscribe to the compliance bundle. So this gives us an opportunity to either upsell them into that bundle or help them just specifically with this one compliance requirements.

但我們也覺得這是一個獲得新客戶加入我們特許經營的機會，而且我們仍然有其他客戶不訂閱合規捆綁包。因此，這使我們有機會將他們追加銷售到該捆綁包中，或專門幫助他們滿足這項合規性要求。

Now the interesting thing here is, this is a brand new requirements and the rollout is going relatively slow with FinCEN. And I think at this point, they've said that they've got about 500,000 customers who have complied with the requirement. It's our expectation is that it will be heavily backloaded, that its most likely that most of these customers come in at the fourth quarter when you start to see the requirement probably being message more aggressively by FinCEN.

有趣的是，這是一個全新的要求，而 FinCEN 的推出進展相對緩慢。我認為目前他們已經表示已有約 50 萬名客戶遵守了要求。我們的預期是，它會大量積壓，當您開始看到 FinCEN 可能更積極地傳達該要求時，大多數客戶很可能會在第四季度進入。

And again, we're trying to get as many of our customers and compliant as soon as possible. The requirement also for new formations is 90 days post formation for those that have formed in 2024. So you'll see it integrated into our lineup as well. So there's a lot of moving parts there. I will say that we have a pretty modest expectation for this year because of all those moving parts. But that could be a place where we surprise ourselves a little bit.

我們再次努力爭取盡可能多的客戶並儘快合規。對於 2024 年成立的新組建，也要求在組建後 90 天。因此，您也會看到它也整合到我們的產品陣容中。所以那裡有很多活動部件。我想說的是，由於所有這些變化，我們對今年的預期相當溫和。但這可能是一個讓我們感到有點驚訝的地方。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Matt Pfau, William Blair.

馬特普福，威廉布萊爾。

Hey, great. Wanted to perhaps follow up on that last question a little bit. Maybe just help us understand why it's a trade-off between focusing on LTV and then market share gains that have to do with how you allocate marketing dollars or what sort of behind that?

嘿，太棒了。也許想跟進最後一個問題。也許只是幫助我們理解為什麼這是關註生命週期價值和市場份額收益之間的權衡，這與您如何分配行銷資金或背後的原因有關？

It's really customer behavior. I mean what we what we see from our customers, especially in their initial purchase that the more we bundle into the initial purchase, the lower the conversion rate. So it's not that people start to drop things out of the card, but they actually leave the card entirely and probably start to consider other alternatives.

這確實是客戶行為。我的意思是我們從客戶那裡看到的，特別是在他們的初始購買中，我們在初始購買中捆綁的越多，轉換率就越低。因此，並不是人們開始把卡片上的東西去掉，而是他們實際上完全放棄了卡片，並且可能開始考慮其他選擇。

Because what you have to remember is most people who are forming a business, don't fully understand what the suite of products and services they need to stay compliant as an entity are, and through that discovery process, you see some businesses fall off. So that the concern is primarily just on that initial card purchase.

因為你必須記住的是，大多數正在組建企業的人並不完全了解他們作為一個實體保持合規所需的產品和服務套件是什麼，並且透過這個發現過程，你會看到一些企業倒閉。因此，人們主要關心的是最初的卡片購買。

The opportunity is if we can get that cart size down, and bring our customer base up and increase the size of the customer base, we can actually monetize them post formation. So a lot of our investment over the last couple of years, both in terms of creating new subscriptions, but also creating this cohesive experience in MyLZ.

機會是，如果我們能夠縮小購物車的尺寸，並增加我們的客戶群並增加客戶群的規模，我們實際上可以在形成後將其貨幣化。因此，過去幾年我們投入了大量資金，不僅在創建新訂閱方面，而且在 MyLZ 中創造了這種有凝聚力的體驗。

It's all centered on the idea that you don't need to buy all these things the moment that you're forming your entity historically, we have done that because that's been the place where we've had their attention. But now we're starting to shift that into the post formation experience, which is really a very large opportunity for us over the long term.

這一切都集中在這樣一個想法上：你不需要在歷史上形成你的實體的那一刻購買所有這些東西，我們這樣做是因為那是我們引起他們注意的地方。但現在我們開始將其轉變為組建後的體驗，從長遠來看，這對我們來說確實是一個非常大的機會。

It's something that we're still really early stages into and we have a fair amount of resources invested and dedicated to enhancing that experience, which is an important opportunity for us. Some in this year , but and even more meaningful as we look into '25 and beyond.

我們仍處於早期階段，我們投入了大量資源並致力於增強這種體驗，這對我們來說是一個重要的機會。有些是在今年，但當我們展望 25 年及以後時，甚至更有意義。

Got it makes sense. And then Noel, can you give us any directional guidance for how to think about the split between transaction and subscription revenue growth for '24?

明白了，很有道理。然後，Noel，您能否為我們提供任何方向性指導，幫助我們考慮 24 世紀交易和訂閱收入成長之間的分配？

Yes, I would say that we are continue to focus on where we can driving, as Dan was speaking to the shift from transaction into subscription. I think on the subscription side, obviously, as we've indicated the last couple of quarters, LZ Tax is going to be a headwind for us in 2024, particularly in the first half of the year. So we'll see some of that headwind and we gave you in the prepared remarks, some specifics around.

是的，我想說，我們將繼續關注我們可以推動的方向，正如丹所說的從交易到訂閱的轉變。我認為在訂閱方面，顯然，正如我們在過去幾個季度所表明的那樣，LZ 稅將在 2024 年成為我們的阻力，特別是在今年上半年。因此，我們會看到一些不利因素，我們在準備好的評論中向您提供了一些具體細節。

It's a 4-point headwind on subscription growth alone. So we'll see some moderation there, and then the transaction side is going to be largely a function of our combination of the macro, our ability to take share in all of the commercialization testing that we're doing, incorporating new products and to line up testing current size and balancing conversion with pushing customers into subscription.

僅對訂閱成長而言，這就是 4 個百分點的阻力。因此，我們將看到一些適度的調整，然後交易方面將在很大程度上取決於我們的宏觀組合，我們在我們正在進行的所有商業化測試中分享份額的能力，納入新產品並測試當前規模並平衡轉換與推動客戶訂閱。

Got it. Thank you. Appreciate it.

知道了。謝謝。欣賞它。

Brent Thill, Jefferies.

布倫特·希爾，杰弗里斯。

Yes, this is John Byun for Brent Thill. I have two questions, one on macro and not really referring to formations, but just in SMB health and behavioral, wanted to see what the you're seeing from your base?

是的，我是布倫特·希爾的約翰·拜恩。我有兩個問題，一個是關於宏觀問題，並不是真正指陣型，而是關於中小型企業的健康和行為，想看看您從基地看到了什麼？

And then second, you've lost a lot of new products in '23, just want to see -- how would you say the early responses among most meaningful ones, and which one of the most exciting of those products for '24?Thank you.

其次，你在 23 年失去了很多新產品，只是想看看 - 你會怎麼說最有意義的產品中的早期反應，以及 24 年這些產品中最令人興奮的產品是哪一個？你。

Yes, thanks for the questions, John. The macro, it's interesting coming out of last year where we saw the macro grow 8%. We're entering this year, a little bit more cautiously. Year-to-date, we're sort of looking at very low single digits right now in terms of growth, but one of the interesting things that we always see is when the calendar flips, there is some volatility.

是的，謝謝你的提問，約翰。宏觀方面，有趣的是去年我們看到宏觀成長了 8%。我們進入今年，要更加謹慎。今年迄今為止，我們目前的成長速度是非常低的個位數，但我們總是看到的有趣的事情之一是，當日曆翻轉時，會出現一些波動。

And so we're not necessarily calling a weak macro, but we're just always planning for a weaker macro because we feel like that's the right way to approach our resource allocation and just thinking through how we can be responsive dependent on what's happening in the environment.

因此，我們不一定要稱之為疲軟的宏觀經濟，但我們總是在計劃一個較弱的宏觀經濟，因為我們覺得這是處理資源分配的正確方法，並且只是思考我們如何根據正在發生的事情做出反應環境。

In Q4, we were a little bit surprised by the strength in retention across a lot of our subscriptions, which would point to some nice health in small business and then it was also interesting because we saw elevated dissolution as well. So I'd say it's a pretty muddled market and macro at this point, but we're ready for whatever direction it turns, and we don't have significant expectations around the macro for this year in terms of our guide.

在第四季度，我們對許多訂閱的保留強度感到有點驚訝，這表明小型企業的健康狀況良好，而且這也很有趣，因為我們也看到了溶解度的增加。因此，我想說，目前市場和宏觀情況相當混亂，但我們已經做好了應對任何方向的準備，而且根據我們的指南，我們對今年的宏觀形勢沒有太大的期望。

On your second question on how new product launches are going, what are we excited about. Now I'd call it a couple different things here. I mean, obviously, books and taxes sort of -- I think of it as peanut butter and jelly. I mean, we were out with tax before, but the reality is most of the customers who come into our ecosystem, they actually want to get tax insights first.

關於你的第二個問題，即新產品的發布進展如何，我們對什麼感到興奮。現在我在這裡稱之為幾個不同的東西。我的意思是，顯然，書籍和稅收有點像花生醬和果凍。我的意思是，我們之前就沒有稅收，但現實是大多數進入我們生態系統的客戶實際上希望首先獲得稅收見解。

And oftentimes they have that need well before they have the actual tax filing requirement. And so books is really that product that helps give them a sense of how they're doing from a tax perspective as a brand new business and helps them get organized and think about managing their business appropriately as a brand new small business.

通常，他們在滿足實際報稅要求之前就已經有了這種需求。因此，書籍確實是一種產品，可以幫助他們從稅務角度了解作為一個全新企業的運作情況，並幫助他們組織起來並思考作為一個全新的小企業如何適當地管理他們的業務。

I'd say business licenses is just core to what we're doing as a sort of a compliance related ecosystem, and so that one, you'll see some new releases coming out probably in the next quarter that I think will provide a little bit more clarity about how we're approaching that from a go-to-market standpoint.

我想說，商業許可證只是我們作為合規性相關生態系統所做的事情的核心，因此，您可能會看到一些新版本可能會在下個季度發布，我認為這將提供一些幫助更清楚地了解我們如何從進入市場的角度來實現這一目標。

And probably the biggest opportunity that we don't talk a lot about is the consumer space and also becoming a platform for people to interact with attorneys. And so a lot of the things that we've done on the small business side are absolutely analogous to what we need to do on the consumer side as well as what we need to do from a platform perspective, to provide experts to our small businesses in a really low cost efficient way.

也許我們很少談論的最大機會是消費者空間，也成為人們與律師互動的平台。因此，我們在小型企業方面所做的很多事情與我們在消費者方面需要做的事情以及我們需要從平台角度做的事情完全相似，為我們的小型企業提供專家以一種真正低成本高效的方式。

So you'll start to see some of those things coming out in the next couple of quarters as well. So we have a lot on the docket, one of the exciting things is the velocity that we had in the back half of last year is continuing through the beginning of this year.

因此，您也會在接下來的幾季中開始看到其中一些事情的出現。所以我們有很多事情要做，其中一件令人興奮的事情是我們去年下半年的速度一直持續到今年年初。

Great. Thanks very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Elizabeth Porter, Morgan Stanley.

伊莉莎白‧波特，摩根士丹利。

Great. Thank you very much. I just wanted to ask on the investment that you're making in additional channels after cutting back on some of the direct sales heads. You noticed some increased CAM into 2024. So I just wanted to double-click on kind of the strategy there where you're looking to make other investments in customer acquisition and where you see the biggest opportunity? Thank you.

偉大的。非常感謝。我只是想問一下，在削減一些直銷人員後，你們在額外管道上的投資情況如何。您注意到 2024 年 CAM 有所增加。所以我只是想雙擊您希望在客戶獲取方面進行其他投資的策略類型以及您在哪裡看到最大的機會？謝謝。

Yes, thanks for the question, Elizabeth. We've been a little bit centered on performance marketing over the last year, and we are coming out of 2021 and '22, where we had heavy brand investments. At this point, we now have our model pretty well tuned against premium and I think we're starting to branch out into new channels like social and video, but also we'll do a lighter brand investment as well.

是的，謝謝你的提問，伊麗莎白。去年我們一直專注於效果行銷，我們即將走出 2021 年和 22 年，我們在這兩個時期進行了大量的品牌投資。現在，我們的模型已經很好地針對優質內容進行了調整，我認為我們正在開始擴展到社交和視訊等新管道，但我們也會進行更輕的品牌投資。

The brand investment, this time will be much more actionable because again, the model to convert is kind of tuned against those different customers that we're trying to reach. And I'd also say, I just want to call out while we restructured the sales team.

這次的品牌投資將更具可操作性，因為轉換模型是針對我們試圖接觸的不同客戶進行調整的。我還想說，我只是想在我們重組銷售團隊時大聲疾呼。

We also believe that that's going to be an opportunity as we start to go through the year because this is where we now have better view of our customers and segmentation and we're building propensity models and we have a multichannel approach, including MyLZ which can now do dynamic targeting for our customers, but also the high value customers moving more towards just specifically in sales.

我們也相信，當我們開始度過這一年時，這將是一個機會，因為我們現在可以更好地了解我們的客戶和細分，我們正在建立傾向模型，我們有一個多通道方法，包括MyLZ ，它可以現在為我們的客戶進行動態定位，同時也為高價值客戶進行專門的銷售。

So we can do it a little bit more efficiently than we've done historically. So I'd say we're moving much more into like an omnichannel strategy, but still heavily reflexive and being able to respond quickly with performance marketing as well as the at the core.

因此，我們可以比以往更有效率地完成這件事。所以我想說，我們正在更多地轉向全通路策略，但仍然具有很強的反射性，能夠透過績效行銷以及核心來快速做出反應。

Great. And then just as a follow-up, I believe initially you expected subscription revenue growth to slow in Q4, but you actually did have a change in commercial strategy with LZ Tax, but we actually got a nice acceleration in growth in that segment. So what surprised you in the quarter? I know you mentioned going to good retention, but was there anything else to call out there? Thanks.

偉大的。然後，作為後續行動，我相信您最初預計第四季度訂閱收入成長將放緩，但實際上您確實改變了 LZ Tax 的商業策略，但實際上我們在該領域的成長得到了很好的加速。那麼本季什麼讓您感到驚訝呢？我知道你提到要保持良好的保留率，但是還有什麼要注意的嗎？謝謝。

Yes. So we were really happy with our revenue performance in the quarter and particularly on the subscription side. We saw strength across multiple products in the quarter really Elizabeth, and virtual mail LZ Tax a bit as well. But primarily in our core compliance subscriptions where we saw really improved retention that exceeded our expectations for the quarter and allowed us to outperform the guide that we had for every had set for Q4.

是的。因此，我們對本季的營收表現非常滿意，特別是在訂閱方面。我們在本季看到了多種產品的實力，確實是 Elizabeth，還有虛擬郵件 LZ Tax。但主要是在我們的核心合規訂閱中，我們看到保留率確實有所提高，超出了我們對本季度的預期，並使我們能夠超越我們為第四季度設定的每個指南。

Good, thank you.

好的謝謝你。

Ella Smith, JPMC.

艾拉史密斯，JPMC。

Hi. Thank you so much for taking my question. My first question is, I think you called out 7,500 LZ Book subscribers. I was hoping you could either qualitatively or quantitatively profile the subscribers. For example, have most of them use LZ before, and are they cross attaching in any other products? Thanks.

你好。非常感謝您回答我的問題。我的第一個問題是，我認為您召集了 7,500 名 LZ Book 訂閱者。我希望您能夠定性或定量地描述訂戶。例如LZ大部分以前用過嗎，有沒有在其他產品中交叉連接過？謝謝。

Yes. So the data point, there's 7,500 subscribers for LZ Books and they're all coming from our ecosystem. So we really didn't deploy initially, we deployed this just through MyLZ, the and so it was cross-sold post formation. And then as we proved out the experience and start to get customer feedback, we decided to put it also into our formation flow, which we really did right at the end of October, and we've seen strong attach.

是的。因此，數據點顯示，LZ Books 有 7,500 名訂戶，他們都來自我們的生態系統。所以我們最初並沒有部署，我們只是透過 MyLZ 部署了這個，所以它是交叉銷售的。然後，當我們證明了經驗並開始獲得客戶回饋時，我們決定將其也納入我們的形成流程中，我們在 10 月底確實做到了這一點，並且我們看到了強烈的依戀。

I think the things that we're looking for right now is good activation and our customers oftentimes come in before they're operational and purchase things and then they need to sort of have the income or the expenses before they start to use the products. And so where you have a lot of activities decked against that.

我認為我們現在正在尋找的是良好的激活，我們的客戶經常在他們開始操作和購買東西之前進來，然後他們需要在開始使用產品之前獲得收入或支出。因此，你有很多活動來應對這一點。

And we're also really watching the upsell motion into tax, especially with tax season right now going on. So that's where I think we get really excited as you are going through your taxes. If you use LZ Tax, I mean, it's a single click to upload all your data directly in it.

我們也確實在關注稅收的追加銷售動向，尤其是在目前稅收季節正在進行的情況下。所以我認為這就是當您辦理稅款時我們感到非常興奮的地方。如果您使用 LZ Tax，我的意思是，只需單擊即可直接將所有資料上傳到其中。

And then also as you finish taxes, if you didn't have a way to organize your books, it's a very simple cross sell back the other direction to introduce you to LZ Books. And so it's really built, It's custom-built as a single platform that works all the way across from just managing your expenses of connecting your banks and sending invoices all the way through to filing.

然後當你完成納稅後，如果你沒有辦法整理你的書籍，這是一個非常簡單的交叉銷售，向你介紹LZ Books。所以它是真正構建的，它是作為一個單一平台定制的，可以從管理連接銀行的費用、發送發票一直到歸檔。

Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you. And for a quick follow up on, I am curious when thinking about the restructuring changes in your sales operations, which you've been asked in the past few years, what are the biggest key changes now and moving forward versus what we've seen at LegalZoom in the past?

知道了。這非常有幫助。謝謝。為了快速跟進，我很好奇在考慮您的銷售業務的重組變化時，您在過去幾年中被問到，與我們所看到的相比，現在最大的關鍵變化是什麼以及未來的變化是什麼過去曾在 LegalZoom 工作過嗎？

Yes. I mean, historically, because we didn't have a great view of our customer. We contacted just about all of our customers through sales and start in, we would do it abandon or program, and we would do onboarding and then we would do continuous cross-sell, depending on sometimes seasonal needs like tax. And it's a pretty inefficient motion right?

是的。我的意思是，從歷史上看，因為我們對客戶沒有很好的了解。我們透過銷售聯繫了幾乎所有客戶，然後開始，我們會放棄或計劃，我們會進行入職培訓，然後我們會進行持續的交叉銷售，具體取決於有時季節性的需求，例如稅收。這是一個相當低效率的動作，對嗎？

If you think about that, that's indiscriminate. So we're marketing to you in the formations flow. We're marketing to you and e-mail and we're calling you as well, which -- there are a segment of our customers that are extremely high value that we can identify now and we have propensity models that we're building.

如果你仔細想想，那就是不分青紅皂白。因此，我們在編組流程中向您行銷。我們正在透過電子郵件向您進行行銷，我們也給您打電話，我們現在可以識別出我們的客戶群具有極高的價值，並且我們正在建立傾向模型。

So that we're only targeting those customers with a very consultative sales experience that's much more tailor made to them and then driving the other customers towards our lower-cost self-directed channels like email and MyLZ. So it's -- I would say that we're moving from more blunt force until like a much more scientific approach to how we market to our customers.

因此，我們只針對那些具有非常諮詢性的銷售體驗的客戶，這種體驗更加適合他們，然後推動其他客戶轉向我們成本較低的自助管道，例如電子郵件和 MyLZ。所以我想說，我們正在從更生硬的力量轉向更科學的方法來向客戶行銷。

And one thing just to reiterate, I think Dan said it earlier, but we are actively managing our reinvestment in sales headcount and we have a targeted ROI. And if we are able to exceed that ROI, then we will continue to invest in that organization and income that would have an impact on our top line versus our plan as well.

需要重申的一件事是，我認為 Dan 之前說過，但我們正在積極管理對銷售人員的再投資，我們有目標投資回報率。如果我們能夠超過投資回報率，那麼我們將繼續投資於該組織和收入，這也會對我們的收入和計劃產生影響。

Great. Thank you so much.

偉大的。太感謝了。

Thanks Ella.

謝謝艾拉。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program and you may now disconnect.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題。感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了程序，您現在可以斷開連接。