■Business Overview

(4) Customer acquisition

According to the PROGRIT (9560) business model, of course, it is necessary to continue acquiring new customers. This is because after users have acquired English skills at a certain level or higher, they set new goals and continue learning or graduate. To acquire new customers, web marketing such as listing advertisements, SNS advertisements, distribution to YouTube videos, etc. is carried out, and services are introduced to customer groups all over Japan. In addition, we are currently investing in offline advertisements such as in-train advertisements, etc., and are focusing on gaining recognition from the potential customer base. In order to introduce a wide range of the company's services to potential customers, the company has appointed soccer player Honda Keisuke, who played an active part in overseas leagues, as an ambassador to promote brand building and trust acquisition. In web marketing, determining how much effect was actually obtained can be confirmed by numbers, so the company measures promotion effects by analyzing information such as the number of accesses to the company's site and time spent on each page due to advertising. Marketing execution and analysis are repeated for the purpose of improving these numerical values, which are KPIs for new customer acquisition. Improvements are clarified through this series of cycles, and policy development is also optimized each time, leading to an expansion of new customer acquisition in the future.

2. Strengths and characteristics

(1) Management ability to grip the entire organization

The company's strength lies in the fact that it combines high-quality consulting services, in-house production of learning apps, unique web marketing methods, and FIVE GRIT corporate culture along with reality. These factors are thought to have contributed to the rapid growth of the business model that the company has built. Customer needs are accurately grasped through high-quality consulting services, and this is reflected in coaching to lead to independent learning. In addition to obtaining an environment where customers can learn efficiently and continuously, language ability can be improved by using a learning application and using English learning content currently necessary.

The learning apps provided are excellent in ease of use and design, and have received high praise from customers. At the same time, since 20 or more IT human resources are deployed in terms of application development, not only is development in-house, but since the management team and site are at a close distance, the speed of information sharing is fast, and there is an environment where customer requests are easily reflected in application development. In web marketing, services that meet a wide range of customer needs are introduced using unique marketing methods without depending on advertising agencies, etc. While it has marketing power, the company has simultaneously reduced sales management costs. In order to build a system that can provide high-quality services in response to the needs of any customer, it seems that particular emphasis is being placed on fostering corporate culture. At the same time, by making employees have room in their work environment, we have created an internal environment that encourages self-improvement. The fact that management has set high management goals, such as having achieved listing in 7 years since the company was founded, and that they have absolute confidence in coaching services make it possible to achieve scalability. As a result of acquiring scalability, awareness of services has actually rapidly expanded, creating synergy with high customer satisfaction.

(2) Customer Satisfaction

High customer satisfaction can also be cited as a characteristic of the company's services. Service satisfaction is being evaluated on a 5-point scale from a questionnaire conducted for graduates, and satisfaction levels above 4 are always maintained. The enrollment rate for continuing courses can be cited as an indicator representing this high level of satisfaction, but after the 2021/8 term, the probability that regular course graduates will enroll in continuing courses has exceeded 50%.

Also, the high level of customer satisfaction also leads to continuous acquisition of new customers. A high level of satisfaction is expected to generate positive reviews, but this effect has actually occurred. When comparing the ratio of friend referrals to the number of new subscribers on a quarterly basis, although there is a downward trend, peaking at 21% in the first quarter of 2023, it remained flat from the previous quarter to 16% in the 2nd quarter of the 2024/8 fiscal year, and it still maintains a high level. Also, in the same 2nd quarter, new customer acquisition was strong, such as the average waiting period for taking courses being prolonged, so it is presumed that the number of friend referrals itself is on the rise.

Both the “track record of improving customer English ability in a short period of time” and “high customer satisfaction that has been built up” achieved by combining various elements are difficult to imitate overnight. Support from the market that “I want to choose this service precisely because of a track record of improving English proficiency and high customer satisfaction” is the company's greatest characteristic and strength.

(Author: FISCO Analyst Tomokazu Murase)