DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Cynthia Gaylor: Sure. Yes. So I totally understand the question. I would say Q4, the 24% margin was higher than probably what our steady rate is for a couple of reasons. One is we had just gone through the fall restructuring. So that really dropped to margin. And then, in addition, the hiring in Q4 was slower than we had anticipated in the quarter. So as we kind of look into this year, we see the opportunity in front of us, and we want to invest into the key pillars of the strategic priorities that Allan talked about, right, in the product, in innovation and then in PLG self-serve. And so, we’re really putting that money from the second restructuring back into the business to really level set against those key areas.

Operator: Our next question comes from George Iwanyc with Oppenheimer.

George Iwanyc: Allan, maybe digging into the product bundling traction you’re seeing, can you give us some color on the adoption rates with SMBs and maybe put that in perspective of what you’re also seeing from competitors?

Allan Thygesen: Yes. So first of all, on a segment basis, and I think Cynthia alluded to this, we have first of all, a very balanced customer portfolio. So, we have a significant SMB and mid-market business and a big emphasis on growing our enterprise business. And I’d say on balance, I don’t know that there’s a huge difference in momentum between those sectors. I know some companies are reporting particular challenges in SMB. I don’t think we’re seeing that. In fact, we had some nice momentum on new accounts in particular. So, I was pleased to see that. I think in terms of — that was the segment piece. What was the other part of your question?

George Iwanyc: Just what you think from a competitive perspective on competition.

Allan Thygesen: Okay. There’s no question that over the last three to five years, the market has gotten more competitive. I don’t know that we’re seeing a material change in how competitive it is here in the last few quarters. I think we continue to be the market leader. We don’t spend as much time worrying about what other people are doing, I think we want to really redefine the category and set the direction for the industry. And I think we’re well on our way to doing that. And that’s where we’re focused from a competitive standpoint, if you will. In terms of the tactics, we are looking on pricing and packaging and how can we be as agile as possible by segment, by country. There might be a few countries where we’ve gotten a little too far off the market.

And so, we’re looking at that very carefully. I mentioned some bundling opportunities during my prepared remarks. So, we think there’s a lot of opportunities there. There’s some enterprise license agreements. Some of our largest customers, we really want to the ubiquitous eSignature solution for — in every instance where they want to deploy that. And so we’re in the process of both building out the product to enable that for embedding as well as direct sales and in structuring our license agreements so that that is as attractive as possible for our large clients.

Cynthia Gaylor: One thing I would just add on the SMB, we could see — we did see some relative strength there relative — across our business. And we ran some experiments in Q4, particularly around the bundles or around increasing number of seats. So, we did see kind of a higher volume of SMB deals at lower price points. So, higher volume, lower price, which we thought, especially like in NewCo was a positive sign, as Allan mentioned. So just a little bit more color there.

Operator: Our next question is from Scott Berg with Needham & Company.