Squarespace, Inc. (NYSE:SQSP) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Anthony Casalena: It’s a good question. I think it depends per market for me. I think that we’re much more comfortable with some inefficiencies in international markets while they build up. And the U.S. — look, if the model is returning, we’ll keep leaning into it. But otherwise, it’s about making the spend appropriate for the returns that we’re seeing.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chris Zhang from UBS.

Chris Zhang: So unique subscription saw very strong growth in the third quarter as you added almost 100,000 in the quarter, and that’s probably the highest Q-on-Q increase in nine quarters. And just a couple of things we noticed in the quarter, just the — there’s definitely a couple of new product areas. And from the release, there seems to be a lack of the unfold headwinds that maybe also played a role. And also related, you mentioned having lending to direct response channels and decrease some of the partnership spend in terms of marketing? So maybe can you unpack some of the drivers of the strength in terms of — the strength in the new subscriptions add in terms of different product areas or channels and maybe how should we think about your revenue and free cash flow guide in the fourth quarter and the [indiscernible] of the strong — in the third quarter?

Anthony Casalena: So we usually talked about Unfolds and whatnot being the volatile thing within the quarter. I’d say that’s a bit steady state right now. Here’s an important thing to point out in the third quarter. So after we closed the Google Domains acquisition, what happened on that day is that new registrations at Google Domains were pointed to Squarespace. And so we have a steady state of domains being subscribed with us every month. And that took a significant step up after that registration funnel was pointed to us. That’s one of the biggest things you’re seeing within that unique subscriptions number that is totally new. And so that’s awesome, right? I mean that means we’re successfully onboarding many, many more people that we can potentially cross-sell and upsell and also manage on Squarespace and introduce to our products and the ecosystem.

So that’s a seismic change and is a big contributor to that number. I don’t think there’s much else to call out, but it’s not. It’s work as usual.

Nathan Gooden: We continue to see strong retention of our existing core and the new acquisition that we talked about earlier on the call, and that continues to be one of the biggest drivers for our unique subs. The softening of unfold is less impactful too.

Anthony Casalena: Right. And that new registration funnel is substantial.

Operator: Our next question comes from Gabriela Borges from Goldman Sachs.

Unidentified Analyst: This is [Dru] on for Gabriela. So maybe just one on international, that remains a key growth opportunity for you in terms of the number of modules and then the broader [indiscernible] opportunity. Could you maybe briefly describe where this part of the business fits in your growth strategy? And where do you see the revenue mix maybe trending medium to longer term and key drivers on that front?

Anthony Casalena: Could you repeat the question?

Unidentified Analyst: Right. So just on the international markets, maybe you could describe where you see this fitting into your growth strategy? And the revenue mix trending medium to longer term and drivers on that front?

Anthony Casalena: Yes. Got it. So the international component has always been a huge part of our growth strategy. I mean, we’ve been in many markets for the better part of the decade now. I figure how many currencies are we in after Google, 22-ish. And then we keep internationalizing the main product. That became very additionally important to us after Google Domains because that’s a more international mix than we’re used to. But it remains very important, we have outside investment in international growth in those markets. And as I mentioned in the previous question, we’re more comfortable with taking some losses and not having as tight — if you compare our international revenue mix to certain peers, we clearly [Audio Gap] versus domestic U.S. for us versus going in the other direction.