March 2024 Shareholder Update

ℹ️ Sent to shareholders on April 22, 2024

Hi there,

Joel welcomed his second son, Tobi, earlier this month and is currently taking some time away on family leave. I’ll be sharing the metrics and key updates for Buffer for March 2024. I’m happy to take any questions or comments while Joel is away!

• This is a fun one to celebrate - in March, our MRR/ARR hit the highest level of any day in 2023!
• The New Buffer segment continues to perform strongly, while our Legacy segment continues to decline and become a smaller portion of our overall MRR. As of March, New Buffer MRR now makes up for 75% of our total MRR and 72% of our total paid customers are on New Buffer plans.
• Overall, Q1 proved to be a strong quarter and we remain on track for a growth year overall for 2024.

Note-worthy updates and reflections

Retreat

For the first time since 2019, we gathered together for a Buffer retreat in Cancún, Mexico! Teammates flew in from all over the world to spend a week in-person discussing upcoming projects, aligning on culture and strategy, and bonding. It’s a rare treat for our remote team to enjoy things like meals, and meetings unencumbered by timezones. Teammates reported that the cross-functional sessions were especially valuable, particularly our company-wide inbox time, when the whole team replied to customer questions in the support inbox. During free time, Bufferoos swam in the ocean, competed in beach volleyball, played card games, and enjoyed treats that we brought from all over. (The most controversial were Candy Corn and Vegemite!) We’re enjoying the great energy from this time together and looking for ways to recreate a bit of the magic remotely.

Growth & Q1 results

After 10 consecutive quarters of MRR decline, Q1 marked our first quarter of MRR growth since Q2 of 2021. New Buffer MRR now makes up 75.0% of total MRR, and New Buffer customers increased by 3,435 in Q1 to make up 72% of total paying customers. We also saw a small uptick in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Revenue grew by .6% in Q1 hitting $4.5M, our largest revenue total since the fourth quarter of 2022.

Our total operating expenses were higher than average in March due to the recognition of 2024 retreat costs. Because of this, we finished March with a pretty significant loss of $262K putting our net income for the first quarter at a total loss of $410K. As of the end of March, our cash runway is 27 months (up one month from February) and our bank balance remains strong.

Mobile Apps Growth

We’re seeing continued growth in app-paid subscribers due to several UX growth experiments, the rollout of annual paid plans, and several key projects that the team shipped in Q1. In Q1, new paid subscribers (weekly) went up 15% from 75/week to ~90/week. As a result, two powerful insights have emerged:  1) The queue or post limit is a highly effective upgrade path, especially if it is shown to users before they reach the 10-post limit 2) A highly visible upgrade CTA delivers strong results in mobile apps, even if they are generic (vs. feature-specific).

We moved New Board View to Beta

We introduced Buffer’s New Board view and invited users to the Beta version which sets the stage for a larger product launch in April. Buffer’s new Board view will allow users to create and organize content by format or channel, keep track of different team member contributions, and visualize the progress from “to-do” to “done”. We will launch this to all users in April.

Instagram Universal Publishing (aka Reminders)

In March, we launched a new notification publishing option for Instagram. This allows users to plan any type of Instagram content in advance; whether they want to fully automate their post or handcraft each Reel and Story, Buffer now has more publishing options to suit every Instagram creator. Users will enjoy more flexibility and power with every post and can choose the option that best suits them. Automatic publishing allows users to set it and forget it. Buffer will automatically post on their behalf and they don’t have to lift a finger once a post is scheduled. Notification publishing allows users to add stickers, music and enjoy more creative control. Buffer will tee up the post, send a notification based on a user’s defined schedule, and help users finish the post on Instagram. Both options are available on all Buffer plans, including the free plan.

This sets the stage for a larger product theme slated for later this year. Our forthcoming launch aligns with our vision to provide our users with more flexibility by expanding publishing options across all Buffer channels, incorporating both automated and notification-based social sharing, alongside strengthening the notification features and settings.

That’s it for March. I’ll be in touch soon to share the next update for April and Joel will be back to share our May results in June.

Thanks for your continued support!

Jenny Terry
Head of Finance, Buffer