Chegg 2013 Annual Report Download - page 62

• our ability to engage high school students with our College Admissions and Scholarship Services;
• changes in student spending levels;
• the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts;
• our ability to introduce new products and services that are favorably received by students; and
• the rate of adoption of eTextbooks and our ability to capture a significant share of that market.
If we do not attract more students to our connected learning platform and the products and services that we offer
or if students do not increase their level of engagement with our platform, our revenue may grow more slowly than
expected or decline. Many students use our print textbook service as a result of word-of-mouth advertising and
referrals from students who have used this service in the past. If our efforts to satisfy our existing student user base are
not successful, we may not be able to attract new students and, as a result, our revenues will be adversely affected.
Our failure to convince colleges and brands of the benefits of advertising on our platform or using our
marketing services could harm our business.
Our business strategy includes increasing our revenue from enrollment marketing services and brand advertising.
Colleges and brands may view our connected learning platform as experimental and unproven. They may not do
business with us, or may reduce the amounts they are willing to spend to advertise with us, if we do not deliver ads,
sponsorships and other commercial content and marketing programs in an effective manner, or if they do not believe
that their investment in advertising with us will generate a competitive return relative to other alternatives. Our ability
to grow the number of colleges that use our enrollment marketing services and brands that use our brand advertising,
and ultimately to generate advertising and marketing services revenue, depends on a number of factors, including:
• competing effectively for advertising and marketing dollars from colleges, brands, online marketing
and media companies and advertisers;
• penetrating the market for student-focused advertising;
• successfully developing a platform that can deliver advertising and marketing services across multiple
channels, including print, email, personal computer and mobile and other connected devices;
• our ability to improve our analytics and measurement solutions to demonstrate the value of our
advertising and marketing services;
• maintaining the retention, growth and engagement of our student user base;
• legal developments relating to data privacy, advertising or marketing services, legislation and
regulation and litigation;
• the strength of our brand and media reports and other publicity involving us or other companies that
utilize online platforms for advertising and marketing purposes;
• our ability to create new products that sustain or increase the value of our advertising and marketing
services and other commercial content;
• changes in the way online advertising and marketing services are priced; and
• the impact of macroeconomic conditions and conditions in the advertising industry and higher
education in general.
We intend to offer new products and services to students to grow our business. If our efforts are not
successful, our business could be adversely affected.
Our ability to attract and retain students and increase their engagement with our platform depends on our
ability to connect them with the product, person or service they need to save time, save money and get smarter.
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