Speakfloe 90-Day GTM

Go-to-Market Strategy & Marketing Plan · April–June 2026
Based on March 2026 Data Team Input: Jay · Grigori · Sonja Status: Ready for Execution
Strategic Context — Where We Are

Team Alignment Summary

Jay's thesis: Lower price + simple onboarding + ask questions after value = better conversion. Focus on India, Vietnam, Colombia. Test $1 weekly trial. Build institutional/bulk channel.

Grigori's pushback (valid): 0.46% Day-7 retention means the product isn't giving people a reason to return. This isn't a traffic or segmentation problem — it's a core product problem. Working on simplified onboarding.

Sonja's nuance (valid): 85 organic users over 26 days is a small cohort — retention numbers are noisy. MAU growth may be inflated by NGO traffic (low-intent). Institutional channel should go through partnerships, not new pricing tiers. $1 trial is the most important test. Suggests interviewing paid users (offer 3 months free for their time).

Resolution: All three views align on the same priority order: fix retention first, simplify onboarding, test pricing, then scale. The disagreement is on how bad the data is (noisy vs. definitive) — but the action plan is the same either way.

The Hard Truth — March Numbers

MAU
8,056
acquisition ✓
✓
Week-1 Retention
~1.8%
need 10%+ →
10%
RC 7d Conversion
1.44%
need 3%+ →
3%
DAU/MAU
2.1%
need 8%+ →
8%
Monthly Revenue
$861
target →
$3K
Payment → Purchase
0.65%
need 3%+ →
3%
The Strategy — One Sentence
Get users to their first AI conversation in under 60 seconds,
then prove the value before asking for money.
Everything below serves this. If a task doesn't help users experience value faster or convert after experiencing value, cut it.
Phase 1 — Fix the Foundation
Days 1–30 · April 2026
Apr 1 – Apr 30
Goal: Get Week-1 retention from ~1.8% → 5%+ and validate the $1 trial. These are the only two things that matter this month.
🔴 Onboarding Overhaul (P0 — Ship by Apr 14)
P0
Slash onboarding to 5 steps max
New flow: Language select → Name → "Let's practice" → First AI conversation within 60 seconds. Kill all profiling Qs (ob1–ob50). Collect them passively later inside the experience (after session 2, 3, etc).
Owner: Grigori
Measure: Onboarding completion rate (target: 80%+ vs current ~50%)
P0
First conversation must deliver an "aha moment"
The first AI tutor conversation should be pre-configured to be engaging, fun, and slightly challenging. No cold start. The tutor should adapt to the user's level in real time and give one piece of specific, encouraging feedback at the end. User should leave thinking "I want to do that again."
Owner: Grigori + Product
Measure: % of users who start a 2nd conversation within 48 hours
P1
Add email/profile capture AFTER first session, not before
After the first conversation ends, prompt: "Want to save your progress? Enter your email." This flips the value exchange — they've received value before we ask for anything.
Owner: Grigori
Measure: Email capture rate (target: 40%+ of first-session users)
🔴 Day-1 & Day-3 Retention Hooks (P0 — Ship by Apr 21)
P0
Push notification at +24 hours: "Your tutor has a new topic for you"
Personalized based on what they practiced in session 1. Not a generic reminder — a specific continuation. A/B test: personal vs. generic.
Owner: Engineering
Measure: Day-1 return rate (target: 10%+)
P0
Email at +72 hours: "Your English progress report"
Send a mini-report from their first session: words used, fluency estimate, one specific thing to practice. Deep link back into the app. This gives them a reason to return — they have a "score" to improve.
Owner: Engineering + Marketing
Measure: Day-3 return rate (target: 7%+)
P1
Streak mechanic: "Practice 3 days in a row to unlock [X]"
Simple visual streak counter. Unlocks could be: new conversation topics, voice options, or a fun assessment. Low engineering lift, high behavioral impact. Duolingo proved this works.
Owner: Product
Measure: 7-day streak completion rate
🟡 Pricing A/B Test (P0 — Launch by Apr 14)
P0
Test $1/week trial for India, Vietnam, LatAm
Control: Current pricing ($9.99/week, 7-day free → $29.99/quarter)
Variant A: $1/week first month, then $4.99/week (GDP-adjusted)
Variant B: 7-day free trial → $29.99/quarter (keep, but show AFTER 3 sessions, not during onboarding)
Key change: Don't show pricing until user has completed at least 2 AI conversations. Let them experience value first.
Owner: Sonja + Engineering
Measure: 7-day conversion rate by variant (target: 3%+ on best variant)
P1
Move paywall trigger from onboarding to post-session-3
Currently 4,283 users see the payment page during/right after onboarding — before they've experienced value. Move the paywall to appear after the user's 3rd conversation. By then they have a habit forming and understand what they'd lose.
Owner: Product + Engineering
Measure: Payment page → checkout rate (target: 30%+ vs current 17.9%)
🟡 User Research (P1 — Start Week 1)
P1
Interview 8–10 paid/returning users (Sonja's suggestion)
Offer 3 months free in exchange for a 20-minute call. Ask: What made you come back? What almost made you leave? What do you wish the app did differently? When in your day do you use it? This is small-sample qualitative research, but it will reveal patterns we can't see in analytics.
Owner: Sonja
Deliverable: User insight summary by Apr 21
P1
Audit MAU growth quality (Sonja's flag)
Separate NGO/institutional traffic from organic. If a significant portion of the 8K MAU is low-intent NGO users, our retention numbers are blended and misleading. We need to know the "real" retention for organic users vs. institutional referrals.
Owner: Jay + Grigori
Deliverable: Segmented cohort analysis by traffic source
Phase 1 Exit Criteria: Ship simplified onboarding + $1 trial + Day-1/Day-3 hooks by end of April. If Week-1 retention hasn't moved above 5% by May 1, we need to seriously re-examine the core product loop before Phase 2.
Phase 2 — Optimize & Monetize
Days 31–60 · May 2026
May 1 – May 31
Goal: Double down on what worked in Phase 1. Optimize pricing based on A/B results. Launch institutional pilot. Get revenue to $3K/month.
💰 Monetization Optimization
P0
Lock in winning pricing variant
Based on April A/B results, roll out the winning pricing to 100% of users in core markets. If $1 trial wins, implement regional pricing: India ($1→$3/wk), Vietnam ($1→$3/wk), LatAm ($1→$5/wk), Rest ($9.99/wk). Quarter plan stays at $29.99 globally.
Owner: Product + Engineering
Measure: MRR growth rate
P0
Fix checkout flow friction
March: 766 begin checkout → 28 purchase (96% drop). This is likely payment method issues in emerging markets. Add: UPI for India, MoMo/ZaloPay for Vietnam, local card processors for LatAm. If RevenueCat supports these, enable them. If not, investigate alternatives.
Owner: Engineering
Measure: Checkout completion rate (target: 15%+ vs current 3.7%)
P1
Implement winback flow for churned trialists
Users who tried and didn't convert: email at Day 7, 14, 30 with progressively better offers. "We missed you — here's 50% off your first month." Personalize with their session data.
Owner: Marketing + Engineering
Measure: Winback conversion rate
🏛️ Institutional Channel (Sonja + Jay)
P1
Launch 3–5 institutional pilots through partnerships
Per Sonja's suggestion: go through partnerships, not a new pricing tier. Target: 2 universities (India, Vietnam), 1–2 NGOs (existing contacts via Grigori), 1 corporate training dept. Offer: bulk access at $2/user/month with a 50-seat minimum. Sonja to lead BD.
Owner: Sonja (BD lead) + Grigori (intro contacts)
Measure: 3 signed pilot agreements by May 31
P2
Build simple admin dashboard for institutional partners
Doesn't need to be sophisticated. Basics: invite users via CSV/link, view aggregate usage stats, manage billing. This is the minimum needed to make pilots professional.
Owner: Engineering
Deliverable: Admin MVP by May 21
📊 Retention Deepening
P1
Launch weekly progress emails (all active users)
Every Sunday: "This week you practiced for X minutes, learned Y new words, and your fluency improved by Z%." Include a specific challenge for the coming week. This creates an external accountability loop.
Owner: Marketing + Engineering
P1
Add conversation topics tied to user's real life
Based on delayed profiling Qs (collected after session 2–3): if user is in tech → practice job interview English. If student → practice university scenarios. This makes the AI tutor feel personally relevant.
Owner: Product
Phase 2 Exit Criteria: Week-1 retention ≥ 8%. 7-day conversion ≥ 3%. MRR ≥ $3K. At least 2 institutional pilots active. If these aren't met, we stay in optimization mode — do NOT proceed to scaling acquisition.
Phase 3 — Scale What Works
Days 61–90 · June 2026
Jun 1 – Jun 30
Goal: Scale acquisition in proven channels only. Expand institutional pipeline. Target: 15K MAU, $8K MRR, 10%+ Week-1 retention.
🚀 Acquisition Scaling (Only If Phase 2 Targets Met)
P0
Scale organic acquisition in India + Vietnam
ASO (App Store Optimization) for Hindi, Vietnamese, Spanish keywords. Create localized app store listings. Target: top 50 in Education category in India and Vietnam app stores.
Owner: Marketing
Measure: Organic install growth rate
P1
Content marketing: "Learn English" YouTube/TikTok in local languages
Short-form content (30–60s) showing the AI tutor in action. Use real user conversations (with permission). Target Hindi, Vietnamese, Spanish-speaking audiences. Partner with micro-influencers ($50–200/video) in each market.
Owner: Marketing
Measure: Cost per install from content channels
P1
Referral program: "Give a friend 1 free week"
Current referral LTV is $0.0004 — because there's no referral program. Build one: existing users can invite friends, both get 1 free week. Viral loop. Only launch once retention is healthy (otherwise you're referring people into a leaky product).
Owner: Product + Engineering
Measure: Viral coefficient (target: 0.3+)
🏛️ Institutional Expansion
P0
Convert pilots to paid contracts
Phase 2 pilots should have 30 days of usage data. Present results to decision-makers. Target: convert 2 of 3 pilots to annual contracts. Use pilot success stories as case studies for next wave of outreach.
Owner: Sonja
Measure: 2 annual contracts signed
P1
Build outbound pipeline: 20 universities, 10 NGOs, 5 corporates
Focus on: India (IITs, NITs, state universities), Vietnam (national universities, FPT), Colombia/Peru (top 10 universities). NGOs: English education focused. Corporates: BPOs and IT services companies in India that need English upskilling.
Owner: Sonja + Jay
Measure: Pipeline value, meetings booked
Phase 3 Exit Criteria (90-Day Targets): 15K MAU · 10%+ Week-1 retention · $8K MRR · 5%+ DAU/MAU · 3+ institutional contracts signed · Clear path to $15K MRR by Q3.
Marketing Strategy — Channel Playbook

Channels to Invest In

1. App Store Optimization (ASO)

Localized listings in Hindi, Vietnamese, Spanish. Target "learn English," "English speaking practice," "AI tutor" keywords. Currently untapped — Speakfloe doesn't appear in top 100 for key terms in India/Vietnam stores.

HIGH PRIORITY · $0 cost · Start Apr 1

2. Content Marketing — Short-Form Video

30–60s demos of real AI tutor conversations on YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok. In local languages with English subtitles. Show the "aha moment" — a user speaking English with the AI and getting real-time feedback. Budget: $500–1K/month for micro-influencer partnerships.

HIGH PRIORITY · Phase 2–3

3. Institutional Partnerships (B2B2C)

Universities, NGOs, corporates in core markets. Sonja leads BD. Model: partnership agreements, not a self-serve pricing tier. Bulk access at $2/user/month. This channel has potentially the highest LTV because users are mandated/encouraged to use it.

HIGH PRIORITY · Start Apr 15

4. Email Lifecycle Marketing

Build the full lifecycle: welcome → Day 1 push → Day 3 progress report → Day 7 streak check → weekly digest → winback sequences. This is the engine that turns trial users into retained users. Zero marginal cost after setup.

MEDIUM · Build in Phase 1, iterate in Phase 2

5. Organic Search (SEO)

Direct and organic search already have the best LTV ($1.61 and $1.50). Create landing pages targeting "practice English online," "AI English tutor," "learn English speaking" in target markets. Blog content around English learning tips in Hindi/Vietnamese/Spanish.

MEDIUM · Start Phase 2

Channels to Kill or Pause

❌ Referral Traffic (as-is)

$0.0004 LTV. Whatever is driving referral traffic is bringing users with essentially zero monetization. If there's any spend behind this, stop it today. Rebuild referral as a user-driven program in Phase 3 — not a traffic acquisition channel.

KILL · Immediately

⏸️ Paid Acquisition (Any Channel)

Do NOT spend money on paid ads until Week-1 retention is above 8%. Every dollar spent on acquisition with 1.8% retention is $0.98 wasted. Revisit in Phase 3 only if retention targets are met.

PAUSE · Until Phase 3

⏸️ Low-Quality NGO Traffic

Per Sonja's flag: if NGO-driven users are inflating MAU without converting, this traffic is misleading us. Segment it, measure it separately, and don't count it in core metrics. The institutional channel should be a deliberate paid partnership, not a free traffic source that muddies the data.

AUDIT · Phase 1

Marketing Budget — 90 Days

ChannelMonthly90-Day Total
ASO + Localization$200$600
Email tooling (Loops/Resend)$50$150
Micro-influencers (Phase 2+)$500$1,000
SEO content (Phase 2+)$300$600
User research incentives—$300
Total~$700/mo avg$2,650
This is a lean budget on purpose. At $861/month revenue, you can't outspend the problem. The strategy is to fix the product (retention + onboarding), prove the economics, then scale with confidence in Phase 3.
Market-Specific Playbooks

🇮🇳 India (24.6% of users)

Why it's #1: Largest English learning market in the world. 300M+ people actively learning English for career advancement.

Pricing: $1/week trial → $3/week → $19.99/quarter. UPI payment support is critical.

Content angle: "Speak English confidently at work." Target IT professionals, students preparing for placements, IELTS/TOEFL prep.

Institutional: IITs, NITs, state universities, BPO training programs. English is a gating skill for career progression.

Distribution: YouTube (India's #1 platform), Instagram Reels, WhatsApp sharing.

🇻🇳 Vietnam (19.7% of users)

Why it's strong: Government push for English proficiency. Young population. Tech-savvy, high smartphone penetration.

Pricing: $1/week trial → $3/week → $19.99/quarter. MoMo/ZaloPay integration important.

Content angle: "Practice English for international companies." Vietnam's FDI boom means English = salary increase.

Institutional: FPT University, VNU, foreign language universities. English centers are a $2B+ market in Vietnam.

Distribution: Facebook (Vietnam's #1), TikTok, Zalo.

🇨🇴🇵🇪🇪🇨 LatAm (15.6% combined)

Why it matters: Colombia (5.5%), Peru (5.3%), Ecuador (2.4%), Mexico (2.4%), Brazil (2.4%). Massive combined market.

Pricing: $1/week trial → $5/week → $29.99/quarter. Slightly higher purchasing power than South/Southeast Asia.

Content angle: "Aprende inglés hablando con IA." Spanish-language marketing is essential. Focus on career advancement and immigration/travel.

Institutional: Universities, SENA (Colombia), Ministerio de Educación programs. Government English programs are underfunded and could use supplementary tools.

Distribution: Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook.

Open Decisions & Next Steps
Decision NeededOwnerDeadlineStatus
Grigori: confirm simplified onboarding specGrigoriApr 4Blocking
Sonja: get NGO contact details from Grigori for institutional outreachSonja + GrigoriApr 7Open
Segment MAU by traffic source (organic vs. NGO vs. direct)Jay + GrigoriApr 7Open
RevenueCat: can we implement regional pricing without a new product?EngineeringApr 7Open
Payment methods: UPI (India), MoMo (Vietnam) feasibilityEngineeringApr 14Research
Sonja: set up Trello board for 90-day execution trackingSonjaApr 4Ready
User interviews: recruit 8–10 paid users for callsSonjaApr 14Planned
Speakfloe · 90-Day GTM Strategy · April–June 2026
Prepared for: Jay, Grigori, Sonja