SEO strategy and in-house enablement delivered a 24x increase in conversions and lasting internal capability

■ What they do
・Telecommunications business
・Rental or sale of telecommunications equipment
・Planning, development, sale, rental, operation and maintenance of telecommunications devices and peripherals
・All work incidental and related to the above

Arlalink Inc. provides services that meet the needs of the times, centred on its low-cost smartphone business, “Daredemo Smartphone”.
“ Daredemo Smartphone” is a service that helps solve the social problem of people shut out of mobile connectivity.

The low-cost smartphone business: about “Daredemo Smartphone”
A smartphone service that even people who cannot get a contract with a major carrier, for reasons such as a credit default, can sign up for easily and with peace of mind, with no credit check.

A smartphone is indispensable for everyone, whether for renting a home, getting a job or staying in touch with the people around them, and owning one supports an individual’s independence.

Arlalink works with government bodies, has established its own scheme, and is growing the business.
It also runs other businesses, such as rental mobile phone services for companies.

To bring its services to more people, Arlalink runs a variety of marketing initiatives, including web advertising.
We asked Mr Matsuoka, head of the Digital Marketing Department, about the background to taking on SEO content marketing.

The client’s department and role, and the “Daredemo Smartphone” business

― Could you tell us your department and role, and about the “Daredemo Smartphone” business?

I joined the digital marketing department in 2023 and am now its head.
We run “Daredemo Smartphone”, a low-cost SIM service that people, mainly those shut out of mobile connectivity, can sign up for with peace of mind.

We originally ran a smartphone rental business, but as we worked to differentiate ourselves from competitors, we pivoted to the “Daredemo Smartphone” service.
There are around five million people in Japan who are described as shut out of mobile connectivity, and this has become a social problem.
We provide a service that helps support those people.

Marketing and SEO started by trial and error, and goals as the person in charge of marketing

― What kind of marketing goals did Arlalink have?

Simply, increasing the number of users. “Daredemo Smartphone” has a SaaS-like business model, so more users and fewer cancellations lead to stable profits.

However, when I first got involved in marketing, it was quite hard to translate our marketing goals into concrete KPIs, and we were running initiatives by trial and error.
With web advertising it’s easy to set targets such as CPA, but SEO was rather vague.

With NowVillage’s support, the very first article delivered generated a conversion in its first month, and from there clear targets began to emerge, such as “how many conversions to win through SEO”. That was from around November 2023.

The problems before coming to NowVillage

― What marketing problems lay behind your decision to work on SEO?

At the time we were dependent on advertising, and there was a worry that “if we stopped advertising, acquisition might stop too”. Against that background, we received a proposal pointing out that SEO remains as an asset, and we decided to take it on.

We also felt that, rather than continuing to outsource our marketing, we wanted to do it ourselves in fine detail, so when we received a proposal for bringing it in-house, we got started.

What NowVillage did in practice

NowVillage’s support for Arlalink
① SEO content marketing support
　Producing SEO content (articles) that brings users to the site
　Designing the path to conversion

② Support for bringing SEO in-house
　Support for bringing the following in-house, so that Arlalink can do SEO themselves
　Keyword selection
　Creating article outlines
　Writing
　CTA design and wording

Quantitative results from bringing SEO in-house, and a stronger marketing organisation

― What results have you gained from our support?

First, the three articles delivered at the start produced 18 conversions in the first month, with a CPA more than 1,000 yen lower than advertising. We felt it was working and saw the potential, so we stepped up our SEO efforts in earnest.

As of March 2025, it’s been just under a year and a half since we started SEO, and it has become one of our key marketing initiatives.
Part of it comes from synergy with advertising and offline sales, but in terms of results, site page views are around 15 times higher, and monthly conversions are around 24 times higher, comparing for example our best month for conversions.

The marketing department now has a team of four.

Turning “user-first” thinking, and applying it to the service, into an asset

― Were there any qualitative changes, or changes in the marketing department or the company?

The habit of forming hypotheses from the perspective of “what do users want?” has taken root.
When planning and structuring SEO content, taking the user’s perspective is what matters most, and I feel that through this support we learned things like what steps to follow when thinking it through.

This user-first thinking goes beyond SEO marketing: it also feeds into service design, operational improvements and hiring, and I see it as an asset.
Because our company runs a business that solves a social problem, many of our employees are people who wanted to help others in the first place. Pursuing the user’s perspective and delivering value to customers was a natural fit.
That user-focused, user-first thinking then carried through into improving the service and improving operations.
A culture of sharing knowledge, through things like outline drafts and checklists, has also developed.

Future business outlook: building social infrastructure, and marketing goals

― Could you tell us about your plans for the future?

I feel we also need branding and awareness initiatives to deliver value to a wider audience.
In fact, it’s often family members rather than the users themselves who apply, so information design that reaches those people around the user will become important from now on.

We’re aiming for nearly twice the current number of conversions by the end of 2025, and are targeting revenue of 5 billion yen.
It’s said that there are around five million people in society shut out of mobile connectivity, and we want to reach the people who need our service.

As a marketing organisation, we aim to be marketers at an operating company who truly love our own product and always put the customer first and see things from the user’s perspective.

Our core business today is telecommunications, but in future we envisage expanding into real estate, employment support and areas related to food, clothing and housing.

What sets NowVillage apart

― What would you say are our distinctive features?

First, I think a strength is how easy it is to build a relationship of trust with the person in charge.
For example, Mr Nagasawa, who looked after us, didn’t only handle the sales side; he also produced the content end to end, so his suggestions along the lines of “this is how I would think about it” were always concrete and immediately convincing. He supported us in bringing the work in-house with an understanding of the struggles of the people actually doing the hands-on work.

― Nagasawa: Thank you! I was also very grateful to have Mr Matsuoka to work with. I believe it’s precisely because Mr Matsuoka pursues the user’s perspective so thoroughly that Arlalink’s site has grown this much.

What kind of company would you recommend NowVillage to?

― What kind of company’s marketing would you recommend our support for?

I’d recommend it to consumer-facing (B2C) service businesses.
For example, I think SEO and bringing it in-house are important for nursing care, hospitals, osteopathic clinics and the like.
I also think companies with a clearly defined target segment will see particularly large benefits.
Our “Daredemo Smartphone” is not aimed at general smartphone users; it is “for people shut out of mobile connectivity” and about “supporting independence”, so the target is somewhat niche, but NowVillage deepened their understanding of the target and then proposed the direction for our messaging.

I feel this let us avoid “aiming at an unspecified mass audience and blurring the message”, and achieve more effective messaging.

― Nagasawa: I’m so glad to hear you say that. We look forward to continuing to work with you!

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