Online learning marketplace Cafetalk doubles student base to 12,000 in one year

Jan. 31, 2013 - PRLog -- Cafetalk.com (operated by Tokyo-based education startup Small Bridge Inc) originally began as a humble English language tutoring site with only four tutors. After expanding its services to include non-language, cultural and other special-interest lessons, Cafetalk has flourished into a truly diverse marketplace, increasing twice in size from 6,000 to 12,000 members in just one year since January 2012.

This growth can be placed into better context when taking into account that Cafetalk's lessons cost on average $20 to $30 dollars an hour, a significantly higher rate than alternative services that provide lessons at less than half that price.

Small Bridge CEO Ken Hashizume attributes the students' willingness to invest more in Cafetalk's lessons to its unique selection.

"Want to learn the specific language of 'Wine Appreciation' in English? No problem. Want a serious lesson to prep you for TOEFL? Sure. Want to role-play a belligerent showdown during a business conference? That's okay too", says Hashizume.

"Whatever need a particular student has, he or she is likely to find something that fits among Cafetalk's 2500+ lesson offerings."

What makes these interesting lessons possible is Cafetalk's unique environment that encourages experimentation and ingenuity - tutors are given free rein to develop their own courses.

"This freedom forces tutors to innovate and think of ways to truly improve their student's learning experience", Hashizume explains.

“We want students to improve the quality of their lives through the interactions they have with Cafetalk’s tutors. That’s what makes them come back for more. It’s a sort of spice that’s unique to Cafetalk.”

The effects of this ‘spice’ is evident in the repeat rate for Cafetalk's top 10% of tutors. Although even the top tutors lose 32% of students on their first lesson, from there on the average repeat rate remains very high at 92.6%*.

Student loyalty is also seen in the fact that lessons for top tutors are constantly booked three months in advance to insure a reservation is successful. Some tutors constantly achieve over US$3,000 in gross income per month.  

Cafetalk is definitely not for everyone. Tutors who are happy to just follow a given curriculum are not likely to survive on Cafetalk.  But skilled, enterprising tutors usually find that Cafetalk gives them the platform to truly put their ideas in motion and satisfy their creative urges.

See a video interview of one Cafetalk's tutors:
http://vimeo.com/58519450



Cafetalk continues to recruit native and/or bilingual speakers from all backgrounds. Interested tutors can apply here http://cafetalk.com/tutor/recruitment/native_tutor/?t=p&lang=en

About Cafetalk
Cafetalk provides a platform that enables tutors around the world to teach languages and other skills through private video lessons.

Bits and pieces
• Tutors from over 20 different nations across the world.
• More than 2500 lessons to choose from.
• Students take lessons from 20 countries.
• Best tutors make more than US3,000 per month.
• Students have posted over 10,000 pieces of publicly viewable feedback.
• Cafetalk excels at helping tutors promote themselves through tutor interview videos, personalized Facebook pages and other tools.

* Repeat rate statistics as of January 2013. Average repeat rate is taken over seven lessons.