The Fastest Growing SaaS Startup that's Saving Local Businesses

In a press release republished on Yahoo! Finance yesterday, the ZyraTalk team shared how they grew during a tumultuous year, as well as their plans for 2021. We wanted to recap that release here and provide a sneak peek of our upcoming products.

Technologically underserved industries

Brad Scruggs, ZyraTalk co-founder and CMO, remarked that the home improvement, legal, and healthcare sectors have been "technologically underserved" compared to other industries.

Historically, local home service businesses in particular relied on word-of-mouth and traditional advertising mediums like print and TV to market their services.

As the marketing landscape changed, these businesses found themselves caught in a never-ending race to generate customers on third-party platforms like Google. Even a minor algorithm or bidding change could jeopardize their chances of acquiring customers. Not to mention search engines are already saturated and highly competitive.

Local businesses that rely too heavily on these platforms need an alternative, scalable solution that restores control to the business. Much of the customer experience software available today caters to big brands in tech. Before ZyraTalk, no accessible, affordable solutions existed for small, local service businesses.

We started out as a hybrid messaging solution that combined automated and live chat to give businesses ultimate control over their customer interactions. The chat platform also included review capture and click-to-call features.

Thousands of conversations have taken place on our platform. As client feedback continued to roll in, we realized we could do more to serve the small businesses that power America's economy. Using our clients' suggestions as a guide, we began working on some new products that we're excited to launch very soon.

Upcoming products launching in 2021

ZyraTalk will launch two new products in 2021, both of which are currently in development and beta testing.

The Engagement Engine

Low conversion rates on third-party platforms combined with high customer acquisition costs stunt growth for local businesses already reeling from economic hardship due to the pandemic.

Through partnerships with thousands of local service industries across the country, the ZyraTalk team discovered that these businesses spend too much time and money trying to attract customers who have never heard of them. And not enough time and money reconnecting with the people who already trust them: their past customers.

This is called the treadmill approach. Businesses that use this approach generate more than 50% of their business from new customers. The chase never seems to end.

That's precisely the problem the Engagement Engine solves.

Staying top-of-mind by reconnecting with past customers slashes acquisition costs and ensures businesses aren't putting all their eggs in one basket. Building a memorable brand allows businesses to generate more than 50% of their revenue from repeat customers instead.

The Engagement Engine is an automated email marketing product backed by humans. It re-engages past customers with educational content and exclusive offers using data your business already has.

The Engagement Engine comes complete with:

• intelligent reporting
• intuitive segmenting
• campaign-level tracking
• playbooks featuring industry-specific email content already written for you

Set-up and customization options are virtually unlimited. A dedicated account manager will set up custom skills and workflows to maximize email engagement and get you up and running in no time.

While beta testing the upcoming Engagement Engine, the founders held several meetings with current clients to source feedback.

One of those clients was George Brazil Plumbing and Electrical. The Phoenix-based home service business saw excellent results from their beta test run, generating over $75,000 in revenue from the Engagement Engine alone.

Despite those results, Shawne Cook, director of marketing at George Brazil, provided the ZyraTalk team with tons of valuable suggestions for improving the upcoming product. Our development team is actively working to implement that feedback and polish the product for launch early next year.

"We can say that we built our product, but the reality is our customers built it," remarked Brian Scruggs, ZyraTalk's COO and technology team lead. "Everything we do is based on client feedback."

Review Management

The Review Management solution allows your team to capture and respond to reviews across platforms from one easy-to-use app.

You can filter reviews by team member to discover who's impacting your reputation most. The software also fields negative reviews, allowing you to respond to complaints before they go live.

Although review capture is already part of our hybrid messaging software, the Review Management app will take it to the next level with more intelligent reporting and tracking.

The Review Management app is still in development and will launch as part of the Growth Engine package.

Funding and future plans for ZyraTalk

While business stalled for many startups across the country in 2020 due to the pandemic, ZyraTalk experienced an exciting period of growth. Co-founders Brad Scruggs, Brian Scruggs, and Ahmad Saleem stated they have "aggressive hiring plans" for 2021.

A proud bootstrapped business, ZyraTalk is in a unique position to confidently turn down offers from venture capitalists.

"Sure, it's exciting to see the interest from VCs, but my partners and I have a clear plan on how we can invest our profits and multiply growth in 2021," says ZyraTalk CEO Ahmad Saleem.

Most of those plans involve high client retention rates. Clients include a combination of direct partnerships with nationwide franchises like Stanley Steemer and Benjamin Franklin, plus white-label partnerships with marketing firms across several industries.

ZyraTalk serves 3,000+ local businesses, a number that keeps growing every day thanks to a tight-knit, talented team of experienced salespeople, marketers, engineers, and customer success managers.

To infinity and beyond!

We're proud to be one of the fastest-growing SaaS startups in America. Our mission is to provide enterprise solutions to local businesses for an affordable price. We believe small, local businesses should enjoy access to the same tools big brands are using to deliver a 10-star customer experience.

Many businesses don't have the technological know-how to automate processes themselves. That's why we offer full setup and customization options so local businesses can hit the ground running.

We're excited to ring in a new year of explosive growth. Of course, we wouldn't be where we are today without our supportive, dedicated clients.

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of the country. We're positively impacting thousands of businesses in America and play a small part in billions of dollars of commerce each year. It's rewarding." — ZyraTalk CEO Ahmad Saleem

Follow our LinkedIn page to stay updated on our progress. Want a sneak peek of the Growth Engine? Book your free demo today and discover how you can unlock explosive growth when you let ZyraTalk join your team.