Zuberance has raised $4 million in Series A funding from Emergence Capital Partners, with general partner Gordon Ritter joining its board of directors in the process.
Zuberance offers a suite of SaaS applications that enable companies to identify and track customer advocates, and mobilize them to automatically publish authentic content like reviews and testimonials to specific locations within shopping and review sites like Amazon.com, YouTube, TripAdvisor and Facebook. This effectively turns customers into a volunteer promotion workforce that shares offers with their friends and colleagues.
Zuberance customers pay a flat subscription fee for access to its On-Demand software services, based on expected levels of system usage and “other related factors”. There is, however, a one-time system configuration fee, which the company claims is typically less than 10 percent of the total amount of the annual subscription.
The Palo Alto-based startup was founded in 2006 by Rob Fuggetta, a marketer who used to advise companies like Apple, Sony, Microsoft and Verizon in the past on marketing strategy, so we assume he knows what he’s doing.
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This is great - utilizing the power of your network to help spread your message. Web-assisted word of mouth marketing (with rewards) at it’s best.
Eh
I get banned but this guy doesn’t?
Hey, those guys still haven’t paid us for the work we did. Maybe they can afford to pay their bill now. I am still skeptical that they know what they are doing. Where are the screen shots?
Rob Fuggetta knows what he’s doing let’s have a little faith.
I’m glad Rob Fuggetta knows what he’s doing. I question whether Warrick Taylor does. He is unable to articulate the business plan or model and seems to be at sea.
Interesting Idea. Rob Fugetta definitely knows whats hes doing and there’s always a revenue model when its about something with ROI. Trust me, networking has high ROI, a lot more than Bitorrent ads per say.
Oh btw
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I know of this startup through my network of friends. It’s hard to believe that this idea got funded. The idea is lame. Their system is lame. Their CEO is completely clueless. And Kevin, I know from good sources that you’re not the only one who got screwed along the way. Real word of mouth.
Fuggetta is a talker, but he has no idea what he’s doing. He’s only out for himself, which is why anyone with half a brain can’t work for him for long. This guy created a whole slew of detractors by screwing people. For a guy who preaches word of mouth, you think he’s understand how that works. What goes around comes around.
Is this yet another commercial application of social network analysis? Where would this service be sponsored and run inside a Global 2000 company? The marketing department (I assume) or the sales department (which I assume would be more interested in a lead gen tool). Letsgo: what’s your intel on Fugetta? What supports (evidential data) your summary judgment on this guy? He has ten years with Regis McKenna which presumably establishes bona fides in the area of marketing strategy. But what about technology chops? This Saas model is dependent on technology identifying and distributing “brand advocates” for a Global 2000 brand.
I know this guy because he was going to have me do some work for him but I backed out. I wasn’t sure I would get paid. He was technically clueless and is not qualified to be a CEO. I saw no leadership.
Letsgo: I don’t know what your skill-set is, but I assume you are a programmer? Maybe a UI designer? I’m a marketer who has also led several technical product development builds and when I go to Zuberance’s site, I, like Kevin, don’t see any screen shots. In the absence of technical information on Zuberance’s site, it’s really hard to tell why clients would pay for what is, at this point, a sales story. What do you think?
Just stirring the pot ‘G’. I actually don’t know this guy. Never even met him before. I figure the story fits a lot of the CEOs out there.
Ya got that right… I don’t know these guys either, but spammin is a way of life… gotta love it…
DOOOOOOOO WOPPPPPPPPP POPPPPPPPITY POPPPPPPPPP
Love the idea!
I’ve looked into Zuberance for my company, a prominent San-Fran corporation, and was unimpressed. They basically create a loyalty program that they’ll host for you and charge you to communicate to your own customers. Minimum cost is near $100k. We could do this already on our own with our existing assets at a fraction of this price.
They’re alot like a SaaS version of smarmy, stealth/buzz marketing agency, Bzzagent: the main reason for users to enlist & buzz is to get rewards.
Here are some facts about Zuberance that may provide additional insights:
1. Zuberance is not a loyalty program. Zuberance provides a systematic Word of Mouth solution, delivered as a hosted service. Our customers use our hosted platform and apps to identify and mobilize their highly-satisfied customers (aka “Advocates”). Our apps are integrated with a management portal and real-time analytics.
2. Zuberance’s minimum monthly subscription fee is actually a flat $5K, depending on the number of registered Advocates. Our customers are getting a 10X ROI as measured by increased referral leads, sales, conversions, and qualified traffic.
3. If a company wanted to simply put a “Refer a Friend” form on their website, it would be cheaper for them to do this themselves. However, our customers — which include software companies with hundreds/thousands of in-house software engineers — have found it’s more cost-effective and efficient to subscribe to the Zuberance Word of Mouth marketing system with management and real-time tracking capabilities, rather than to try to build this on their own. The DIY approach is proven to be costly and efficient.
4. According to numerous research studies by Comscore, Yahoo!, Forrester and others, the #1 reason customers advocate brands, products, and services is that they’ve had a positive experience and want to share this with others. Our customers do not provide cash to Advocates for recommending. Instead, they give Advocates points that can be redeemed for discounts, special perks, or donated to worthy non-profits like the Polly Klaas Foundation, the National Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the American Red Cross, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. We believe it is appropriate and fair to show your appreciation to your best customers via special perks and discounts. After all, Advocates are your true VIP customers.
I would be glad to share more data and insights about Zuberance with you. Would you be willing to be transparent and share your real name and email address, as I have?
If you really want to beter understand what they do (rather than guessing), you can check out a Webinar the Sales team does every Wednesday at 11AM PST … also, they have an administrator they brought on in Jan. 09 that would gladly get your bills paid. As long as she knows you have them!
Unimpressed Client: If you were comunicating with your customers in the first place, paying someone to do it for you isn’t a bad thing.
Take time to fully review … you may like it!
Cheers.
sent from: fav.or.it [FID5213563]
Something’s fishy with Zuberance. The pricing that Fuggetta indicates above (”minimum monthly subscription fee is actually a flat $5K”) cleverly avoids the fact that their pricing is based on the number of users, so you’re likely to pay more. But they don’t share publicly what this pricing model is. Their webinars indicate that for a typical engagement as referenced in their “WOM ROI Calculator” they charge $200K!
Their website doesn’t indicate their pricing model, even the $5K that Fuggetta claims here (see for yourself: http://www.zuberance.com/pricing.html).
Also, final “FAIL” point. Fuggetta teased the webinar audience by pointing them to a “special offer” at http://www.zuberance.com/offer. This “offer” is for a sales person to call you and try to get you to use Zuberance! Nice “offer”, Rob.