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Zirtual is a virtual assistant service that offers virtual assistant and personal concierge services to people around the world. Zirtual was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in San Francisco. Zirtual offers US-based, college-educated virtual assistants that are available to handle a wide-variety of tasks and that are designed to help people get and stay organized.
Zirtual assistants are available to perform tasks, including but not limited to sending out birthday cards, ordering flowers, making travel arrangements reservations, scheduling meetings, conducting research , making calls, coordinating plans, returning calls, sending out and responding to e-mails. The list goes on.
For $197/month, you can delegate unlimited tasks to your dedicated Zirtual virtual assistant, up to 10 hours a month.
The most popular option is the Executive unlimited plan priced at $397.00 per month. The Executive plan includes same-day support from your dedicated assistant and the ability to outsource tasks up to a cumulative 20 hours a month.
Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Use Zirtual coupon code VAA_ZIRTUAL for 20% off your first month!
Zirtual Review:
These rates make Zirtual slightly more affordable than other US-based competitors like Red Butler, which offers similar unlimited dedicated service at $250 a month. Fancy Hands, with no dedicated assistant option, recently abandoned their “unlimited” plan. With Zirtual, there is no entry-level price-point for the VA beginners who might not need unlimited requests or a dedicated contact.
Not to suggest these other companies will hire just anyone off the street, but Zirtual guarantees that all of their virtual assistants are thoroughly screened, college-educated and competent to your perform tasks. When it comes to building trust with someone you’ve never met, the hiring process becomes that much more important.
Founder Maren Kate Donovan explains: “We have a seven step hiring process that includes thorough background checks, personality tests and social background checks—to ensure people haven’t lied and to get a very deep understanding of what makes them tick as people.” She goes on to note that Zirtual only hires 3% of the people who apply, and that they receive 4 weeks of traning before they handle their first client.
Your Zirtual virtual assistant service also comes with an “Epic Guarantee” — that you’ll be satisfied with their work and that your personal information will be kept safe. If you have problems with the service you can have a new virtual assistant appointed and also have the option a refund in certain circumstances.
To get started with Zirtual, there are no start-up, or initiation fees aside from your monthly subscription. In addition, there are no long or short-term contracts, individuals can choose to use Zirtual on a one-time basis or sign up for a monthly plan you can cancel at any time with no penalty.
In response to strong demand and to give themselves an air of exclusivity, Zirtual is currently accepting new clients on an invitation-only basis. I was fortunate enough to score a few invites for Virtual Assistant Assistant visitors, which can be activated through the “Visit Site” link above.
To fuel their growth in this rapidly expanding industry, Zirtual announced that they raised an additional $2 million in venture capital in January 2013.
Have you worked with a Zirtual concierge? If so, please share your experience below!
I’ve been using Zirtual for 6 months, and it is AWESOME. My assistant is friendly, capable, and saves me many hours every week. Highly recommend.
So far Zirtual has helped me research products to buy and also with minor editing tasks. They’re really efficient with concierge type services – making bookings, doing small bits of product related research. They struggle with more complex assignments – but they usually manage to find someone appropriate to complete the task.
I’m on their light plan which offers me 15 – fifteen minute requests in a month, and have been a member for about 3 months.
Overall, I would recommend Zirtual because they sure make life easier.
Zirtual.com changed my life in one week flat! My ZA “Kyle B.” is a total rockstar, and I am grateful to Maren Kate and her team for coming up with such a needed business for busy “innovative poverty elite” entrepreneurs like myself! For $197/month I get much more than my money’s worth…I get sanity and peace of mind.
Zirtual.com has disappointed me because they are so slow. The Z.A they gave me didn’t even made sure that I was ok with the service he gave me. I would not recommend this to anyone!
Zirtual has put together a top notch service! All around A+ — from the turnaround time, to accuracy, to making you feel like you’re their highest priority, I’d recommend — and already have — to may close friends and business associates.
Well worth the value!
@Heather Fiona, who is your ZA? I’m not seeing you as an active(or past client), but we do have our Epic Guarantee and would gladly place you with another assistant if you’re unhappy—just let us know.
@Heather Fiona
I know what you mean! Disappointed customer here as well. In fact, it’s weird that their ads feature this Chloe girl. She was the worst! She missed tasks and even went on holiday halfway through with no recommendation for a replacement!
@Augustus
Sorry to hear you weren’t happy with Chloe Augustus. Her track record has been pretty stellar, but it is a human capital business and sometimes not everyone is a perfect match. Like I mentioned to Heather, we’d be more than happy to move you to another assistant if you felt like the one you had wasn’t living up to your expectations—all you have to do is ask.
Zirtual is an amazing service for dedicated assistants. It’s great for the average user who may not know all of the wonderful ways you can outsource things in our life.
This is a review I initially posted on http://www.wallstreetoasis.com
A few months ago I got sick of all the tasks accumulated on my to-do list and decided I needed a change. I googled “virtual assistant” and hired one in India to help me out. It was a disaster because he was always saying “ok I get it” and then 10 minutes before the deadline he sent me an email “sorry, I have no idea how I can do it”.
After 2 weeks I canceled and tried to find a better match. I wanted someone based in the US, to reduce the communication challenge. I found what I wanted and now I couldn’t be any happier about the service. Here’s why you need to do the same:
The skills: US/UK based assistant are more expensive but the skills they have is so different. My assistant helps me with the SEO and marketing for my website and even do some research for the book I’m writing. It’s probably useless for the majority of you guys but that says a lot about what they can do!
The peace of mind: I’m planning a week-end abroad in Budapest. I just sent an email to my assistant asking for a list of hotels in my price range in a nice district. She sent back 4 options, I made a choice and told her to book it for me! I could have done it myself but I’d rather be doing something else…
The bragging: having an assistant is pretty cool I must admit. You can make him/her book your sessions with your tennis coach for instance or call your friends to set-up meetings.
So if you have a few projects outside of work or if you travel a lot I can only recommend that you get an assistant. I personally use Zirtual and have had a very good experience with them so far.
I learned about Zirtual through a friend in San Fran. I myself live in NY and have a hectic schedule. First off, it was so annoying that I was told I had to WAIT to sign up (?!!!). When I eventually got signed up, I did not feel like I had the support or attention to detail I expected from a service like this – I don’t have time to worry about this stuff, I am paying them plenty compared to other services out there to take care of my day to day tasks. In fairness, they did okay at the basic stuff (which I actually could easily have done myself) but really overhyped their “guarantee” for going above and beyond. I guess they are still figuring things out. This website is a great resource, I think I’ll try out a few more service providers. Will try and write reviews soon about my next virtual assistant experience!
Hi @Sam,
Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy your experience with Zirtual or with Lizzy.
We do have a bit of a waiting process and that is because we rely on human capital to run our business. If there is too much demand, then we can’t meet it and we’d unfortunately have to turn people away. Instead, we operate on an invite model while we are scaling to help control our growth.
I did notice that at one point you sent Lizzy quite a positive message, thanking her for her “prompt, professional, and thorough” work. It’s too bad that this experience wasn’t maintained. I know you’re no longer with us, but had you mentioned you were having a bad experience, we would’ve happily moved you to another assistant or worked with you to find a better solution.
Either way, I hope you’ve found a suitable new provider to help you same some time.
Best,
Collin
I’ve had a great experience with Zirtual. My first assistant was very thorough, attentive and helped with a ton of research-based projects. When she made the difficult decision to leave Zirtual, I was really bummed but my new assistant has been great too. I appreciate the immediate response she has given me and has a strong understanding of what my needs are.
I’m a little confused… some people seem to be SUPER impressed with zirtual and others SUPER disappointed… no in between.
Competition posting fake complaints?…