Why Yelp reviews matter and how to boost your own?

Oct 02 2024

Yelp has 224M reviews and an average monthly of 31M app visits. However, unlike many other sites and platforms, 97% make purchases after reading the reviews. Your Yelp ranking is very important, particularly if your business has a limited marketing budget.

Here's all you need to learn about Yelp, one individual's take on the matter, as well as some top tips for improving your business' rating.

What is Yelp?

The word-of-mouth method has been used to bring in new clients for many years. In the early 2000s, when the internet was born, word of mouth moved online from backyards to the web. In 2004, Yelp, an online review website, was created as a result of this transition. You've probably used Yelp before to read reviews or even leave feedback. You can easily share your experiences with others, whether it's about a new restaurant you tried in Austin or the latest workout experience you had in Boston. It's not only Yelp that is in the business of reviews. There are many places for customers to share honest reviews of products and services. From Trustpilot, Google Reviews and Facebook, you can find them all. Yelp is the leader among these. It's popular for its longer reviews, which are more helpful and discerning (compared with quick one-liners).

Is your Yelp star rating important?

You bet! Yelp calculates averages rating based on the stars you give each review. It shows this rating to everyone who passes by your business. This rating can affect the way consumers view your Yelp listing. It's because many people use Yelp to find the best local services and products. The top-rated local businesses matching that search appear first. Let's imagine that you run an event rental company in Boston that consistently receives 5-star reviews. When people look up "best-rated rental event companies in Boston" in search engines such as Google, your company will be more visible in both the app and in search results. You're also more likely to appear at the top. That's it.

Should you buy Yelp Reviews?

Yes! You might be willing to try anything to remove negative reviews from your Yelp page if you hear that 94% of customers leave a company after reading a bad review. You may be tempted to buy Yelp reviews in order to counterbalance it if you receive a negative review. Here's why.

Some might say that buying business reviews doesn't mean you're purchasing followers on social media from any website. Yelp relies heavily on honest reviews to build trust. In my humble opinion the trust foundation that Yelp is built upon starts to crumble as soon as people start buying their reputation. All you have to take care about is choosing a trusted supplier while buying them. Here’s a list of all sites that sell real Yelp reviews: https://appsgeyser.com/blog/5-best-sites-to-buy-yelp-reviews-5-star-cheap/.

How to increase (and improve) your number of Yelp positive reviews?

We'd all love to get only positive feedback. It's just not realistic. Some customers will find a way to be unhappy even if you give them the best service possible. When it does happen, remember that you won't die from a few negative reviews. Don't fret too much over "fixing" the reviews. Focus your energy instead on turning customers into fans and encouraging those fans to leave positive reviews.

Here's how:

1. Give 5-star service

To encourage positive reviews and prevent negative ones, give each customer who walks into your store, contacts your company, or visits your website a five-star experience. This will ensure that all team members can deliver the same high-quality experience. It could be as simple as cross-training employees to perform tasks that are not part of their current job descriptions (like responding to support tickets).

You can also avoid a negative review altogether by offering customers an opportunity to voice their complaints offline. Send a questionnaire to customers every time they contact you or purchase something. So, customers can easily provide feedback to you without having to visit Yelp.

2. You can activate your Yelp account.

Do not let your Yelp Page passively exist. Activate your Yelp page to take charge of what customers see online about your company. You can now think of Yelp as your virtual display.

3. What would searchers like to see?

You can, for example, add photos that show off your staff and create compelling descriptions of products. Add the information that your customers need to buy your products, such as your operating hours, your contact numbers for customer service, etc.

4. Happy people are a great way to show off.

You can share pictures from your experiences in addition to your product images. If you run a restaurant, for example, show off photos of customers enjoying their meals in your establishment (with the consent of those people, of course). If you work with pools, share photos of your friendly staff working to fix a customer's pool.

This is the chance for people who are visiting your Yelp profile for the very first time to leave a lasting impression. It's also a great way to discourage unhappy customers from writing a negative review. If possible, make sure that the photos are clear, crisp, and of high quality (i.e., no fuzzy, low-lit pictures). Do not pose your photos (that will undermine trust).

5. How to Respond to Yelp Reviews?

It should be obvious (and it applies to all social media platforms that your business utilizes). If your customers are willing to interact with you, then you must also be prepared to do so. This is doubly true if your customers are asking you specific questions regarding your product or business.

This helps you to make your clients feel valued and seen. It also shows that you are caring. It's a great opportunity to spread the word about your work (and correct any misconceptions).

For the audience that manages business on Instagram must avail the opportunity to buy real Instagram followers for their development. Instagram is overcrowded and you can be ignored by the platform with lesser interactions and engagements.

6. Positive Yelp Reviews on Your Website

The most important thing you can do is to circulate testimonials. It gives the final push for people to purchase your product or services. Put them where your customers are looking for you, such as your website and social media platforms! Do not wait until someone stumbles upon praise. It creates a herd mentality when people see other customers raving about you. They'll also be more inclined to give you rave reviews. Under these testimonials, you can add the Yelp badge. Then, customers can click on the badge to land directly on your Yelp profile, where they are ready to leave a review. To Voila!

7. Customers can be asked to leave a testimonial.

Many small businesses do not bother to ask for customer reviews. If you do not ask for reviews, you will get the same answer: "No! I won't be reviewing you." It's not because they are being mean. They won't even think of it until something upsets them. As we mentioned earlier, there are other (legal) ways of encouraging people to leave a review. You can use the obvious "Review Us on Yelp!" You'll have to take a chance on the reviews.

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