Yelp Official Blog

My Year On Yelp’s Small Business Advisory Council

Yelp's Small Business Advisory Council plays an integral role in developing our tools for business owners and connecting the Yelp team with direct feedback from the small business community. Just as we recommend that local businesses pay attention to trends in the reviews they receive, this direct feedback channel helps us identify ways we can improve Yelp for business owners. Mellissa Morgan of Ms. Cupcake shares her experience below as a council member throughout the past year. Head to Yelp's Blog for Business owners for the original post and more info on Yelp for business owners.

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About a year ago, Yelp did a call out looking for business owners who might be interested in joining the Yelp Small Business Advisory Council (YSBAC). My business, Ms. Cupcake, had been born through social media but, up until then, Yelp had only played a minor role. While Yelp is still a growing brand in Europe, I could sense it was something I wanted to be a part of, so I sent off the application.

A few weeks later I got the call that I’d been accepted on the council. I agreed to the monthly conference calls, but when they said they were flying me to Yelp HQ in San Francisco for a business owner summit I said, “Oh gosh, didn’t you realise I live in the United Kingdom?” They said, “We know! We want the European business owner’s perspective represented on the council.” Talk about investing in small business!

I appreciated the fact that they constructed a council with representatives from many different industries including barbers, florists and realtors from all over the US and Canada. We certainly were a motley crew who all had very different Yelp experiences, but were all there with the common goal of sharing our ideas and feedback with the Yelp team. Some of the council members had been waving the Yelp flag for many years, spending all of their advertising dollars with Yelp, but, refreshingly, they also had business owners on the council who weren’t advertisers, some whose businesses had low 2-star Yelp ratings and me, just starting out on my Yelp journey. 

At the summit we were shown around the Yelp HQ offices and met all of the movers and shakers in the company who were keen to hear our stories. Each session was led by top managers at Yelp who had to face some pretty tough questions from the council members, all of which (to their credit) they answered openly and honestly.  

The council hashed out a mammoth list of items that we wanted Yelp to consider. Some of them seemed pretty ‘pie in the sky’ but they were listened to and seriously considered by Yelp. As quickly as our action list started to take shape, tangible changes began to appear over the coming months. More Yelp Town Halls were scheduled for business owners (including ones in Canada), a video was made for business owners with CEO Jeremy Stoppelman directly discussing the Review Filter, the Revenue Estimator tool was launched to help businesses track how Yelp generated business compares to national averages, and there are still more changes to come.  

I am delighted to have had this opportunity to see how Yelp works from the inside and my experience has made me realise how much Yelp listens to the small business owner. As for Ms. Cupcake, our business has grown entirely through online marketing, with social media being absolutely crucial. Yelp has been instrumental in building our customer base – allowing customers to review or share tips about our products, whilst encouraging valuable feedback which helps improve the business.

Let’s hope more big companies follow in the footsteps of Yelp and admit that they too might have something to learn from ‘the little guy’!  

How Yelp Protects Consumers From Fake Reviews

This blog entry was originally published on the Huffington Post. 

Earlier this week, the blog Eater posted an entry about an alarming Craigslist ad by an unscrupulous business owner attempting to pay for fake Yelp reviews. The good news is that Yelp has pioneered successful strategies in fighting consumer fraud.

Most small businesses understand that the easiest way to establish a great reputation on Yelp is to provide superior service and an excellent product; in other words, ensure folks that patronize the business have a 5-star experience. For the minority of businesses that don't understand this, we go to great lengths to protect the integrity of Yelp's content and ensure consumers aren't misled. Yelp employs two tools to attack the problem of consumer deception:

1. Yelp runs sting operations to shame businesses participating in deliberate attempts to mislead consumers with fake reviews. Members of Yelp's user support team -- often tipped by community members themselves -- respond to ads similar to the Craigslist ad in the Eater report in an effort to identify the nefarious businesses. Once smoking gun evidence is acquired, a consumer alert is placed on the business's listing. Here's what this looks like on a business page:

2. If these businesses aren't caught red-handed while attempting to deceive consumers, they typically find themselves hitting a frustrating wall anyway: Yelp's review filter. Every day, Yelp's automated software -- or review filter -- examines every review and ultimately deemphasizes around 20% of the more than 39 million reviews onto a secondary "Filtered reviews" page linked at the bottom of business listings. In a recent test, BusinessWeek reported that Yelp was the only review website of seven to effectively suppress shill reviews that were purchased and posted to mislead would-be customers. For more information about why Yelp has a filter, watch this short video:

The integrity of Yelp's content is critical to its usefulness. Our ability to help over 100 million people a month connect with great local businesses is achieved by a combination of technological approaches (automated filtering software) and proactive sleuthing designed to smoke out the few bad actors. We'll continue to aggressively fight attempts to game the system and to develop innovative techniques for protecting consumers.

That way, you can relax and just focus on finding that remarkable roofer or practical plumber or sympathetic stylist or delicious donut maker or....

It’s a business, it’s a service, it’s a place, it’s....on Yelp!

Last week the Washington Post highlighted some of the strangest listings on Yelp - from prisons to bus routes - and it got us to thinking about all of the different types of experiences people are eager to share on Yelp. Sure, many turn to the site to find and/or review a great meal, trustworthy locksmith or fabulous day spa, but people can also use Yelp to discover and discuss a city’s quirkier side. The Local Flavor category highlights some of the wackier listings that make any city unique - like this, ahem, "interesting" fountain in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village.

To celebrate the vast variety of content that Yelpers are contributing to the site, we rounded up some of the more unusual business listings:

• During the San Francisco 1906 earthquake, The Little Giant Fire Hydrant saved a portion of the city and is now commemorated with a fresh coat of gold paint every year and a shiny 5 star average on Yelp!

Photo courtesy of Kevin Y.

• Complete with its own moat and 80 stone sphinxes, the Gold Pyramid of Wadsworth, Illinois doubles as one lucky family’s home.
• We give a thumbs up to Marseilles, the oldest city in France. Yelpers are giving a thumbs up to this giant statue of Caesar’s (drumroll, please) thumb.
• Beaches aren’t the only thing people are reviewing in the beautiful Australian town of Bondi. They’re also taking the time to share their thoughts on a big rock.
• From a distance, it’s a beautiful home in Louisville, KY. Up close, it’s just a single wall and a door to nowhere. Totally normal.

Photo courtesy of Ellie B.

• Meanwhile, in Georgia, locals are reviewing their own local landmark. As Rachel C. puts it, “Directions to anything in Marietta, Georgia always start or end with ‘Turn at The Big Chicken.’”
• In the mood for a pick-me-up? A stranger refills this shoebox in Cologne, Germany, with free gifts for any curious passerby willing to take a look.
• New Jersey Yelpers have set out to make sure that no local gem is left unreviewed, not even this (four star rated!) hole in the wall.

From bat caves to odd statues, locals really do know best when it comes to their town, and we couldn’t be happier that they’re sharing those hidden gems on Yelp. With over 102 million monthly unique visitors*, Yelp has proven to be the place to go to discover and share the good, the great and the slightly kooky elements of local communities. Keep that local flavor coming, Yelpers!

*monthly average in Q1 2013 according to Google Analytics

Yelp Says "Kia Ora" to New Zealand

New Zealanders are a fearless and fun-loving bunch. NZ was the first modern nation to grant women the vote, a Kiwi was the first to climb Mount Everest, and commercial bungee jumping was invented there, too.

But that’s not all – the nation also boasts an eclectic shopping scene, delicious world-renowned wineries, and buzzing local bars screening the beloved All Blacks’ rugby games.

And now, Kiwis can hop on to their computers and smartphones to share their best kept secrets across the country. Whether you're on the hunt for a hip café or a friendly dentist, NZ Yelpers can now share their favourites and discover new ones with each other’s help.

Find local shops, restaurants, parks and more at Yelp.co.nz.

Search for local NZ businesses on the Yelp mobile app.

We’re excited to make NZ the 21st nation to join Yelp and give its more than 4.5 million inhabitants a voice.

Log on to Yelp.co.nz or download Yelp’s mobile app to start spreading your wisdom. Businesses can get in on the action, too, at biz.yelp.co.nz by claiming their page for free and building out their profile.

We’re From Yelp, and We’re Here to Help

What happens when you put social media savvy business owners on stage with outspoken members of the Yelp Elite Squad and hand them an open mic? You may have a chance to find out because we’re bringing our Yelp Town Hall tour to more than 20 cities this year.

In the last four months, we visited nine major metros, from Honolulu to Philadelphia, with hundreds of local businesses participating in our interactive workshops designed to answer the burning question, “What do I need to know to thrive in the world of online reviews?” Each event includes a live discussion with business owners who successfully use Yelp to market themselves, Yelp Elites (who are some of the most prolific reviewers in their local community) and members of Yelp’s Business Outreach team. Our goal is to create an open forum in each city we visit where business owners can network and learn directly from their peers.

According to attendees we surveyed, we’re achieving our goal with 72% of respondents saying they learned 1-3 new skills to manage their business listing and reputation on Yelp. Beyond that, we asked what were the most useful takeaways from the events. 46% of attendees surveyed said that the tips on responding to negative reviews were useful, while 41% said that the discussion around Yelp’s automated review filter was useful.

Some of the cities we’ll be visiting soon include: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, and Vancouver. Stay tuned for more info, or join one of our live webinars, which you can sign up for here.

New Revenue Estimation Tool for Local Businesses

Last week, a Boston Consulting Group Study indicated that local businesses with a free Yelp account saw an average of $8,000 in annual revenue from Yelp, and that for advertisers, this figure was more than $23,000.

Starting today, every local business owner can use our new “Revenue Estimate” tool to judge how her business from Yelp compares to the national averages from the survey.

This new FREE tool does the math by multiplying customer leads sent from Yelp each month by the business’s average revenue per customer lead. We’ve also included the average spend per customer for each business category for reference, based on the BCG study.

We think this new tool will be helpful to business owners for two reasons:

• First, it helps quantify the revenue opportunity Yelp is already sending to each business.

• Second, it establishes a revenue baseline for prospective advertisers, from which they can later evaluate the impact of their investment in Yelp Ads.

If you’re a business owner, login today to start tracking your Revenue Estimate on Yelp!

Study: Yelp Drives Real Revenue to Small Businesses

The Boston Consulting Group, a leading advisor on business strategy, recently surveyed 4,800 business owners to learn the economic impact Yelp has on small businesses. The results are eye opening: small businesses with a free business owner’s account saw an average of $8,000 in annual revenue from Yelp.

Let that sink in for a minute. That’s $8,000 gained just by claiming their free business account on Yelp. Clearly, local businesses are benefiting from a Yelp halo effect that translates into very real profits.

Even more interesting, the survey revealed that Yelp advertisers benefit nearly three times as much, generating average annual revenues from Yelp of more than $23,000.

For certain categories, the returns were even higher. Breaking out the numbers, we saw a number of categories doing exceptionally well advertising to purchase-minded Yelpers:

• Home -- $54,000*

• Automotive -- $39,000*

• Local services -- $36,000*

• Hotel and travel -- $36,000*

• Shopping -- $24,000*

• Health & Medical -- $20,000*

* Average annual revenue from Yelp

Considering that our typical local advertiser spend is $4,200** annually, that’s a pretty good ROI for these savvy businesses.

This isn’t all that surprising given that Yelp helps consumers find a great local business when they are looking to make a purchasing decision. What is surprising is that more businesses aren’t taking advantage (yet) of this opportunity to reach customers.

In a separate survey of 550 small business owners, BCG found that small businesses are only spending three percent of their advertising budget online. Small business advertising dollars are spent mostly on traditional marketing vehicles still, such as Sunday circulars and coupon mailers.

The thing is, that’s not where consumers are searching for businesses. They’re looking online, and they’re there with a mission.

The early adopters (small business owners who have made the investment in online advertising) are getting a significant head start over their competition when it comes to new customer acquisition and deepening relationships with loyal customers. Investing a little time upfront to research and determine which channels work best for a local business is well worth the effort.

While economists have long studied the positive impact Yelp has on small businesses, the BCG study is particularly noteworthy because it’s the first to survey business owners directly across a wide range of categories.

Bottom line: there’s a lot of upside here for small businesses who claim their free account, and even more for those who advertise.

 

**The typical local ad spend is $350/month or $4,200/year.

 

Study: Yelp ratings work for hospitals, too.

The year was 2004. Jeremy Stoppelman (future co-founder of Yelp) was sick. The internet really sucked at answering the question, “How do you find a great doctor online?”

...It was the “Ah-ha!” moment.

A lot of folks assume Yelp is all about restaurant discovery (and we’d agree it’s a great way to use Yelp), but many are surprised to learn the Genesis question that started Yelp was based on inadequacies of medical information in local search.

Yelp has come a long way since 2004, and we were heartened to see the results of a recent study, published in the BMJ Quality and Safety Journal, which found that high Yelp ratings for hospitals correlate with high ratings through the industry standard patient survey system, as well as with lower readmission and mortality rates.

The authors compared Yelp ratings with scores from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), a standardized survey measurement of patient satisfaction at a hospital based upon 18 patient perspectives on care across 8 topics. The correlation between Yelp star scores and HCAHPS overall scores (0.49) is high, showing that consumers are reporting similar experiences through both avenues.

What does this mean? It means that a hospital’s Yelp rating is a pretty darn good measure of what you can expect to experience in real life. Why is that significant?

According to a recent survey cited in the study, 42% of US consumers use social media to access health-related consumer reviews of treatments or physicians, and 41% say that information found via social media would affect their hospital choice.

At the end of the day, Yelp's focused on ensuring our reviews -- be they of restaurants or nursing homes -- provide an accurate online prediction of one’s offline experience with local businesses.

Compliments: They’re free. Give them!

The other day I was minding my business when a stranger in passing blurted out, “I like your shoes!” And you know what? I was on cloud nine for the next 15 minutes. My shoes (red ballet flats if you must know) weren’t earth-shatteringly cool, but this person made an effort to give me a nice compliment and it made my day. We find that many Yelpers are the same: they love when their peers take a quick second to give them heartfelt kudos for a well-written review, a can’t-believe-it’s-not-pro photo or a saucy looking profile pic.

Today, in celebration of World Compliment Day, we invite you to take a few seconds to make someone’s day a little brighter with a compliment on Yelp. Remember the last time you were reading a Yelp review and thought, “Wow, this person is HI-larious”? Well, tell them! A few little words can go a long way. Users can personalize their own message or opt to use the auto-generated Yelpy compliment if they just can’t find the right words.

The “compliment” button is an easy way to send some good vibes. Find the button on each review, on every user’s profile page and on photos.

Clicking the “compliment” button isn’t the only way to give props on Yelp. At the bottom of each review are Useful, Funny and Cool buttons - pick one and click it (or two, or all three) if you liked what you saw. When looking at a business page you can sort reviews by Useful, Funny and Cool as well, all determined by user votes.

What does a compliment cost you? Nothing. What will it get you? Good karma and a warm ‘n fuzzy feeling. So get to complimenting already! The best part? You might get a few in return. 

Get Your Gym On, Yelpers

We all have our vices. Some of you are likely polishing off the last remainders of 75-percent-off post-Valentine’s Day chocolates. Others were perhaps recently treated by their sweetheart to a delicious romantic dinner, likely accompanied by a tasteful bottle (or two) of wine. Or maybe your weekend was filled with a feast of take-out Chinese food accompanied by the mighty accomplishment of watching every episode of "Downton Abbey" season three in one sitting. Either way, I hate to break it to you, but you probably have a few extra calories laying around and it might be time for a trip to the gym.

I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but the truth hurts sometimes. Maybe you’ve kicked up your gym routine a notch lately and aren’t too concerned about falling off the wagon. I beg you to reconsider. The data says Yelpers check in to fitness-related businesses drastically more starting in January and the activity starts to decline right about now. And the data doesn’t lie. It’s clutch time, baby, and the gym is calling your name.

Check it out - when dividing check ins for businesses in the fitness category by check ins in the pizza category, we see that the ratio is much higher at the beginning of each year, dropping steadily through December. So basically, when compared to pizza check ins, people are checking in to gyms and fitness businesses way more often in the beginning of the year, with the frequency of check ins plunging into an abyss devoid of treadmills by December. The beginning of February has Yelpers hitting the gym three times for every two visits to pizza joints.

Review activity shows a similar pattern, but with a noticeable bump in in the summer. Maybe bikini season is motivating Yelpers to renew their fitness goals. (Sun’s out, guns out...am I right?!) And when fall rolls around, it’s possible we throw in the towel on healthy aspirations in favor of beer drinking, football watching and the mystery that layers upon layers of fluffy clothing provides.

All we know is that Yelpers are the best around - nothing’s gonna ever keep you down! (Yes that was a "Karate Kid" reference) Whether you maintain a Paul Ryan level of pump or hit your maximum activity level on a leisurely stroll through the mall, keep on checking in to and reviewing your favorite fitness businesses. We have high hopes for 2013, and we’re off to a good start so far.