Online reputation management is vital for local businesses, and you can’t really talk about online review sites without talking about Yelp. The regularly-updated Yelp fact sheet contains three statistics that show you exactly why your small business needs to take Yelp seriously.
The three Yelp fact sheet stats that prove your local business should be on Yelp
- Reason 1: Restaurants only make up 19% of reviewed businesses on Yelp
- Reason 2: Nearly 70% of the ratings reviewers leave are 4+ stars
- Reason 3: 71% of Yelp users are recommending the businesses they patronize
Let’s look a bit deeper at these intriguing statistics from the Yelp fact sheet that paint a compelling picture as to why all local businesses should be leveraging Yelp.
Feeling overwhelmed by managing online reviews? Reputation management software can help. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!
Reason 1: Your customers know Yelp isn’t just for restaurants
Many local shop owners assume Yelp is “just a restaurant review app” and ignore their Yelp profile as a result.
Restaurants may be the most-reviewed business category on Yelp, but it’s not by much. Only 19% of the businesses reviewed on Yelp are restaurants, with shopping and home & local service businesses not far behind.
Image Source: Yelp
Clearly, every small business should have a plan for using Yelp to its advantage.
A little-known fact among many small business owners is that your business could still be listed and getting reviews on Yelp whether or not you have ever officially created or claimed your Yelp business listing.
Yelp allows small business owners to claim their listing, but they don’t require the business to create the listing.
People want to be able to find, review, and read feedback on all businesses, especially when it comes to shopping locally.
So whether or not you’re currently on Yelp, your customers are leaving reviews for you there, and potential customers are looking for you on Yelp. Take control.
Read our helpful guide: How to claim your Yelp business listing
Those late to adopt a Yelp listing could unintentionally leave unchecked reviews about their business. The listed information may be wrong or totally missing.
Over 70% of people will look-up and confirm a business’s contact info, location, and hour of operation before visiting, so even if you don’t worry about the review aspect of the app, it’s worth claiming to ensure your shoppers can find you.
Reason 2: Yelp users are far more supportive than most people assume
One of the most common stigmas around Yelp is that reviewers are mostly negative—that they are complaining about businesses and leaving rude comments.
But that’s not the case at all. To the contrary, Yelp users are actually extremely supportive of the businesses they review.
Nearly half of the reviews consumers leave on Yelp are 5 stars. And when you add up the four and five-star ratings, we see that 2 out of 3 reviewers left a high rating.
This is huge for small businesses. Many shoppers won’t even consider visiting a business that has a rating below 4 stars. On the flip-side, 94% of shoppers will use a business with a 4-star rating.
Reason 3: Yelp reviewers are recommending local business like crazy
Interestingly enough, roughly the same number of people leaving four and five-star ratings are recommending the business.
Before Yelp and other similar tools, people relied on word of mouth for business recommendations. Today, 88% of shoppers trust online recommendations as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
Recommendations are one of the most influential aspects of review sites like Yelp have on your business.
Especially when you take into consideration just how many people are leaving reviews these days.
With online reviews playing such a vital role in consumer behavior, serious business owners can’t afford to ignore them.
Online review platforms can (and should) play a leading role in your plan to attract new customers and give your best customers a place to speak highly of you.
These stats from the Yelp fact sheet don’t guarantee success. But we hope they quell some of the hesitations you may have around incorporating Yelp in your business this coming year.
You stand a far better chance at getting positive reviews and recommendations. Fear of bad yelp reviews or negative ratings shouldn’t scare you off, nor should thinking it’s only a place for restaurants and foodies.
Use reputation management software to do more with less
Every local business needs to be on Yelp, but that’s only a small part of building your online reputation.
In today’s increasingly digital world, local businesses must have a full digital marketing plan to stay on top. That’s why more and more business owners are turning to reputation management software like Womply’s to do more and save time.
For example, with Womply you can see and respond to your reviews from Yelp and other review sites all in one place. This saves you valuable time otherwise spent jumping from one account to another.
See how to claim your review site listings:
- How to claim your Yelp listing
- How to claim your Google my Business listing
- How to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor
That’s just one of the many features Womply built to help local businesses like yours manage their reviews and build their online presence. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!
Source: https://www.yelp.com/factsheet