Get Yelp!

Want word-of-mouth in the Internet Age? Get Yelp.

• 174,000,000 unique visitors every month!
• 46% of reviews left on Yelp are 5-stars — better than you thought?
• 72% of “would refer a friend” recommendations are positive
• Most popular industries are:
  • Shopping: 22%
  • Restaurants: 18%
  • Home Services: 13%
  • Other: 13%
  • Beauty: 9%
  • Arts: 7%
  • Health: 6%
  • Auto, Travel, Nightlife: 4% apiece
• Fairly evenly split demographics across age:
  • 42% 18-34 years old
  • 36% 45-54 years old
  • 20% 55+ years old
• Overwhelmingly college-educated users at 61% of total usership
• All incomes represented, but high-incomes ($100,000+) form the majority of the usership: 46%

Research shows that Yelp improves profitability. A study was made in Seattle to determine the impact of customer reviews According to Harvard Business Professor Michael Luca, “that a one-star increase on Yelp help businesses increase profits.” Furthermore, Luca found out that customers are willing to visit small restaurants with great reviews over the established chain restaurants with average ones.

Worried about ratings? Don’t sweat it. Yelp gives you the option of making it right with your detractors. In fact, most bad reviewers can be persuaded to delete their review entirely, if not change it to a positive one, with some modest reconciliation. If that fails or you’re unable to make contact, many poor-quality reviews fail to satisfy the Yelp TOS, making them eligible for removal by Yelp itself. This probably isn’t something you’ll need to concern yourself with considering that only 15% of Yelp reviews overall are one-star and with 32% being under four stars. Keep in mind: that’s including a lot of bad businesses!

Finally, Yelp positions you to accrue this digital word-of-mouth reputation over the long-term. We’re all aware of how important Yelp is for local services, but did you know that Yelp uniquely contributes to SEO? As more and more search engines pull ratings from third-party reputation sites such as Yelp, it becomes more useful than ever to have even your international business favorably rated for all to see.

How much money will Yelp send your way? It’s impossible to know, but it’s probably a lot more than $15.

Sources: https://www.yelp.com/factsheet