Presentation:
Yelp: Empowering Consumers with Local Knowledge
Presenter said:
In kicking-off the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMM-U Conference, Geoff Donaker, chief operating officer at Yelp, said, "The Genie is out of the bottle. You’re better off joining the conversation, than not." Conversations about local restaurants and businesses fuel Yelp’s business. Donaker described Yelp as, "local search powered by community."
It is the online community that provides Yelp with over 6-million reviews of local restaurants and businesses. 21-million people last month used Yelp to decide which restaurant to visit, car mechanic to use, and spa to be pampered at. With its broad reach and deep reviews, Yelp is changing the game of small business marketing.
Donaker told the story of a local carpet cleaner who used to spend $100K on yellow page advertising. Thanks to all the new business generated by positive reviews on Yelp, this carpet cleaner no longer spends money on yellow page advertising. Instead, this business is spending much of its advertising budget on improving it’s customer service, resulting in more positive reviews on Yelp.
Donaker also discussed how businesses have a love/hate relationship with customer-driven reviews. Businesses love how great customer service is rewarded with positive reviews. However, they hate the loss of message control. That said, the positive to negative review ratio at Yelp stands at 6:1.
Audience tweeted:
@ErikNYC mentioned the beauty of Yelp’s customer-driven model is that "when the customer wins, the business wins." Echoing sentiments from the presentation, @gamedayjreau tweeted, "It’s always about customer service at the end of the day."
In response to a case study example of how negative reviews can become positive for businesses, @leslieforde commented, "It’s worth engaging vocal customers gently. Reaching out to angry customers can change negative perception."
WOMMA says:
The love/hate relationship with customer-driven conversations is real. Word-of-mouth offline and online can not be controlled, only sparked. A business cannot ethically control what customers say about them. One of the best ways to spark word-of-mouth conversations is through delivering outstanding customer service and providing remarkable products.
For any business wanting to spark word-of-mouth conversations, it must first spend time and money to gain utmost confidence in their services and products. This confidence will give a business thick enough skin to withstand negative reviews as well as a solid foundation from which a virtuous cycle of positive reviews will fuel business growth.
Thanks to all the new business generated by positive reviews on Yelp... good work!!!!
Posted by: Affiliate Marketing Network | May 20, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Thanks for this useful write up that comes in perfect timing for me to share with a few clients who are considering setting up a Yelp account to invite customer reviews. The Genie IS out of the bottle, and it's time to join the conversation.
I just set up my own account within the last two weeks and have been heartened by the excellent reviews posted so far and how quickly my DIY publicity blog comes up in a Google search.
Yelp really helps! Thank you.
Nancy Juetten
Posted by: Nancy Juetten | May 26, 2009 at 08:13 PM
Donaker also discussed how businesses have a love/hate relationship with customer-driven reviews.
Posted by: Online pharmacy | June 22, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Yelp and Google Local are very powerful. People seem to trust each other (a fellow consumer) much more that traditional marketing.
Posted by: Tom Troughton | August 11, 2009 at 11:43 PM
Very interesting information. I tried to subscribe to your email list to find out more about Yelp and the email link was not working.
Posted by: Maurice Petersen | September 03, 2009 at 07:41 PM