Yelp Review Monitoring
Yelp Review Monitoring
Ensure You're Properly Setup to Monitor All of Your Yelp Reviews
Just like in Game of Thrones, where the Northerners never forget, quite similarly, the internet never forgets…when it comes to your reputation. Online, a business’s reputation is measured by the way they are perceived or described by others – this can be good or bad. Here’s why online reviews matter.
According to Harvard Business School Professor Michael Luca a one-star increase in a business’s Yelp ratings can lead to a 9% bump in their revenue, and that’s not all. According to a 2012 study by the University of California, Berkeley, restaurants with an extra half-star rating on Yelp are more likely to be fully booked.
Yelp Matters
Founded in 2004, Yelp is a website and mobile app that helps connect people with local businesses, but Yelp has also become the go-to place for business reviews across the globe.
Since Yelp is made up of a global community of locals who share their opinions of local businesses, it is used as a guide to find everything from good restaurants, to good mechanics etc.
What makes matters worse for businesses, is that over the past decade, sites such as, Yelp and Google have made it easier for people to leave reviews that have an impact on other people’s purchasing decision, without having to come into contact with others. While this can prove to be good for a business that receives positive reviews, getting negative reviews, on the other hand, it can be the cause of much worry for businesses.
Dealing with Negative Reviews
It is getting harder for businesses to suppress bad Yelp reviews, and while it is sometimes possible to get those bad reviews removed from a site, it usually takes months for sites such as Yelp or Google+ to remove a negative review of a business.
Rather than trying to remove a negative review, businesses should try to respond to those negative reviews by providing an answer to a disgruntled customers. Responding to the reviews that are left by customers is one of the best ways of reducing the risk of creating a negative first impression on all those who are going to read the reviews. The answer here is not on getting negative reviews removed from Yelp, but on getting more positive reviews from your customers by providing them with top quality products and services.
While it is okay to address a review on a bad employee in the review section so that all your customers can read it, in cases where slanderous or false reviews have been left by customers they should be removed immediately. However, if the reviews misrepresent the facts, review sites such as Yelp will be more keen on taking them down. But, more importantly, use online tools and resources to keep track of the negative or fake reviews when they pop up so that you can get a handle on the issue before a fake review ends up spoiling your business.
Getting Started
Given the growing importance of review sites such as Yelp, it is crucial to stay on top of what your customers are saying about your business, and the only way of doing that is by constantly monitoring the reviews that are left on review sites such as Yelp. While a marketing manager or social media specialist can follow the flow of information online, businesses will need to bring in the expertise of reputation management services to determine the state of your reputation and maintain the positive reputation of your business online. Besides the sophisticated services provided by hiring reputation managers, there are some things that you can do from within the walls of your restaurant.
Damage Control
Here are your active monitoring best practices.
- Actively Monitor Online Content - Actively monitoring all online news and content regarding your brand is by far, the best way of keep track of any negative reviews.
- Flagging Negative Reviews - Flagging negative reviews can be done by simply signing up your business to Yelp, Google Local or Facebook. This will allow you to receive emails whenever your business has been reviewed by a customer on Yelp. If you get a negative review, you must respond about what happened immediately, so that others can see that you are addressing a negative comment.
- Monitoring Metrics –Take advantage of any free tools and resources provided by different sites that allow you to view your business’s online presence. Yelp provides some amazing tools to its customers, such as, metrics that keep track of the amount of clicks or mobile searches a business receives on Yelp. It also monitors mobile check-ins, mobile calls and requests for directions to your business.
Hiring a Reputation Management Company
Let’s face it, not everyone has the time to sift through every single customer review left on Yelp and the other review sites online. But, that doesn’t mean that every single customer review is not important.
If you feel monitoring online reviews on sites such as Yelp have become time consuming, it may be time to hire a professional to do the job for you. This is often the case for restaurant owners who have restaurants in multiple locations. In such a scenario, it can be difficult to read through every customer review, since restaurant managers normally have to spend a great amount of time on the floor, greeting customers and answering their queries, and not in front of a computer. This is where hiring of reputation management services can come in handy. But, if you are thinking of doing so, it is important that you do your homework before hiring an online reputation management service to ensure you find one that meets your needs.
There’s also software that can pull the customer reviews on your business from dozens of review sites, including Yelp so that you can keep track of any negative reviews being spread online. Nowadays, for the safety of your online reputation, it is essential to use online services and tools to track the trend. Being alert when it comes to customer reviews is the best way of keeping your finger on the pulse, responding on time, in the case of a negative review and leaving a positive impression on others who view all the customer reviews regarding your business across multiple review sites.
Ending Note
At the end of the day, no matter what software or service you sign up for the monitoring of your online reviews, the key to a better and stronger online reputation is always going to be putting in the extra effort to listen to your customers and constantly strive to improve the quality of service you provide.