I get a lot of questions about YELP when I do social media training and also through my own clients. So I recently talked with my YELP provider and pinpointed the questions I am asked about the most. You may agree or disagree on the answers YELP Corporate provided me, however if you have received a negative review the information may be helpful to help you resolve the issue.
Keep in mind however that my best advice to you is to be sure that you are reviewed by satisfied customers on YELP and other review sites at least 3 times a year. I know that can be a challenging goal depending on the age of your target market, however there are some steps you can make to get those reviews:
1) Make a computer available so customers can review you right after their purchase or provide a quick link to your Yelp review page for them to easily know where to post that review.
2) Send out an Email each quarter that is designed to get folks to your review sites quickly with the goal of achieving reviews with easy links to your pages.
3) Make sure you let customers know they can thank you online, it will be faster for them and more helpful for you.
4) Many review sites take into consideration how often the reviewers use the site, so try to determine which of your customers use those review sites regularly.
Here is the corporate answer on my questions customers ask most:
How come my reviews on yelp have been removed?
Our Support team may have removed it because it violates our Terms of Service or Content Guidelines, or a reviewer might remove her own review of her own accord. We also try to showcase on business pages the most helpful and reliable reviews among the millions that are submitted to the site. Not all reviews make the cut, and those that don’t are posted to a separate “Filtered Review” page. Filtered reviews don’t factor into a business’s overall star rating, but users can still read them by clicking on the link at the bottom of the business’s profile page. We address several common questions asked by business owners here: https://biz.yelp.com/support/common_questions
2. Does advertising on YELP makes a difference to a business’ YELP reviews and results? No effect at all. Please see our myths page that addresses this: http://www.yelp.com/myths
3. What can I do if I am reviewed poorly by a customer and the review is unfair?: We have an entire section on responding to reviews in our business support that best addresses this question:https://biz.yelp.com/support/responding_to_reviews
4. What is my recourse with Yelp and who do I contact to expedite a solution? All questionable content is evaluated by Yelp’s User Support team. They review the content the user has written and compare it to Yelp’s Review Guidelines. To get the evaluation process started, please follow the steps below:
A. Go to http://www.yelp.com/contact.
B. Select “Questionable Content” from the drop-down menu.
C. Identify your business.
D. Provide commentary as to why you’d like the review evaluated.
Our User Support team should respond to your inquiry within 2-3 business day.
5. Is there a phone number where I can get help? Our user support team is email based and can be reached via www.yelp.com/contact. They will respond to your questions within 2-5 business days.
Let me know if these tips work out for you. For more information about my company or a FREE Email or Event Marketing Trial, Contact Liz Harsch.
Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988. Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising is an Authorized SCORE workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, the City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. For more information about her company and to learn about her FREE Workshops and Paid laptop bootcamps like facebook (See Liz’s FREE Workshops Schedule) twitter, linkedin and analytics, visit tailormadeadvertsing.com. To schedule Liz as a speaker for your organization, association or department, email her to request a date at tmade.mkt@verizon.net.
