Websites using Yelp

Let s break down Yelp, covering its overview, revenue, alternatives, pricing, and customer care.

Yelp Overview

What it is: Yelp is a popular online platform that connects people with local businesses. It s primarily known for its user-generated reviews of businesses, ranging from restaurants and shops to dentists and plumbers. Think of it as a digital word-of-mouth platform combined with a local business directory.

Key Features & Functionality:

• Business Listings & Profiles: Businesses can create free profiles to list their information (address, hours, website, phone number, photos, services offered).
• User Reviews & Ratings: Users can write reviews and assign star ratings (1-5) to businesses they ve patronized. This is the core feature of Yelp.
• Search & Discovery: Users can search for businesses by category, location, keywords, and ratings. Yelp helps users discover new local businesses.
• Recommendations: Yelp uses algorithms and user data to recommend businesses to users.
• Photos & Videos: Users and businesses can upload photos and videos to showcase the business and its offerings.
• Check-in Feature: Users can check-in to businesses, similar to social media check-ins.
• Direct Messaging & Reservations: Yelp facilitates direct communication between users and businesses and offers reservation functionality for some businesses.
• Yelp Deals & Offers: Businesses can run promotions and offer deals through Yelp to attract customers.
• Forums & Community: Yelp has community forums where users can discuss local topics and businesses.

Target Audience:

• Consumers: Individuals looking for local businesses, reading reviews before making decisions, and sharing their own experiences.
• Businesses: Local businesses of all sizes looking to gain visibility, manage their online reputation, attract new customers, and engage with existing customers.

Pros for Consumers:

• Vast Review Database: Access to a large number of reviews to inform decisions.
• Local Business Discovery: Helps find new and interesting businesses in your area.
• Community Insights: Get perspectives from other locals.
• Convenient Search & Filtering: Easily find businesses based on specific criteria.

Cons for Consumers:

• Review Authenticity Concerns: Some reviews may be fake or biased.
• Potential for Review Gating : Businesses might try to suppress negative reviews.
• Information Overload: Can be overwhelming to sift through a large number of reviews.

Pros for Businesses:

• Increased Visibility & Discoverability: Helps get found by potential customers searching online.
• Online Reputation Management: Allows businesses to respond to reviews and address customer concerns.
• Marketing & Advertising Opportunities: Paid features can boost visibility and attract more customers.
• Customer Engagement: Provides a platform to interact with customers.

Cons for Businesses:

• Impact of Negative Reviews: Negative reviews can significantly impact business reputation and customer acquisition.
• Dealing with Unfair or Fake Reviews: Can be challenging to dispute or remove inaccurate reviews.
• Cost of Paid Advertising: Advertising costs can be significant and ROI may vary.
• Time Investment in Management: Requires time and effort to manage the Yelp profile, respond to reviews, and engage with the community.

Yelp Revenue

How Yelp Makes Money:

Yelp primarily operates on a freemium model. This means:

• Free Services: Creating a basic business profile, claiming your business listing, and using Yelp as a consumer are generally free.

• Paid Services (Revenue Streams): Yelp generates revenue through various advertising and business services, including:

  • Yelp Ads: Businesses can pay for ads to appear at the top of search results, on competitor business pages, and in other prominent locations on Yelp. These ads are often cost-per-click (CPC), meaning businesses pay when someone clicks on their ad.
  • Enhanced Business Profiles: Businesses can pay for upgrades to their profiles, such as removing competitor ads, adding a call-to-action button, highlighting reviews, and showcasing more photos/videos.
  • Yelp Deals & Gift Certificates: Yelp takes a commission on sales made through Yelp Deals and Gift Certificates.
  • Yelp Reservations & Waitlist: Yelp partners with restaurant reservation platforms (like Resy) and takes a fee for reservations made through Yelp. (Note: Yelp acquired SeatMe, its own reservation system, and it integrates with other providers).
  • Premium Features for Service Professionals (Yelp for Business): For service-based businesses (like plumbers, contractors), Yelp offers lead generation services and advertising options within the Yelp for Business platform.
  • Brand Advertising: Larger brands might pay for display advertising and sponsored content on Yelp.
  • Data Licensing: Yelp might license its business data to other companies.

Key Takeaway: Yelp s revenue model is heavily reliant on advertising sold to local businesses to help them reach more customers on the platform.

Yelp Alternatives

There are numerous alternatives to Yelp, depending on what you are looking for – general reviews, specific industries, or different features. Here are some prominent ones:

General Review Platforms:

• Google Maps: A major competitor, integrated with Google Search. Offers business listings, reviews, photos, and navigation. Often considered the most widely used for local business searches.
• Tripadvisor: Focuses more on travel, hotels, restaurants, and experiences. Strong in the tourism industry but also has reviews for local businesses.
• Facebook Pages (Business Pages): Businesses can have Facebook pages with reviews and recommendations. Strong for social engagement and discovery through social networks.
• Foursquare City Guide (formerly Foursquare Swarm): Focuses on location discovery and check-ins. Offers recommendations and user tips for places.
• Citysearch: A long-standing local business directory and review site.
• Angi (formerly Angie s List): Focuses primarily on home services and contractors. Offers vetted professionals and user reviews.

Industry-Specific Review Sites:

• Zomato (for restaurants, now integrated more deeply with Yelp in some regions): Focuses solely on restaurants and dining experiences.
• Healthgrades, Vitals, Zocdoc: For doctors, dentists, and healthcare providers.
• Avvo, Lawyers.com: For lawyers and legal services.
• Cars.com, Edmunds: For car dealerships and automotive reviews.
• Apartments.com, Zillow: For apartments and real estate.

Niche Review Sites:

• Nextdoor: Hyperlocal social network focused on neighborhoods. Recommendations and discussions are neighborhood-specific.
• Yelp Alternatives for Specific Regions: In some countries or regions, local review platforms might be more popular than Yelp.

Choosing an Alternative:

The best alternative depends on:

• Your Industry: If you re in travel or restaurants, TripAdvisor or Zomato might be more relevant. For home services, Angi is strong.
• Your Target Audience: Consider where your target customers are most likely to look for reviews.
• Features You Need: Do you prioritize general reviews, industry-specific information, social recommendations, or something else?

Yelp Pricing

For Consumers:

• Yelp is FREE to use for consumers. You can search, read reviews, write reviews, upload photos, and use most of the platform s features without paying.

For Businesses:

Yelp s pricing is primarily focused on advertising and enhanced features. Pricing is generally customized and can vary based on location, industry, competition, and specific features chosen. However, here s a general idea of what businesses might pay:

• Free Business Profile: As mentioned, a basic business profile is free.
• Yelp Ads (Cost-Per-Click - CPC):
  • Budget-Based: Businesses set a monthly or daily budget for advertising.
  • Bidding System: Similar to Google Ads, businesses might bid on keywords or categories to have their ads shown.
  • CPC Rates Vary: The cost per click depends on factors like competition, industry, and ad targeting. It can range from a few cents to several dollars per click.
• Enhanced Business Profile Features (Monthly Subscription):
  • No Competitor Ads: Removing ads of competitors from your business page.
  • Call-to-Action Button: Adding a prominent button like Call Now or Get Directions.
  • Highlighted Reviews: Pinning positive reviews to the top of your profile.
  • Expanded Photo/Video Showcase: More visual content options.
  • Pricing is Subscription-Based: Typically a monthly fee for these enhanced features.
• Yelp Deals & Gift Certificates (Commission-Based):
  • Percentage Commission: Yelp takes a percentage of each deal or gift certificate sold.
  • Commission Rates Vary: The percentage can vary depending on the deal type and terms.
• Yelp Reservations & Waitlist (Transaction Fees/Subscription):
  • Per-Cover Fee: Some reservation systems charge a small fee per diner booked through Yelp.
  • Subscription Models: Others might have subscription plans for reservation management tools.
• Lead Generation (Yelp for Business - for Service Pros):
  • Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) or Subscription: Pricing models for lead generation services vary and can be CPL or subscription-based.

Important Notes on Yelp Pricing for Businesses:

• Negotiable: Advertising and subscription pricing might be negotiable, especially for larger businesses or longer-term contracts.
• ROI Focused: Businesses need to carefully consider their return on investment (ROI) when investing in Yelp advertising and premium features. Track leads, conversions, and customer acquisition costs to assess effectiveness.
• Free Profile Value: Even without paying, a free Yelp profile is valuable for basic online presence and allowing customers to find you.

Yelp Customer Care Details

Yelp offers customer care and support primarily through online channels. The level of support and accessibility can differ depending on whether you are a consumer or a business (especially paying advertisers).

For Consumers (Users):

• Help Center/FAQs: Yelp has a comprehensive online help center (help.yelp.com) with articles and FAQs covering various topics like account management, review guidelines, reporting issues, and using Yelp features. This is the primary source of support for general users.
• Contact Forms/Email Support: Within the help center, you can often find contact forms or email addresses to submit inquiries or report issues to Yelp support.
• Community Forums: While not direct customer care, the Yelp community forums can sometimes provide answers to common questions or issues from other users.
• Limited Phone Support: Direct phone support for general consumer issues is generally not readily available.

For Businesses:

• Yelp for Business Portal: Businesses manage their profiles and advertising through the Yelp for Business portal (biz.yelp.com). This portal provides access to resources and support.
• Account Managers/Sales Representatives (for Paying Advertisers): Businesses that are paying for Yelp Ads or enhanced features typically have access to account managers or sales representatives. These representatives can provide support with advertising setup, campaign optimization, and billing inquiries. This is the most direct form of personalized support.
• Business Help Center/FAQs: Yelp has a dedicated help center section for businesses with articles and FAQs related to business profiles, advertising, and business-specific issues.
• Email/Online Support Tickets: Businesses can submit support tickets or email inquiries through the Yelp for Business portal for issues not covered in the help center.
• Phone Support (Potentially for Paying Advertisers, but often for Sales/Advertising): Phone support might be more accessible for paying advertisers, primarily for sales, advertising setup, and billing questions rather than general business listing issues. It s less likely for general profile or review-related concerns.

Key Considerations about Yelp Customer Care:

• Self-Service Focus: Yelp heavily relies on self-service through its help center and FAQs.
• Online Support Predominant: Email and online ticket systems are the main channels for reaching support.
• Support Tiers: Paying advertisers generally receive more direct and personalized support compared to free business listings or general users.
• Review-Related Disputes: Support for disputing reviews can be a point of frustration for businesses. Yelp s stance is generally to be hands-off with content moderation and to rely on community flagging and automated systems. Successfully removing a review is often challenging unless it clearly violates Yelp s content guidelines.
• Sales Focus: Be aware that phone contact from Yelp for businesses is often sales-oriented, focused on upselling advertising services.

In summary, Yelp provides customer care primarily through online resources. Paying businesses generally have more access to direct, personalized support, particularly related to advertising and sales. For general users and free business listings, the help center and online contact forms are the main channels for support.