Should Your Shop Advertise with Yelp?

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The Mitchell 1 SocialCRM team often gets the “Yelp question” from our automotive repair shop customers: Should I advertise with Yelp? Of course that’s a question that every business will need to answer for themselves. But I will say it’s not difficult to find a large army of small businesses telling Yelp horror stories. So before making that decision, we encourage you to take a look at our lists below and also do a little research of your own.

YELPThe Trouble with Yelp Reviews

  • Yelp is not an unbiased source.  Yelp determines which reviews are factored into your overall Yelp score, and which reviews actually get presented to visitors.
  • When you stop paying Yelp, many businesses report their negative reviews take a more prominent position after discontinuing paid Yelp service.
  • Building a large number of Yelp reviews could be a bad thing – and could give Yelp a bigger and more credible “hammer” to hit your business with once you stop paying for their service.
  • It’s difficult to validate results. Is Yelp driving low-cost leads and is it less expensive than other digital advertising, such as Google PPC (AdWords)?
  • Yelp’s terms of service prohibit soliciting reviews. Reviews that are suspected of being solicited will automatically be filtered and not count towards your score.
  • If Yelp is not performing at the top for the page for you now, sending your customers there may give the site additional SEO value, causing it to move up in search to compete with sites more favorable to your business.

SureCriticLogo_StackedWhy Mitchell 1 / SureCritic Reviews Bear Fruit

  • Unbiased review system – Reviews that are “Never filtered, Never Deleted” provide better credibility that consumers trust.
  • Easily manage your reputation – You have review notifications and the ability to easily respond to reviews.
  • Concern resolution – We collect additional information when a review is three stars or fewer so you have the information needed to resolve the issue.
  • SureCritic SocialEngage – Consumer word-of-mouth marketing is encouraged after a consumer posts a positive review.
  • SureCritic ReScore – Consumers are asked for a second-chance review after their issue has been resolved.
  • First page Google position – When searching “{your shop name} + reviews,” most shops get premium ranking in Google search results.
  • Show-off your best reviews – You can select the reviews to be presented on your shop website.
  • With SocialCRM, the entire process is automated. You don’t have to do anything to start generating positive reviews.
  • For SocialCRM shops with Manager SE shop management software, your reviews are visible in your system, giving you valuable customer sentiment information while talking to or writing up the customer at the front counter.

Read more by researching Yelp on Google:
• “Yelp advertising results”
• “Yelp advertising ROI”

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About the Author

Brian Warfield

Brian Warfield is a Senior Product Manager for the Mitchell 1 SocialCRM product line. He has been in the automotive software business for over 20 years and has earned a degree in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati Business College.