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Make ’Em Yelp

Getting positive reviews and more leads with Yelp

More than 70 percent of the leads generated for Patriot Pool & Spa of Austin, Texas, come from Yelp, company president Hal Denbar, says.

Genna Gold, senior manager of business outreach for Yelp, says 2018’s second-quarter analysis shows 104 million people visit Yelp on their mobile devices each month, and 74 million on desktops. Since the inception of Yelp in 2004, there have been more than 163 million reviews written on the site. Denbar emphasizes that its 80-plus Yelp reviews — one of the highest for any pool professional business on the site — are all unsolicited.

Chet Thornberry is co-founder and managing partner of Collective Inbound, a Cape Canaveral, Florida, marketing company that focuses on services within the pool and spa industries. “From our inception, we immediately knew the value of Yelp as a marketing channel,” he says. “We use Yelp as a method of displaying social proof, branding and basic search engine optimization benefits for our clients.”

Tyler Rasmussen and Greg Villafana of Brothers Pool Service & Repair in Scottsdale, Arizona, have more than 70 Yelp reviews and have used the site since their company’s inception. They say potential customers can go to a Yelp account and confirm what they’ve seen online or heard from friends about a business. “Yelp legitimizes who you are,” Rasmussen says. “It is word-of-mouth in an online platform.” It’s great for lead generation, Rasmussen says, and once Brothers started receiving positive Yelp reviews, the quality of the jobs and clients both increased.

Getting Started
A successful Yelp account needs to have as much information as possible about your business, as well as a personal touch. “We’ve got pictures of all our people,” Denbar says. “We’ve got stuff that shows some personality and makes it obvious that they’re going to be interacting with a real person.”

Rasmussen advises taking advantage of the site’s free options before Yelp paid advertising. “Add 10 to 20 pictures with good descriptions,” he says. “Make sure the business name, logo and hours are correct. Fill out the section about the business and make sure it reflects who you are. Look as legitimate as possible.”

Yelp is a transactional search directory, Gold says, which means “consumers aren’t searching for ‘pool services’ on Yelp for fun. They have a need and are prepared to make a purchase decision.” Gold cites a Nielsen study that found 82 percent of customers are on Yelp with the intent to spend.” He advises enabling the Request a Quote feature to allow consumers to connect with you when deciding who to hire.

Since many pool builders and service companies don’t have a brick-and-mortar storefront, the Service Area feature is helpful. When a Yelper lands on your Yelp page, the service area — up to six zip codes — will appear as a shaded portion on the business page map, Gold says.

Accentuate the Positive
The platform’s stance on soliciting reviews is pretty clear: If you’re caught doing it, they’ll ban you. Gold says asking for reviews at all can create bias, making it difficult for users to compare reviews across businesses.

What’s the alternative? Use the branding materials Yelp provides, such as embedded links to your Yelp profile, a link to your Yelp page in email signatures, and ‘Find Us on Yelp’ stickers anywhere customers may see them.

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Collective Inbound employs techniques that help motivate customers to leave Yelp reviews. “We embed positive reviews on landing pages or on the actual website,” Thornberry says. “Something interactive that a user can see as an actual, live review is a great way to build trust.”

Thornberry also recommends setting up a tablet if you have a retail location. His clients leave the tablet Collective Inbound provides on a stand and open to the company’s Yelp profile. While these business owners don’t actively solicit reviews, Thornberry says his clients have seen a huge uptick just by having their profile readily available in the store.

Dealing With the Negative
As with any review-driving social platform, one-star reviews sometimes happen. How you handle them is critical to making the negative ones disappear entirely or bear little weight on future Yelp leads.

Thornberry recommends turning on notifications — whether through email or the Yelp app — so you’re aware of new reviews. Respond to every review, both positive and negative.

“Even the best companies with a high dedication to customer service can fail to meet a customer’s expectations,” says Harley Lever, president of We Sprout Solutions, a marketing service for businesses. “Own the problem. All too often, business owners refuse to accept responsibility for legitimate customer complaints. Instead of being defensive, see a complaining customer as a person pinpointing a problem you must address.”

Denbar gives himself time to cool off before responding to a negative review. “You get pretty fired up,” he says. He then reaches out to the customer to rectify the problem, never mentioning the review. “I don’t want them to think that I’m more concerned about our public perception than their individual experience,” he says. With this approach, the customer all but once has either gone back and changed it to a five-star review or deleted the bad review.

Gold says Yelpers are 33 percent more likely to upgrade a bad review if they receive a personalized response within 24 hours. “Always thank the reviewer for their feedback in your first line and then offer a solution,” she says.

Detail the steps taken to resolve the issue in your written response to the negative review, which may help future customers discount the bad review. “Your great and positive response to a negative review,” Lever says, “can live forever as a testament to your commitment to customer service.”


Keys to being successful on Yelp:

  • Robust information about your business
  • Lots of pictures, including pictures of yourself and your employees
  • Make it easy for prospects to reach out with Request a Quote feature
  • Respond to all reviews

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