Has your grocery business claimed its Yelp page? Yelp is a social review platform that has an average of 178 million monthly unique mobile web visitors and an average of 92 million monthly unique mobile app users each month. It is growing in popularity by virtually any measure. While your business may have a strong social media presence elsewhere, by disregarding Yelp, you could be missing out on a vital opportunity to demonstrate top-notch customer or client experience and to address complaints.
Studies show that 75 percent of consumers searching online for a local business consult consumer online review sites. Many business owners — including those in the grocery industry —don’t think that Yelp doesn’t apply to their business. Yet the reality is that consumers are increasingly turning to Yelp not only for restaurant reviews but for information on a wide variety of other businesses, including grocery stores.
Consider claiming your business page on Yelp. It’s easy to do. A vast majority of business pages on Yelp are unclaimed, which unfortunately signals to Yelp users that customer/client satisfaction is not a top priority. While there’s no downside to happy customers or clients simply reporting a good experience with your business, unsatisfied customers publicly posting about their bad experiences can damage your store’s reputation if you aren’t able to respond to them (which you can only do if you prove you own the business and claim it). Additionally, you could be missing out on a useful communication channel for inquiries about your grocery business if Yelp users aren’t able to message you questions, comments, reservation requests, and other concerns.
After you claim your Yelp page, you’ll want to aim for at least 4 stars out of 5. How can you get there? You may want to have a sign somewhere in your store(s) (and on your website) that encourages satisfied customers to leave reviews for your company on Yelp. Even this simple call-to-action could make a difference in your reviews count. More Yelp reviews suggest greater popularity for a business, so you could score new customers through this valuable method as well. Be on the lookout (and make sure your managers are on board as well) for satisfied customers who you can ask to leave a review on Yelp about your store. It’s against Yelp’s operating guidelines to ask for positive reviews. Just ask happy customers to leave a review, and you’ll be on your way to a better Yelp rating over time.