How to get more Yelp reviews for your business
Local businesses have a love-hate relationship with Yelp. If you have a 3.5+ rating on Yelp with over 30 reviews, then Yelp is a terrific resource for new customer acquisition. On the other hand, if you have a sub-3 rating on Yelp, then Yelp can destroy your business. The ratings and stars are a good example of gamification, a booming trend. (Click here to see What is Gamification)
It’s therefore important to not only get a lot of reviews on Yelp, but to make sure they’re positive reviews. This post will cover how to increase your review count, while a future post will cover how to make sure these Yelp reviews are positive.
Who should read this post: local business owners looking to increase their Yelp reviews
What you will learn: how to get customers to leave you more Yelp reviews
Table of Contents
Author Credibility: Yu-kai Chou
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar — with 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
1. Post Yelp signage
Obvious and effective. Post a sign at your location to encourage your customers to find your business on Yelp. Since most customers have a smartphone, they can write a review while they’re shopping or dining at your location.
2. Post your positive Yelp reviews at your business
This is very very effective.
I saw this used at one of my favorite vegetarian fast-casual restaurants in Irvine, CA. They printed and framed their best Yelp reviews and posted them inside of the restaurant so you can see them while waiting in line to order. Furthermore, the frame looked very exquisite and they blew up the reviews to 10x their size so that it’s very easy to read.
This technique has two very positive results:
- Other Yelpers realize that this place is highly reviewed and worth reviewing, so they’ll take the time to review it as well
- People in line will feel very positive while waiting in line and the taste of the food will be that much better because they expect it to be great, leading to positive reviews
3. Offer a special reward to frequent check-in users
Editor’s Note: This section originally referenced Foursquare, a location check-in app popular in the early 2010s. Foursquare has since pivoted to a B2B data company and is no longer consumer-facing. The behavioral principle still applies: reward your most frequent visitors using any location-based check-in or loyalty tool (Google Maps check-ins, Apple Maps, or your own loyalty app).
Yelpers are highly likely to use other social media services. Therefore, the more check-in users that you attract, the higher the chance that you’re attracting people that leave reviews on Yelp.
Check-in users must take out their phone in order to check in. If they’re taking out their phone to check in, they may also take out their phone to review your business on Yelp. Increase your chance of Yelp reviews by getting more check-in users through your door.
4. Host a Yelp event
Another obvious and VERY effective way to boost your Yelp ratings. Take the following steps to hold a fun Yelp event with many Yelpers:
- Interact with your current Yelpers (the users that have already reviewed your business on Yelp)
- Interact with Yelpers that have reviewed a similar business to yours
- Contact your local Yelp Elite member to let him know that you’re looking to host a Yelp event and that you’re looking to work with him to host it
- Create a web form with a tool like Wufoo and invite Yelpers to RSVP for your event
5. Collect emails and request reviews in the footer
It’s always a good idea to collect emails.
Do NOT send an email just to ask for Yelp reviews. This can have negative consequences and makes you look like a needy business owner. Instead, make the ask passive.
In the footer of your emails, create a link to your Yelp page:
Let us know your feedback on Yelp! Over 100 others have already!
Each step above takes investment on your part. If you hustle, have excellent food and service, and constantly remind your customers to review you on Yelp, then you will greatly increase your reviews and see a very positive increase in foot traffic to your business.
Related Reading
- The Octalysis Framework: Complete Gamification Framework
- If Yelp is Bad for Business, Why Should Local Businesses Use It?
- The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding and Setting Up Google Maps Search
- Books by Yu-kai Chou