Yelp Announces New Features to “Better Connect Consumers With the Right Services Business”

The following new Yelp features can not only help Yelp differentiate itself from competitors but they can also help services businesses gain more visibility and leads through Yelp.

Last week, Yelp announced new features for services businesses including new Cost Guides, themed ads, custom search filters. Read below for more details about these features and why they are important!

Custom search filters

With new search filters, customers can now filter through services businesses that provide exactly what the consumer is looking for. Customers can filter by fast-responding businesses, those that provide virtual consolations, or even businesses that specialize in a certain type of job or repair.

Image from Yelp’s blog post announcement

Project cost guides

Yelp’s new Project Cost Guides gives its users tips and information (like average price in their area). Guides can be filtered by services and by city. This cannot only help customers discover local services but i can also guide small businesses on pricing methods.

Image from Yelp’s blog post announcement

Increase ease of writing review for services businesses

This feature is designed to increase the rate of high quality and reliable reviews to help other users decide which service to use as well as help businesses gain credibility.

Image from Yelp’s blog post announcement

Themed ads

Businesses have the possibility of being differentiated in Yelp advertisements if they provide a special offer who have a special feature. This encourages users to use Yelp to directly hire users and encourages businesses to be active and responsive on Yelp to reach these potential customers.

Image from Yelp’s blog post announcement

Why you should care

With new custom search features, users can now save time searching for businesses that specialize in exactly what they are searching for and can make quicker decisions about which company they prefer.

Themed ads can give businesses that fall into one of these categories more exposure that they would have previously had which can lead to increase in conversions or even a decreases in costs. For example, according to Yelp, in an earlier experiment businesses in “fast responding” themed ads saw an almost 10% decrease in cost per lead.

Yelp’s new review flow may reduce friction when consumers go to leave reviews. Reviews are a crucial element for businesses especially small local businesses as they build trust, credibility, and awareness. This could help businesses increase their visibility of Yelp if users leave more reviews.

Overall, more any Yelp business users, these unique features help differentiate Yelp from the competition of local services review platforms. This is important for consumers and businesses as Yelp will continue to be an ideal, significant place for businesses to gain leads.