Online Reviews: A response to 6abc "Yelp's rating system under fire by local business owners"
This week on the news I saw a report that definitely sparked my interest. Coming from a small business where a lot of out of town shore traffic comes through, online reviews can greatly impact customers who aren't local and haven't received word of mouth recommendations. Online reviews can play a big roll. As 6abc reports, "Yelp has been around for nearly a decade. And since its start, the site has relied on its users' opinions to rate everything from restaurants and auto repair shops to dog walkers. We were contacted by small business owners who say they believe their favorable rankings were suddenly reduced because they wouldn't pay up for costly advertising." This too is something we have pondered ourselves first hand. After, declining to pay for advertising it seemed our positive reviews have started to diminish.
Even our customers have noticed this trend as well. The following is a review on yelp (which was filtered into the not currently recommended section) "I cannot help but notice my positive review of this bakery was flagged and removed? Does this site only promote the negative opinions of others?? The last time I was on this site there were 3 positive reviews of the bakery, the staff, the delicious cupcakes and the wonderful cakes. However, they are no longer visible yet the one nasty comment is still here. Please do not allow people who have nothing but negative things to say prevent you from trying this wonderful bakery!! Everything is delicious, try it for yourself!! :)"
According to 6abc other local business have had this happen to them as well, "Multiple glowing reviews on [his] profile were suddenly hidden, filtered in a hard-to-find section Yelp says are "not recommended." The reason, Bevilacqua believes, is he turned down advertising pitched to him by a telephone salesman from Yelp." 6abc also contacted Brian Dunn a small business owner in Drexel Hill Pa, "Yelp believes Dunn was soliciting customers for reviews and insists advertising dollars don't factor into this system. But some business owners don't buy it. "There are small businesses being hurt by a company capitalizing on one person being upset and 10 people being happy," Dunn said."
I believe our customer hit the nail on the head- don't let online reviews sway you from giving a local bakery, hair salon, or pizza place a try. Let your own opinion be the judge, because sadly you can never be sure if one bad seed review is over shadowing the hundreds of happy customers a local business has. Also, word of mouth and opinions of friends, family and people you trust is more valuable advice then perhaps a review of a disgruntled customer that has been filtered to the top of the list because the business has not chosen to advertise with the company. My advice….you be the judge! For a full report from 6abc click here.
Even our customers have noticed this trend as well. The following is a review on yelp (which was filtered into the not currently recommended section) "I cannot help but notice my positive review of this bakery was flagged and removed? Does this site only promote the negative opinions of others?? The last time I was on this site there were 3 positive reviews of the bakery, the staff, the delicious cupcakes and the wonderful cakes. However, they are no longer visible yet the one nasty comment is still here. Please do not allow people who have nothing but negative things to say prevent you from trying this wonderful bakery!! Everything is delicious, try it for yourself!! :)"
According to 6abc other local business have had this happen to them as well, "Multiple glowing reviews on [his] profile were suddenly hidden, filtered in a hard-to-find section Yelp says are "not recommended." The reason, Bevilacqua believes, is he turned down advertising pitched to him by a telephone salesman from Yelp." 6abc also contacted Brian Dunn a small business owner in Drexel Hill Pa, "Yelp believes Dunn was soliciting customers for reviews and insists advertising dollars don't factor into this system. But some business owners don't buy it. "There are small businesses being hurt by a company capitalizing on one person being upset and 10 people being happy," Dunn said."
I believe our customer hit the nail on the head- don't let online reviews sway you from giving a local bakery, hair salon, or pizza place a try. Let your own opinion be the judge, because sadly you can never be sure if one bad seed review is over shadowing the hundreds of happy customers a local business has. Also, word of mouth and opinions of friends, family and people you trust is more valuable advice then perhaps a review of a disgruntled customer that has been filtered to the top of the list because the business has not chosen to advertise with the company. My advice….you be the judge! For a full report from 6abc click here.
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