There was a time when Yelp was considered a platform mostly serving restaurants and the food industry. However, chances have slightly changed. Today, Yelp is being used by other professionals such as dentists to help expand their business and it works if they employ review management tools as well. If you are a dentist looking for some tips to make a mark on the platform as well, here are some tips to consider.
Claim Your Page
The first you need to do if you haven’t done it already is sign-up and create a page. Once you have signed up, you need to add important business information along with relevant images and videos. With ever-growing competition, customers and clients prefer going over all the available data before they can make a final decision. With that said, some businesses tend to ignore this factor and keep the customers wondering about their validity and authenticity.
However, that should not be your case. You should be thorough with your information regarding the services you provide and the costs as well. This allows your potential customers to believe that you are serious about your business/practice. The goal here is to reflect your brand. Customers tend to develop the first impression within a few seconds. So, you need to make sure it is right.
Encourage But Don’t Force Reviews
Yelp has a strict policy against soliciting reviews. Their recommendation software is designed and programmed to distinguish between clearly-solicited and authentic reviews. This means that you should neither solicit reviews nor force the customers to leave reviews. However, you can request patients to put in a word for you but that’s about it.
Soliciting reviews is not considered a good practice anyway and this is why you should avoid it. Plus, some customers will love sharing their feedback, while others won’t. This does not mean they don’t like your practices. It’s simply just that some people do not have the time or are hesitant for some reason.
Stay Active And Respond To Views
Once the customers start purchasing your services, some of them are most likely to leave reviews. This means it is important for you to check up on the reviews at least once a week and respond too. Responding to reviews promotes customer engagement. If the customers know they are being heard and attended to, they are most likely to prefer your services again. Therefore, if someone leaves you a positive feedback, you should thank them. However, if the case is otherwise, you should deal with them in a professional manner.
Never, ever try to hide negative reviews. A business with fishy high ratings can also raise suspicion amongst the customers. Therefore, even if you are having a bad day, simply ask your customers for recommendations in case they did not leave satisfied.
Make Announcements
If your business requires making regular announcements, you should do that using your business owner’s page. Maybe you have a special offer coming soon and you can let your clients know about it. This will help you and your customers stay connected and attract potential clients/patients as well.
Furthermore, you can also utilize the “Yelp Deals” feature that allows you to offer a discount if users claim it through the site. However, keep in mind that Yelp does not charge you for a Yelp deal but will require a certain percentage of the money made using the deals.
Use The Yelp Dashboard
Perhaps the only tool that is going to give you an insight into how well your business page is doing is that dashboard. If you have a business owner’s profile, you can easily track the customer traffic through the dashboard. This is essential for your business as it keeps you updated and informed about the loopholes you will need to work on to attract more clients. And if you were to take it seriously, you will find that the Yelp dashboard can help add significant value to your business.
Final Word
There is no doubt that Yelp can contribute a lot to your business provided that you use it smartly. Keep the tips mentioned above in mind, stay active for your clients/patients to notice what you have to offer, and use reseller review management software to increase your chances of getting authentic reviews.
