Online Reviews, Real World Reputation

Uninformed purchases are becoming less common due to the abundance of information that consumers have access to online. Yelp and other sites offer unfiltered reviews by customers looking for everything, from food to hairstylists.

Consumers don't have to ask their family and friends if they want to find the best store in their area. Yelp reviews and past experiences can help them make informed decisions.

Reviews can help potential customers fill in the information gap and form opinions before they even purchase online reviews step foot inside a storefront. Negative reviews can make a business a neighborhood favorite. Yelp's 66,000,000 monthly visitors can recommend your business to customers who had a positive experience with it.

Yelp reviews can help small businesses avoid the unknown and make it easier to find out what customers think. These reviews can answer consumers' questions about unknown brands and help them avoid relying on well-known businesses.

Yelp ranks businesses on a scale from one to five stars. Online ratings can really impact a business' bottom line. Positive reviews can help bring new customers in droves. Harvard Business School's study found that each Yelp star added to a review had a 5 to 9 percent impact on revenue.