Yelp, a user-generated database of customer reviews of local businesses, first launched in October 2004. Users rate and leave reviews for local businesses, participate in forums, and can generally get social around local businesses.
Yelp almost immediately caught on organically in San Francisco, but founders Jeremy Stoppelman and Russel Simmons ran into some early criticism. Rumors circulated that they were paying people to leave reviews on the site. Some users were outraged, claiming that paid reviews couldn’t be untainted. Yelp claimed that they were only “marketing assistants” employed by the company to “get the ball rolling” in new cities, and the reviews themselves were honest.
2006 proved to be the year of new competition, with Judy’s Book receiving an $8 million round in November 2005, Intuit releasing Zipingo in October 2005, and idealab’s Insider Pages receiving a cool $8.5 million Series A in March 2006. A daunting situation for a new startup to be in. But Yelp pulled through it to secure a $10 million in a Series B from Benchmark Capital in October 2006 and was named one of the 50 coolest sites on the web.
Then the competition started dropping like flies. Insider Pages laid off 2/3 of their staff and sold quickly to CitySearch in February 2007, Intuit said “goodbye” to Zipingo in August 2007, and Judy’s Book closed their doors in October 2007. Yelp was the sole survivor.
When Yelp released their API in August 2007, they were doing pretty well, getting 1.4 million U.S. visitors and 6 million page views per month. They’ve seen rapid growth since, now at almost 15 million U.S. visitors per month, surpassing competitor CitySearch in March (via Compete). Yelp has raised $31 million in capital, and mainstream press is all over them.
All that press gives business owners the idea that they need to pay attention to Yelp. So they ask their customers to leave positive reviews. Those customers then become Yelp users, and may leave reviews on other businesses, too. A virtuous and self sustaining cycle is created.
But when can you truly say that a company has “made it?”
It’s when people start hating you, of course.
Sites like Yelp-Sucks and IHateYelp have been popping up, with the general theme being an angry business owner who was Yelped. Those business owners that think they must use Yelp for competitive reasons are getting frustrated over some of Yelp’s policies, and are starting to complain about it. Loudly.
The good news for Yelp is that when businesses are afraid of you, it’s only because they realize how much power you really have. See, for example, Paypal and Ebay, two of the most reviled and profitable businesses on the Internet.
The major complaint is negative reviews, and how to get rid of them. But business owners are also complaining that they can’t use their accounts to leave reviews on other businesses, as well as a number of other complaints.
Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said recently in the NY Times, “We put the community first, the consumer second and businesses third.” Their goal is clearly to make businesses need Yelp, but not to expect a lot of help when it comes to disputes. Complain all you want, you’re just proving that you need Yelp more than they need you.
The Brownbook (Brownbook.net) DOES let business owners get involved in the conversation, so its less one sided. We’re seeing many businesses start to embrace the two-way conversation. Business owners are clearly identified as such and we don’t see the neeed to stifle their responses. It should be an open conversation.
I hear these complaints from a FEW businesses, but on the whole MOST businesses recognise that people are talking about them and their service ALREADY, whether they know it or not!!! Communications technology has simply progressed from ‘a-quiet-chat-with-your-mates-at-the-bar’ to broadcasting your views online – any business trying to resist this change is engaged in a futile exercise. The smart companies are embracing this as a chance to spread POSITIVE reviews, and they know that a few ‘bad’ reviews are easily balanced by good reviews – us consumers are not all dumb you know. Perhaps the guys that are shouting the loudest are just bad businesses who don’t (want to) listen to their customers?
I’m involved with The Brownbook here in the UK. Its just gone live in USA, Canada, and Australia, and is recruiting for a Country Manager to spearhead in each – anyone interested?
Wow, I’m amazed nobody mentioned The Week in Yelp.
http://sf.eater...ts_play_who.php
Also, I have to say the two cited anti-yelp pages are ridiculous. As is the “real” anti-yelp, er, AntiYelp (dot com), which is a comprehensive and very funny idea percolating in the brain of this here commentator, but in its status as a “backburnered” project it hasn’t got anywhere yet.
I am one of the business owners that have been hurt and lost money because of Yelp! Right now I have 6 negative reviews and zero positive reviews. I used to have 6-8 positive reviews from customers but they have mysteriously disappeared. Some of my neg reviews are not even from customers. Some of them are totally unreasonable and stupid. Two are from a disgruntled ex-employee. I refuse to pay Yelp’s blackmail and purchase a business account for $350 per month. What is so unfair about Yelp is that it provides a forum for anyone whether a weirdo, a non-customer, a competitor to say anything they want about your business without you having any chance to defend yourself.
Also, people tend to write negative reviews if given a chance. I have hundreds of happy customers but they are too busy to open Yelp accounts and give positive reviews. Yelp attracts negative passive-agressive idiots who do not care how their actions affect others. (I agree with one of the commenters above that Seattle is the worst passive-aggressive city.) Why don’t people with real concerns about a business, write or call the owner? That would be the mature thing to do. It would also give them practice in adult communication.
I am a working mom and I work my ass off to try to make a profit in my company. I keep 7 people employed and off the unemployment line. The last thing I need is to deal with these Yelp losers that don’t have a life and have no empathy for anyone.
Also, remember from Kindergarten, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Seems like timeless wisdom to me.
In the end, all you passive-aggressive Business haters, you are actually the unwitting accomplice of a very powerful and unethical company that profits from your stupidity and the pain that you cause other people. Yelp should be profit sharing with you.
If there are any other business owners out there that are tired of being “yelped”, please email me at bizfightyelp@gmail.com. I am working on a comprehensive e-book on how business owners can counteract Yelp. I am also researching to see if there are any class-action suits pending. I will share this info with any interested business owner.
I would be interested in your ideas for making customer reviews more accurate on our website click2connect.com .
Perhaps its time for a more objective review system?
@52 good find)
BTW anyone know why he demographics on Yelp are so skewed to asian users?
Angry Businesses Organize to Spend More Time Fighting Yelp Than They Spend Delivering Consistently Great Service to Their Customers and Create Raving Fans.
I have to say, after getting a negative review on citysearch, my former boss really looked at his business and tried to get things as tight as possible. He talked to his sales staff, cleaned up the place, and really focused on customer service.
Well, he also petitioned his friends and himself to write rave reviews to try to get the negative one below the fold. But the desired effect was achieved.
“See, for example, Paypal and Ebay, two of the most reviled and profitable businesses on the Internet.”
Apparently Calley thinks it’s okay to be reviled as long as your are widely profitable.
How about new companies set themselves to *gasp* higher standards than companies with proven “evilness” like Ebay/Paypal?
Yelp definitely serves a purpose but I think local businesses need a website where the can counter some of the negative effects of Yelp. Seems like an area that will garner some attention sometime down the road with websites like jippidy.com, videonary.com and zoomsong.com. I don’t know much but it seems like a battel local business will have to fight on its own.
The two sites – I Hate Yelp and Yelp Sucks – neither of them seem to be very active or have any significant user base.
More and more Yelp stickers are appearing on business storefront doors all across the country.
Store owners who want to respond to negative reviews should feel free to contact the negative reviewer. Yelp certainly makes that possible.
-Samir.
It appears with this new change in rules, that Yelp’s former ad revenue business model no longer applies. You can’t put the business THIRD (and Jeremy did just that) and expect them to pay for the favor.
While taking measures to improve consumer trust and preserve the integrity of your website/business, the first rule is not to alienate your users. Yelp has taken Elite Yelpers and thrown them to the curb. People who have contributed to spreading the word and making Yelp the giant that it is. I have less than 25 reviews, and use the site more to replace the yellow pages than as a platform. But what about the others, who garnered all of their new business from this site?
According to Yelp, they can take away your reputation without cause at a moments notice. So why would anyone put effort into building your brand on their platform?
And again, depsite direct contact with the co-founder, no answers, just canned responses.
Far too many business owners do not service their customers in a manner that does not deserve poor reviews. This will hopefully drive a movement for business owners to recognize the power of the customer beyond the dollar in the till. If you have a business that gives great product and service, you have little to worry about.
Die all you businesses that dont see the light.
yelp is great, but definitely strongest in sf. i live in chicago, some use it, but it’s not common to hear someone say “did you check yelp?” doesn’t happen.
The hater sites are pretty thin and seem to be the work of a small number of people with an axe to grind, but they do point out that Yelp is in danger of making the same mistake as eBay/PayPal in using some sort of automated mechanism for detecting “questionable behavior” and then stonewalling when asked to explain their actions. In the Web 2.0 world, transparency is the coin of the realm. If Yelp wants to earn the trust of their readers they will need to come clean on how they manage reviews and not hide behind anonymous robots who police the site.
Hmmm… sounds pretty shady, this thread is worth a look:
http://www.yelp...l-b-and-cindy-s
From Jeff Jarvis (Dell Hell) to Paul English (Get A Human) to Vince Ferrari (”Cancel My AOL Account”) to ‘the Comcast dude is sleeping on my couch”, the web is jammed with examples of ‘pretty thin’ sites that ultimately forced transparency and improved customer experience. Surely the founders of yelp have to be well aware that their passionate users are highly likely to tap into every single Web 2.0 tool in the arsenal to resolve the situation. So why the strangely harsh response to their most loyal customers? Weird.
@44 Facebook is not a threat to yelp, not only is yelp aggregating consumer they are building enormous google juice. Right now do a search for most businesses in the Bay Area and you will get the yelp page for that business before anything else. They have successfully reintermediated themselves in the shopping process.
Oh, and many of you are forgetting that Yelp is a dating site first, review site second
Yelp is just another internet obsession/addiction of the week. The only good thing about it is some other sites will up their “game” as it were!
My mother always said: Beware of the power of stupid people in large numbers!!!
Companies have to change policies from time to time. Doesn’t it just make sense to notify your constituency of the policy changes and give them the opportunity to adjust? Not just make a change and then accuse everyone who was operating under the old policy of using their site to participate in unethical business practices? Now I have this great big zit on my Google profile and it is right at the top.
As for #65, I don’t have any interest in dating…been happily married for 20 years…I was interested in the great placement that Yelp! has on Google. And that has bitten me hard because anyone who clicks on my profile sees this big black mark!
Chicago Food Blog on Yelp:
http://www.best...cago.com/?p=732
@39 It looks like Yelp is anything but unbiased. If you’re a business owner you’re not allowed to review ANYTHING. What about employees? Are they allowed to review their employers … yes. How about competitors … yes.
Oh, and their terms of usage forbid you to use any search application on their web site.
From: http://www.yelp...om/static?p=tos
“5. Restrictions on Rights to Use. You agree that you shall not use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve or index any portion of the Yelp Site and/or Yelp Service”.
So if you get to their web site from Google you’ve violated their TOS. Go figure.
Can we write reviews of web sites on Yelp? Perhaps reviews of Yelp on Yelp? Review of Yelp-Sucks? Why not?
Calley:
Good article. Bad judgment. Yelp’s days are numbered regardless of the $31 million dollar funding.
1) They do not have a sustainable business model
2) There is no way, you can help the community by hurting the businesses that operate in that community. Small businesses are the heart and soul of local communities and their relationship with consumers needs to be interactive and symbiotic.
But good try Yelp. Sad to see you pave the way and go away, leaving room for a new cool company that really gets what local means.
Just found this site via Twitter: http://yelplawsuit.com/
I love Yelp. Been an elite squad member since 2005.
I’ve found so many new great places to eat when traveling, all because of Yelp.
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Yelp has a beautiful interface, but the reviews for restaurants seems just about useless. “Yeah, this is a great $13 burger, I wouldn’t go anywhere else, all my friends agree.” [Not an actual quote, but I've seen close.] Okay, great, now describe to me why the burger is worth that much — was it great meat? Great cheese? Great bun? Wonderful atmosphere? I mean, c’mon, can’t y’all do just a little bit better? Chowhound seems to have none of these problems (although the interface isn’t as nice).
As far as the shilling and the log rolling, Yelp (and Chowhound) provide a simple mechanism for vetting the posters — you can easily read all of their other reviews! If you’re trusting on-line reviews, you’re going to have to do that anyway, whether you’re worried about businesses shilling or folks who can’t distinguish between McDonald’s and Chez Panisse.
I’ve had friends, whom I never asked to, write reviews with great stuff about my retail business. The problems is, they don’t live near me and never have bought a single thing. It’s great to shine, but Yelp’s credibility is in question.
Plus if a business doesn’t have the right to respond back, it seems a little unfair. – I live in the real world where the customer is NOT always right.
It seems that the successful review sites’ egos have grown disproportionately with their popularity. I know for many cases where competition has posted slamming reviews against their competition. These reviews are actually fairly easy to spot. There is no way to have them removed. The owners of the review sites take the stand that the reviews are legit. If that is the case then the review sites are inferring that somehow my clients are guilty.
Do the companies being slammed stooped to their competition’s level and post counter spam reviews? It is not something we practice nor do we recommend but it seems to be the only viable recourse available. This abuse is rampant across the review sites. It’s a frustrating conundrum.
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http://www.sueeasy.com is a lot better!
Theres a site called http://www.jippidy.com that has the same concept except the user has full control of there business profile. For example, they can add videos and have the power to approve/disapprove comments on there profiles.
The “Mobile Hostess” solution will soon enables Guests and Restaurants, to access a web-based 2 ways communication system, which can connect to the POS, rendering feedback credible (attached to an effective transaction Receipt/Thank you! inmail note follow-up), and facilitating the symbiotic loyalty relationships communications, consumers and retailers need.
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I find Yelp very useful and trustworthy (when compared to my actual experiences at places reviewed). Kudo’s to Yelp for sticking to their guns.
THERE CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS AWFUL. I HAVE TRIED TO FLAGG SOMETHING TO THEIR ATTENTION AND NEVER NO RESPONSE. EVEN IT GOES AGAINST THEIR POLICY -THE REVIEWS WERE NEVER REMOVED. BAD SERVICE ALL AROUND
If Yelp can gain the trust of consumers, then manipulate consumer comments they have gained control over your employer/company’s profits. It’d be all too easy for them to arbitrarily delete a majority of positive comments, leaving your employer/company looking like the devil. On the other hand, a competitor can stuff a comment page with negative reviews, creating the same effect. In a competitive market consumers should be wary of the advice they’re consuming. After all, Yelp isn’t a charity, it’s a competitive business that controls its services and looks favorably at those providing its revenue stream. If Yelp can develop a business plan that avoids the pitfalls it’ll become the Google of review sites. Right now they’re stepping on the integrity of businesses while kicking themselves in the “future.” Caveat emptor.
Yelp FTMFW!
Yelp is a group of greedy Evil young men and women without moral character.
Yelp is making money hand over fist off of poorly advised small business owners that have no choice but to pay yelp the monthly extortion fees.
If you don’t pay YELP, employees and their friends post lies about your business and leave them at the top of your yelp page until you do pay. Period.
They put making money for themselves first and will call every month until you sign up and pay 200.oo or more per month.
I am an angry business owner that received personal attacks about my character which were untrue on Yelp.com.
Yelp refused to remove the personal attacks and instead removed my business account since I wasn’t buying advertising space.
Yelp, furthermore, pushed bad reviews to the top and good reviews to the bottom of the page.
I am suing Yelp, Inc. and you can follow the developments on my web page. http://sueyelp.blogspot.com
Yelp is a ripoff to begin with.
As a customer, I wrote postive and negative reviews, it was ALWAYs another customer who had my review removed and NEVER a business.
Most customers complained that I gave there hotspot a bad name.
Yelp is not what many think or make it out to be. A site dedicated to unbiased reviews of businesses, primarily restaurants by those dining there. That’s a myth.
The core membership consists of young, just out of school soon to be yuppies who tend to use the site more as an avenue of dating and get togethers rather than focusing in the goal of criticking a business.
Many are just lonely people looking for a place to fit in society because without the site they have no lives otherwise. They thrive on the 2 tier system of becoming “Elite”, which Yelp hands out like candy, in order to meet people and attend events unknowing restaurants foot the bill for.
Rarely does the site offer true insight into culinary expertise and the best dining experience for your dollar. The site is nothing more than a short-sided look as to how a true restaurant critic would rate such places.
It’s biased towards trendy places where many of these “children” like to frequent. It’s also apparent that many reviews are biased and made up to support just these types of businesses.
How any sponsor could fall into the trap of supporting Yelp is beyond me. Many reviews are posted by friends of the owners and not worth the bandwith. There are far more accurate sites that convey the true essence and value of these businesses being reviewed.
Take it for what it’s worth, their talk section consists of topics like micropenises, getting laid etc.. something that has nothing to do with the what the site claims to be.
That coupled with their aggressive telemarketing techniques of allowing businesses to have positive reviews featured first if they pay a fee of $300 per month rather than have true results posted in the order they were only adds to the confusion of what Yelp may have been at one point.
I wouldn’t take a recommendation from Yelp other than a grain of salt. The founders lost their way in hope that they too may hit it big on the internet. Yelp today is nothing more than a joke and there are far better sites to help you make a decision, especially when it comes to decent dining.
Now if you’re looking to meet a bunch of mid-twenties spoiled kids and travel to questionable areas tracking down Taco Trucks, illegal hot dog carts in seedy areas or greasy hamburger joints in Compton etc., the site may be for you. Or if you’re looking to meet some lonely woman or man seeking a sense of identity, then Yelp may be your salvation.
However, if you’re looking for objective views on decent dining at good restaurants I’d pass and try other similar sites.
And if you’re a Republican or someone over 35, don’t waste your precious time.
Yelp is the resultant product from having crossbred the socially inept attributes of MySpace with the cesspool-like qualities of Craigslist.
Users are encouraged to write reviews of local establishments to support the core of Yelp’s purported mission statement: “Real People. Real Reviews.”
However, most reviews tend to be amateurish write-ups, blogs if you will, about one’s night out rather than provide any valuable information to assist the reader – and prospective patron – in making a more informed decision with regard to said reviewed business.
It is in the MySpace-like features — adding friends to one’s profile, sending/receiving compliments or FUC (Funny, Useful, Cool) points from other users — where Yelp fails to maintain focus as it has become more about the users than the reviews.
“Meh. Me thinks not!”
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Yelp is a complete racket! I have had eight 5 star reviews removed but one disgruntled associate loses her job and spends the next two months becoming an elite yelper just so she can post a fake negative review about my business. And, it will never be removed. Now they call weekly to get me to advertise on their site. They want me to pay them money to facilitate a blank bitching board for any peon to write any biased review about my business without any verification or recourse? Oh Yes, now businesses can respond but that doesn’t affect the star rating which is what clients see when they do a search. I am astonished that there is no legal recourse. I am so looking forward to Yelp going down. They are greedy bastards and deserve to be sued into oblivion.