Google Vs Yelp
It is quite hard for any company to keep up with Google. Google takes everything that is good on the internet and makes it better. I have switched from Mapquest to Google Maps. I have switched from Yahoo Mail to Gmail. I have switched form Instant Messenger to Gchat. And I'm pretty sure I will be switching from Yelp to Hotpot.
Yelp may have great reviewers and a nice community set up, but I don't think they are going to be able to generate great revenues. I think the worst thing that Yelp could do is charge readers for access. Yelp could try to position themselves as a higher end company, but if that happened they would lose many of their best reviewers. If not they may have to stick with their current model and perhaps make a few web site format changes or marketing moves.
Yelp's best chance of survival would probably be to somehow partner with Bing, so that their review site is interconnected with a map web site, as well as with a search engine. When I Google Search for a place like Buffalo Wing University in Fairfax, the 2nd entry is a picture of a map and a link that says 70 reviews. Yelp comes in 4th place, but there is nothing that lets you know there are several reviews unless you are familiar with the company. That visual of the map really makes me want to click on it over straight text.
Even if Google wasn't coming out with their new site, Yelp still has a lot of competition and adding a huge sales force probably wouldn't help. I know they are already trying to add phone apps where you can "check in" to places but even that has competition.
I would suggest that instead of hiring a sales force, they should hire a review force. If they could get some "expert" reviewers that match up with different demographics they could gain a step up on credibility over the competition. They could also add features that allow the regular contributors to interact with the "experts". Perhaps they could add challenges to reviewers where their profile earns some kind of badges (like FourSquare) so that people have an inexpensive incentive to contribute. I would even want them to make it a competition between friends, who can review more places, who checks into the most places, etc. People like to help others, but they also like to have a goal or a place to "win".
Tangent
My least favorite part about review sites is that if Reviewer A goes to a place on a Thursday night, and reviewer B goes on a Friday night the reviews are going to be different. Back to the Buffalo Wing example, how do you think the review will differ for someone who goes to the place on a Friday when beers are full price and someone who goes on Thursday when it is $1 bottles. Reviews sometimes have context, but not all reviewers tell you when they actually went there, or if it was some special night.
Review A
-The bar was packed with young people and even the restaurant section was filled. People were playing games like water pong and cornhole in the back and the beers were $1!
Review B
-The bar was empty. There were about 4 other people in the bar and the bartender told us they were closing early. Aside from that the drinks were $4 and it was just a depressing scene.
That is the same place, but no mention of dates, times, or if there were specials or other circumstances. Anyways back to the real issue.
Back on Track
In the end I don't think there is anything Yelp can do but think outside the box and try some kind of drastic maneuver. They should look at other upstart online businesses that are becoming popular and try to imitate some of the features that make people want to use them. They have to make people realize that they are the place to go for reviews, the way I feel Trip Advisor has done for vacations. I know that standing still while the world passes by will not work for Yelp.
I really like your point of reviews having contexts, so Yelp may want to add some optional fields such as Visit Date, Special Occasion? (if yes, then specify), Other factors etc. so reviewers remember to put in contexts if they want to and readers have better info.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree that the worst strategy is to charge users (even with some exceptions such as free access for Elite Squad or some other groups). This would drive away several people since they can post or view posts for free in several other places. Consequently, this way of monetization may help in the short-term but will push several Yelpers to say bye to Yelp and join competitors' forums.
I have a few points to add:
ReplyDelete1. A very strong reason why people will want to use Yelp is when they want to try new places and not just the ones they know about. This is where the strong community and strong brand name plugs in. Just few days ago, my husband and I wanted to try out a new place and Yelp surely helped !
2. Your example about Buffalo Wild Wings reviews is true for any review site, Yelp or Google Hotpot
3. My biggest issue with Google Hotpot is their perceived ability to provide personalized recommendations on basis of four reviews from the user. It definitely sounds cool but I rather play in an open ground instead of a customized or even misfitted playhouse
Very interesting idea about employing experts in place of a sales staff. That would reduce their costs a bit (no more expensive sales call costs) but would that be enough to bring them into profitability?
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Yelp might need to employ Experts to continue to drum up interest in the site, but also employ another tactic to bring in more revenue.