The Yelp Dilemma: How Estheticians Can Move Away from Unpopular Review Platforms

Over the years, service providers have become more reliant on review sites as a way to market their level of excellence. These platforms give consumers the ability to make quick decisions on businesses without stepping foot on property or visiting a service provider’s website.

Having an online reputation is essential in all service based industries. Do you already have a collection of online reviews? Are there any common themes or trends in the responses? On which platforms are they more frequently found? Are the reviews positive in sentiment or mixed?

The first step in your journey should be knowing which review platform - or platforms - you need to guide your loyal customer base to. When developing this strategy, it’s always best to look at the options while weighing the pros and cons. 

Here are alternative options aside from Yelp that may yield more favorable results.

The Yelp Dilemma

Yelp. We’ve all heard of it. We’ve all used it to learn about businesses. And more than likely, we have used it to leave a review. So, what’s the dilemma? 

Just like any online review site, anyone can review whether they were a legitimate customer or not. However, illegitimate customers are found on Yelp more than any other site. Additionally, Yelp will accept payment to remove bad reviews. While small businesses may not have the funds for this, larger corporations are more willing to hand over a check to remove those few bad reviews they’ve received, making the small businesses look worse. 

So if not Yelp, where should you drive your clients to review? Here are a few of our favorite review sites:

• Google My Business (GMB)

GMB is now the most commonly used review and listing tool for businesses. It is one of the top review sites, replacing what was previously called, “Google Local.” An essential tool for garnering a credible online reputation, it can also help with ranking your business in various kinds of search results, increasing your business’s digital footprint - or “SEO.”

• Facebook 

A business can turn on, or off, the ratings and reviews capability in its Facebook Page settings. If turned on, clients will have the opportunity to leave ratings, reviews, and recommendations on your page. 

• TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is a review platform built for the hospitality industry, by giving consumers the ability to  share reviews of hotels and other establishments, like spas or restaurants, connected to the hospitality industry. We highly recommend creating a profile on TripAdvisor to host your positive reviews as the platform has collected more than 878 million reviews.

Now that you know where to send your clients to leave a review, how do you guarantee that they will? 

Here are a few recommendations to garner reviews:

1. Create a referral card. While this doesn’t leave anything on the internet for others to read about, this does give friends and family of your client the opportunity to come use your services at a discounted rate. Most referral cards include information such as a percentage or dollar amount off of X service, your contact information, and where they can find you online.
2. Develop a QR code card. Unlike a referral card, a QR code card will contain a QR code that links directly to where you want your clients to leave you a review, making it extremely easy for your customer to do.
3. If you’re capturing clients' emails (as you should be), you can send a post-service email to thank them and to remind them where they can leave you a review. Through any email marketing tool online, you can set up a template that includes a thank you for coming in, a request to leave a review on the received services, and a reminder to book their next appointment. 
4. Lastly, try giving an incentive if you don’t see an increase in reviews. Just like the referral card, you can offer your clients a discounted rate on their next service if they leave you a review and show proof of where you can find the review.

With the ever expanding World Wide Web, it’s time you took advantage of it! We hope you find these tips helpful, and we can’t wait to see all of your reviews start rolling in.

Want the control to work how you want, when you want, and where you want? Apply to be an esthetician, nail tech, or massage therapist with Spa Space today!