announces three new features that will transform the user experience and increase engagement.
Yelp will unveil three new features that will enhance the user experience and provide businesses with more ways to reach their customers. These new features include
- Yelp Guaranteed. Yelp Guaranteed is a satisfaction guarantee that gives users peace of mind when they request quotes from professionals in the home services industry.
- A powerful search engine powered by Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models, which helps users find and connect to the best businesses.
- Yelp reviews are now even more interactive with the addition of immersive videos, interactive topics and new reactions.
Yelp Guaranteed. It offers a stress-free hiring experience for home service professionals. Yelp’s Guaranteed program offers a guarantee of satisfaction that can offer users up to $2500 back in case something goes wrong.
Businesses that participate in the Yelp Guaranteed Program demonstrate their commitment towards quality service and customer satisfaction. The Yelp Guaranteed logo on the business page tells potential customers they can trust them to deliver.
The program’s operation. Users are automatically enrolled into the program when they hire an eligible business via Yelp’s Request a Quote function. They can submit a claim in the event that they are unable to resolve an issue with the business directly. This could be due to a dissatisfaction of the work done, damage to property related to the project or the failure of the business to show up to a pre-paid task.
Availability. Yelp Guaranteed, which is based on a variety of qualification factors, is available to advertisers who are eligible for Request a quote.
Yelp guaranteed is available in San Francisco and New York City. It also covers Chicago, Seattle and Washington D.C. and includes some of the most popular home service categories listed on Yelp. These include movers, HVAC, plumbers and contractors, landscapers and electricians.
Users can find Yelp-supported businesses in these cities by using the “Yelp Guaranteed” filter or by looking for the Yelp Guaranteed logo on the pages of eligible business and the Projects tab. Yelp will expand Yelp Guaranteed to all platforms this summer.
AI, Large Language Models. Yelp uses AI and Large Language Models to improve the search experience.
A number of new AI-powered features for search have been announced.
- LLMs are able to highlight relevant information in reviews, which is displayed in new snippets under each listing of a business in the search results. This helps users find more relevant businesses by understanding their search intent.
- AI-powered search suggestion helps users find businesses in any location. They provide improved search suggestions that are not restricted by location and are based on the search intent.
- When unsure about what to eat, the “Surprise me” feature provides inspiration by generating an unique and highly-rated dining recommendation close to the user.
- Clickable category tags improve discovery and allow users to connect with the correct business. This is especially true in the categories of food, nightlife, and restaurants.
AI and LLMs, which improve search and discovery capabilities on the platform, can help users find more relevant businesses and increase their visibility. This increased exposure could lead to more inquiries and reviews, which can ultimately lead to more business opportunities.
New visual and interactive elements. Yelp has also introduced new visual and interactive features that allow users to engage with reviews and share their experiences in a novel way.
Yelp’s new interactive and visual features help businesses to showcase their products and services more effectively. They also increase user engagement, enhance story telling, improve reputation, boost business visibility and gain valuable insight.
- Videos for reviews: Video offers a powerful tool to capture and share experience, whether that’s a bowl of steaming ramen or a recently discovered hiking trail at a local park. Users can post videos of up to 12 second length along with their text reviews and photographs, giving a unique insight into their experiences.
- Topics for review writing to make it easier: In order to help users overcome writer’s blocks when creating reviews, Yelp has introduced interactive review topics, “food,” “service,”and “ambiance,” for restaurants, food businesses, and nightlife establishments. These topics allow users to keep track of the coverage they have done and provide suggestions for other aspects that should be addressed. As soon as a topic has been covered, it automatically turns green and a checkmark appears at the top. Yelp will expand the categories of relevant review topics in the future, including services, beauty and health.
- New reviews reactions: For the past 15-years, Yelp has been synonymous with “Funny,” “Cool,” and “Useful” reactions. Yelp has introduced new reactions to express appreciation for users’ reviews. These include “Helpful,” “Thanks,””Love this,”and “Oh no.” The new reactions have led to a six-fold increase in reviews.
Dig deeper. Find out more about our new features.
Why do we care? These features improve targeting, visibility and user engagement, resulting in better advertising results. AI-driven features for search, personalized recommendations and visually rich content connect users to businesses that meet their needs. This increases the likelihood of conversion. Yelp Guaranteed, for example, can help to build trust with users. This is beneficial to advertisers.
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