Yelp opens review sites for conversation

Yelp opens review sites for conversation

The concept of online reviews for customer experiences is nothing new. Sites such as comparethemarket.com and confused.com are all looking for a piece of the review- site pie that seems to be growing by the moment. Amazon and Ebay have featured retailer/ seller reviews for a while and even the most basic of directories feature have, as a bare minimum , a platform allowing customers to rate sellers or comment on the business interaction.

One of the biggest issues for online business owners has always been the inability to use comment areas on sites as a fair platform for interaction and even discussion with client comments. The only real way for retailers to deal with publicity of what they consider bad, false or malicious would be to take legal action.

This all changes this week as Yelp launched its public commenting area for all businesses. Yelp, the popular US based site that has been penetrating the European and UK market since earlier this year, is taking the review concept to new territories, but not without its fair share of controversy.

This new functionality, launched last week and offered free of charge, allows business owners to respond to user comments left on their pages. Potential customers can now read both customer reviews and seller responses, which can be just as valuable in the purchasing decision process. So, if a business owner disputes or would like to address an issue raised by a reviewer, they now have the platform to do so.

The positives are clear- the platform lends itself to discussion and can encourage dialogue between sellers and buyers, between companies and consumers. The two- way street of review sites opens up a world of possibilities for businesses looking to interact with their potential markets at the core level of discussions. Furthermore, it allows business owners to better understand their clients and the dynamic nature of an evolving market. Finally, Yelp provides business owners with a best practice guide that highlights useful reminders for businesses looking to address customer feedback and complaints, both on and off- line.

The danger, obviously, is for the entire platform to be misused by either reviewers, business owners or both. The argument is that the platform naturally lends itself to mutual bashing and irrelevant rhetoric which deviates away from the purpose of online reviews. Thus, rather than effectively informing potential buyers of good and bad experiences, opening the platform to dialogue can reduce it to a battleground for disgruntled individuals and general vendettas.

It remains to be seen if both reviewers and business owners will have the discipline and foresight to stick to the original purpose of this channel. If they do not, it will quickly become just another platform for mutual venting and irrelevant malarkey, which, from a commercial perspective, is worthless.  However, if used as intended by both reviewers and business owners, and perhaps with a little bit of monitoring on part of Yelp itself, the site could fulfill its potential as a platform for a true commercial dialogue.