The New York Times reported last week that Yelp will, after six years of a user-driven approach to community business reviews, allow small business owners to respond to critiques they don’t think are fair or accurate.
Judging from the comments on the article, many business owners responded that they’ll eschew the “libelous” site altogether, citing a slew of “stupid” and “false” reviews that “should have been removed.” (Though their passionate responses here seem to contradict the promised refrain.)
Which just goes to show why businesses SHOULDN’T have a voice on this site. It’ll turn Yelp into a messy war zone, with most small businesses objecting to any criticism, petty or legitimate (and who is the best judge of that? Certainly not the businesses).
Indeed, many people think Yelp is too easy on outfits. FeedMeDrinkMe’s Renee Wilmeth posted an article a while back citing the amateur, easy-to-please palates of the majority of reviewers on Yelp. Indeed, the spirit of the site seems to reward favored small businesses more than to harpoon errant ones (though that does happen).
How about this: Instead of diluting a consumer-driven Web site, Yelp or some other enterprising outfit should erect a site where small business owners have the choice to skewer bad reviews. They can pull them from Yelp, dailies, magazines, weeklies, TV shows, etc. Everything wrong with a review–misspellings, factual errors, obvious lapses in judgement, and presumptuous statements–could be flogged for all the world to see.
Don’t crash a party, small businesses. Start your own: Badreviews.com?
I could see this easily getting out of hand with wars developing between business owners, who for obvious reasons are going to protect their business as if it were their child, and patrons. It also deviates from the spirit of Yelp, which I don’t think is necessarily a good thing.
I don’t think this change will benefit anyone.
Yes, some business owners stage positive reviews disguised as patrons to boost their average star count. And yes, a disgruntled employee or impossible-to-please customer will inevitably post negative feedback. That’s the nature of a review forum; a part of the Yelp package. Users expect the good, the bad and the ugly when a patron reviews a business. By allowing businesses to counter negative feedback, we make Yelp a forum for debate which will only devalue the user experience.
Though I’m not worried about the change. Consider this: How many ways can a business refute negative critique without seeming defensive, or even desperate? As an advertising specialist, I can think of only two responses that could constructively spin a negative Yelp review. Any other response poses the potential to be “the second punch”, which can only further damage a business’s reputation. In this case, the best damage control measure is a hands off approach. What’s posted on any online review forum is no different than what’s spread through word of mouth. Neither can be controlled and countless other influences are in play.
Jenn, that brings up a good point: a hands-off approach is definitely safe, but what about the opportunity for conciliation? If businesses really want to “get with” social media (and they should), they can make a negative review work in their favor by offering the guest an apology and invite to return. Many small business owners react with huffiness rather than humility, and it makes them look really bad.
It wouldn’t be too hard for small businesses to make Yelp work in their favor, or even outsmart it. Servers KNOW when they have happy customers, and who their regulars are. Train your staff to recommend that satisfied consumers report good experiences on Yelp. They could even offer incentives (coupons, small freebies), though that wouldn’t exactly be in the spirit of social media.
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