Yelp is the third fastest-growing review site behind Google and Facebook, putting it in the top three most popular review platforms in the world.
And since online reviews can increase the success of a local business, you would not be the only business owner who wants to get more Yelp reviews from customers.
Collecting positive reviews requires patience and a lot of hard work, typically in the form of manual review requests.
On top of that – and you may or may not know this – Yelp is one of the hardest websites to collect customer reviews on… especially since Yelp doesn’t want you to ask for reviews for your Yelp profile.
You read that right: Yelp expects you to collect reviews without making a review request to your customers.
But that does not mean you should ignore Yelp, or that you can’t get your customers to leave a review on Yelp.
If you’re looking to improve your Yelp business page, keep reading as this guide will explain how to ask for reviews on Yelp and how to get more Yelp reviews for your business.
Do Businesses Hate Yelp?
Yelp has a love-hate relationship with businesses (mostly small businesses) for a few reasons:
First, negative reviews are often prioritized over positive reviews on the Yelp listing for your business.
Yes, even when a happy customer who has written a lot of Yelp reviews previously posts a positive review about the great service and wonderful customer experience they had at your business, Yelp’s algorithm tends to still show reviews with negative customer feedback and a low Yelp rating.
Second, it’s because it is generally harder to get reviews on Yelp.
One reason why it is more difficult to get reviews on Yelp is that not many customers have Yelp accounts, evident in the fact that Google and Facebook are overall more popular review sites for customers who want to leave reviews and customer feedback.
In fact, since Google is the most popular email platform, many customers already have Google accounts, automatically enabling them to post reviews.
The same can be said for Facebook, where customers with accounts can easily write reviews.
In addition to how Yelp is not as widely used as Google and Facebook, Yelp has restrictions for how you can ask for reviews on Yelp.
Can You Ask For Reviews On Yelp?
Unfortunately, Yelp does not allow businesses to directly ask for reviews from their customers.
On the Yelp Support Center, Yelp explicitly tells businesses to not ask for Yelp reviews.
Further down, the webpage reads:
“Don’t ask customers, mailing list subscribers, friends, family, or anyone else to review your business.”
Yelp also states that proactively asking your customers for reviews can hurt your Yelp rating.
And this is because Yelp removes and hides reviews that it considers a violation of their review guidelines for business owners.
Ultimately, Yelp does not want businesses to ask for reviews, offer incentives for reviews, or use any other method that can result in they believe may result in biased or untruthful Yelp ratings for your business.
If you think it’s strange that one of the most prominent review sites tells businesses they can’t ask for reviews, you’re not alone.
It’s one of the main reasons why Yelp has steadily lost ground to Google and Facebook, as Google encourages customers to leave a Google review and Facebook encourages customers of local businesses to write a Facebook review.
But, despite Yelp’s strict review guidelines, it does not mean that there isn’t a way to get more reviews on Yelp. The guidelines simply state that you should not ask for Yelp reviews.
How Do You Get Yelp Reviews Without Asking?
We know what you are thinking: How do you get more Yelp reviews without asking for reviews?
Here’s what Yelp says about it: Instead of asking customers for Yelp reviews, your business should aim to encourage customers to leave positive Yelp reviews in ways that do not involve a direct question or request.
This is not cheating or exploiting Yelp’s review policy.
In fact, by simply letting your customers know that your business is on Yelp, it can encourage them to leave a review and will not violate Yelp’s business owner review guidelines.
There are several ways you can encourage your customers to leave reviews on Yelp without requesting reviews directly.
How To Request Reviews On Yelp Without Violating Guidelines
So, asking your customers to leave you a review on Yelp will violate Yelp’s review guidelines with the potential of harming your Yelp rating.
As a result, the approach your business should take to get more Yelp reviews is to encourage customers to leave a review without directly asking them.
Of course, this might not be as effective as actively requesting positive reviews, but it is one of the ways to ensure your business does not violate Yelp guidelines.
And the following methods explain how you can do this.
Add A Yelp Badge To Your Website
One way Yelp helps businesses out is by allowing business owners to embed a “Yelp badge” on their website.
When clicked, the badge directs customers to your Yelp page, which can result in the customer leaving a review.
There are a few Yelp badge designs to choose from, which you can put on your website by copying and pasting the HTML code into the desired page where you want it to appear.
Link Your Yelp Page In Your Emails
Another way you can encourage customers to leave your business a Yelp review is by including a Yelp page link in all your emails.
Similar to a Yelp badge, the link can be clicked to direct customers to your Yelp page.
The link can be formatted or attached to a relevant image to make it more appealing.
Either way, the link would ideally appear at the end of your emails as a simple encouragement for customers to check out your Yelp page and, if inclined, leave a review.
It’s not a direct review request, but it’s close, and your loyal customers will likely get the point.
Display A Yelp Logo In Your Place Of Business
Displaying a Yelp logo in your place of business is a simple way to let your customers know that your business is on Yelp.
Customers with a Yelp account will see this, which can help encourage them to find your Yelp page to leave a review.
A small Yelp sign or logo with the words “Check Us Out on Yelp” displayed in an area that is easily visible to customers, such as a retail counter, will suffice.
If desired, you can also display similar signs for your Google, Facebook, and other review platforms.
The Disadvantages Of The Above Methods
The above methods can help your business to get Yelp reviews without violating Yelp’s business owner guidelines for reviews.
But let’s be honest – these methods aren’t a real review strategy and they’re not going to help local businesses like yours get more Yelp reviews in any significant way.
All of the above methods still require you to think carefully about how you encourage your customers to leave you a review on Yelp.
In addition, none of it is necessary when you put your focus on getting more reviews in general, using a method that automates it all for you.
As mentioned, the only way to get customers to leave your business a Yelp review without violating Yelp’s guidelines is to encourage them without making a direct ask for reviews.
But another problem with this is that it is slow and involves too much work to leave getting a review up to chance.
A far more effective strategy is to get more customer reviews in general, which will help improve your online reputation and serve as social proof for potential customers looking for local businesses like yours.
Get More Online Reviews With ReputationStacker
Yelp’s policies restrict business owners from requesting Yelp reviews from customers, so it is important to be careful with how you go about it.
One solution is ReputationStacker: a fully automated tool used by thousands of successful businesses that you can use to get more Yelp reviews.
This still involves the risk of violating Yelp’s policies, but this is why we created ReputationStacker – to give your business complete control over the review sites you direct your customers to leave reviews on.
The beauty of this is that ReputationStacker will help you to get more reviews in general… on all of the review sites that are important to your business.
In ReputationStacker you can choose which review sites to present to your customers when you ask for reviews.
If you want to ask for a Yelp review (and you’re not concerned about Yelp’s guidelines) go right ahead.
Focusing on Facebook reviews? Be our guest.
Want every review request to push all of your customers to leave a review on Google first, then offer other review sites to choose from? You can do that with ReputationStacker.
ReputationStacker puts you in control and makes it easy for you to get more customer reviews, improve your online reputation, grab the attention of potential customers & turn them into satisfied customers, and thus increase the likelihood of receiving more Yelp reviews – organically and efficiently.
Ultimately, none of Yelp’s officially sanctioned methods are necessary to get more Yelp reviews.
By using ReputationStacker, getting more reviews on the whole is your key to success across every major review site.
FAQs About How to Ask for a Yelp Review
How can I ask customers to leave a Yelp review?
To ask customers to leave a Yelp review, use a well-crafted review request email template. In your email, thank your customers for their recent business, briefly explain how their feedback helps your business, and include a direct link to your Yelp business page. Make sure the message is genuine and appreciative. Note that asking happy customers for Yelp reviews is a violation of Yelp’s guidelines, so proceed with caution. You can read more about the intricacies of asking for reviews on Yelp in the rest of this article.
What are the benefits of asking for Yelp reviews?
Asking for Yelp reviews can improve your business’s online reputation, attract new customers, and encourage repeat business. Positive reviews can improve your visibility on Yelp, helping potential customers read reviews and choose your business over competitors.
What are the risks of asking for Yelp reviews?
Since Yelp discourages businesses from directly requesting reviews, the risks of asking for Yelp reviews is that if it’s an egregious violation then Yelp may place a banner on your Yelp listing that says that you have been engaging in practices that violate their review request policies.
