Is Yelp Hurting Your Medical Spa?

Yelp. Good or bad, almost everyone is familiar with Yelp—the very popular site for business reviews. Who hasn’t looked up a business on Yelp before trying them out? Yes, almost everyone has “yelped” a business before forking out their money to use their services or buying their goods. Yelp is a great tool for consumers to find the right business, but it’s also a great tool to for businesses to leverage—and that includes your medical spa. Clients of medical spas usually become returning customers who bring referrals to the business, so it’s very important to keep all your customers completely happy. Never let a client leave your med spa unhappy. When your client leaves unsatisfied, you can say goodbye to their families and friends as referrals, and you can say hello to a negative Yelp review.

‍While both actions will hurt your medical spa, a negative Yelp review has more far-reaching effects and should be taken seriously. Yelp reviews are like stamps of approval from authority figures. Unlike the Better Business Bureau, Yelp is hip and relevant, which gives it more credibility. People value reviews on Yelp, and unfortunately, tend to focus on the negative ones. Yelpers also tend to be very eloquent with their reviews, and some fancy themselves as professional critics—so beware the wrath of the unsatisfied Yelper.

Yelp Reviews Are Etched In Stone

Once a Yelper has posted a negative review, it can feel like it's etched in stone. We talk to many medical spas that have been hurt by one Yelper posting a negative review. Treat every customer like they are going to post on Yelp as soon as they leave. When you encounter a difficult customer, do your best to appease the customer and turn them into a happy client, no matter how difficult it may be. Yelp has extensive reach across a majority of all markets. Though it's unmeasurable, it's likely a bad review can cost you several thousands of dollars in potential revenue each year. So if you’re facing an unhappy client, do whatever you can to ensure that they leave your medical spa happy. Whether it’s a discount on future appointments or even a freebie, it’s better to lose a minor amount of revenue than to get a bad Yelp review that can potentially cost you a bigger chunk of change. Let your medical spa's goal be to let your customers leave happy. And once you’ve secured their satisfaction, make sure to remind them to give you props on Yelp.