The Med Spa Guide to Yelp

Almost everyone is familiar with Yelp—the most 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 for their goods or services. Yelp is a great tool for consumers to find the right business, but it’s also a great tool for businesses to bring in new customers—and that includes your med spa. Med spa patients usually become returning customers when they are satisfied with service and results. This in turn brings referrals to the business, so it’s very important to keep all your customers completely happy. Yelp has overtaken old review platforms like the Better Business Bureau. With its hip and relevant interface that allows users to check in at locations, leave tailored reviews, and post photos, it stands as a far more credible and accessible source for many potential patients. People value reviews on Yelp, but unfortunately often tend to focus on the negative ones.

The golden rule for obtaining great reviews on Yelp? Never let a client leave your business 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 a lack of referrals keeps your med spa from reaching its ultimate potential, a negative Yelp review has more far-reaching effects and should be taken seriously. Yelp reviews are like stamps of approval from authority figures. 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. If you’re unlucky, one bad Yelp review might become the first thing patients see when surveying your med spa. Your med spa's goal should always be for the patient to leave happy, but sometimes it is inevitable that a customer will leave a negative review. So if you are facing an unhappy client who has left you a bad review on Yelp, what do you do? In this article, we will explore all of the ways you can optimize your Yelp account, from setting it up to dealing with unhappy customers, so that you can acquire new patients and keep previous patients coming back.

The Importance of Yelp

Many med spa owners wonder: do I even need to register as a business owner on Yelp? YES, you do, and there are several reasons why it is both necessary and beneficial to your med spa. In one study, 4 out of 5 Yelp users said that they visited the site before purchasing a service at a local business. Moreover, your business can increase revenue by up to 9% when you get even just a one star increase in ratings on the platform. This has a huge impact on your med spa, as many patients are reluctant when they seek out a new provider for minimally invasive procedures like injectables. It is important that potential patients see your credibility and patient satisfaction before they decide to do business with you. Provide your patients with an exceptional experience and offer them quality results, and they will do the review work for you.

How to Optimize Your Yelp Page

There are several important aspects to ensuring your Yelp page is at its best. As this may be one of the first places users find you or go to evaluate the credibility of your business, you want to make sure your page looks its best and gives users all of the information they will need to know about your med spa.

• Claim your business: The first step of optimizing your Yelp page involves claiming your business. A page may already exist for your business or you may have to make your own, but either way, you must claim the page and go through Yelp's verification process.
• Provide detailed, correct information: Whether you are setting up a new page or editing an existing one, it is crucial that you have the correct information on the page. This includes your med spa's name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and the category your business falls under. Furthermore, you can also add additional information that can be helpful to users, like what payment types you accept.
• Use keywords: In both your description and services sections, you should optimize the text for your top treatments. Make sought-after services like injectables, body contouring, and skin rejuvenation treatments front and center on your Yelp page.
• Add photos: While users can upload their own photos of your facility, there is a long list of benefits to adding your own Yelp photos. In the photos section of your dashboard you can add photos of your facility, before-and-after pictures of your satisfied patients, and relevant specials and promotions. Always make sure your pictures are high quality and reflect your med spa and patients in the best way.
• Respond to EVERY review: Whether it is good or bad, responding to reviews shows your customers that you value their business and their experience.

How to Get Reviews

The first and best way you can get great Yelp reviews is by providing great service; this should always be your first priority. However, some patients, even when they are extremely satisfied, need an extra push to take the time to go and leave a review. Yelp is strict about its policy in soliciting reviews from customers. However, this doesn't mean that you can't still encourage customers to check out your Yelp page and share their experience. Here are some ways med spas can encourage patient reviews:

• Put a Yelp Badge on your Site: This can both encourage current patients to leave you a rating and review on your site and direct new patients to your Yelp page to evaluate your credibility.
• Link to Your Yelp Page in Emails: If you have a med spa, you should be engaging in email marketing. Your emails are a great place to place a badge and/or link to your Yelp page, so that email subscribers can leave you a review.
• Stickers and Signs: Many people are familiar with seeing a red sticker on a business front that says "Check Us Out on Yelp"; your med spa should have one too! You can also put up a sign inside the office that reminds patients to check out your page as they are checking out.
• Share your Reviews: Whether it is on your site or other social platforms, share the great reviews customers write about you!

How to Deal with a Bad Yelp Review

Sometimes, no matter what you do, customers will leave a bad review. To start, make sure you read every detail of the review such as when it happened, what service was delivered, and why it was a bad experience. You should also talk to your staff to try and get more information on the situation so you can respond to the review in a clear, concise, and informed manner. Regardless, being actively engaged with customers of all types will show your potential clientele that you care. In the event that you do experience a bad review, here are some tips:

• Don't Fight the Customer: Even if you disagree with the patient's review, it is important that you do not attack their review and look overly-defensive. This will only make things worse. Instead, respond to the customer in a professional and receptive manner. Acknowledge their complaints and emphasize your commitment to customer satisfaction. The right response may bring them back or deter potential patients from not coming to you because of one bad review.
• Take Responsibility if Something Happened: If you have evaluated the situation and have decided that the patient has real reason to be upset with the services or experience your med spa provided, make it right. In this case it is not only important to respond to the review publicly on Yelp and other review software, but to reach out to the patient personally. Offer them an apology and try to rectify the situation by offering them some sort of compensation or discounted treatment to see if you can win back their business.
• Listen to Feedback: If you have repeated negative reviews that seem to show a theme, take note. Find out what is not working with your med spa's approach to treatments and/or customer service and see what changes you can make to improve your business. Better reviews will start flowing in and can turn your med spa around.

Use Yelp to Your Med Spa's Advantage

If you’re facing an unhappy client, do whatever you can to ensure that they leave your med spa happy. Whether it’s a discount on future appointments or even a freebie, it’s better to lose a few bucks than to get a bad Yelp review that can potentially cost you a bigger chunk of change. Let your med spa's goal be to ensure your clients leave happy. And once you’ve secured their satisfaction, make sure to remind them to give you props on Yelp. While Yelp is important, it is just one piece of the comprehensive marketing efforts you should be making to drive new patient acquisition. It is also just as important that your social media profiles and other review sources like your Google profile, Facebook, and Groupon are well-optimized so that your practice looks and performs its best online. At Med Aesthetics Group, we can help you in all of your marketing efforts, including Yelp and review management. Learn about how we can help your med spa reach its potential today by booking a free demo.