Have you claimed your agency's Yelp page?

Yelp is growing in popularity by virtually any measure. The social review platform has an average of 77 million monthly unique mobile web visitors and an average of 37 million monthly unique mobile app users each month. While a business may have a strong social media presence elsewhere, by disregarding Yelp, it could be missing out on a vital opportunity to demonstrate top-notch customer or client service and to address complaints.

Many insurance agencies think that Yelp doesn’t apply to their business. Some don’t like the review-driven nature of the site. Yet the reality is that consumers are increasingly turning to Yelp not only for restaurant and retail reviews, but for information on a wide variety of other businesses, including those that provide professional services such as insurance. Yelp is for B2C and B2B companies.

Consider claiming your agency page on Yelp. A vast majority of business pages on Yelp are unclaimed, which unfortunately signals to Yelp users that customer/client satisfaction is not a top priority. While there’s no downside to happy customers or clients simply reporting a good experience with your business, unsatisfied customers publicly posting about their bad experiences can damage your brand’s reputation if you aren’t able to respond to them (which you can only do if you prove you own the business and claim it). Additionally, you could be missing out on a useful communication channel for inquiries about your agency if Yelp users aren’t able to message you questions, comments and other concerns.

Finally, don’t forget to have a sign somewhere in your office (and on your website) that encourages satisfied customers to leave reviews on Yelp. Even this simple call-to-action could make a difference for your Yelp rating and more Yelp reviews suggest greater popularity for a business, so you could score new customers as well.