Winter Yelp releases include a more visual feed, AI-powered company summaries, and number masking for improved privacy when calling companies.
Discovery and feed updates
The business discovery platform is adding visual material to its iOS feed, with an Android release scheduled for the coming months, including Yelp Elite collections and company videos. Last year, the corporation allowed 12-second video evaluations. In a month, the new stream will include these videos.
Yelp is also launching a new iOS app search experience that shows popular searches, recent searches, and recently seen companies before you begin to search.
Search results will feature relevant listing photographs, like the home feed. Yelp will also add “People also search for” and “Popular Dishes Nearby” carousels (based on reviewer photographs) to improve discoverability.
Yelp was updated last year to display relevant reviews using AI. That feature now matches more requests on the backend, according to the business. Additionally, Yelp now employs AI to display a company summary when you access its page. Based on current user reviews,.
Yelp is also adding badges for reviews and additional interactive review subject areas to help people write reviews. In the next few months, the site will display badges next to user reviews to indicate love for the category.
Services experience updates
Yelp uses a form to ask consumers about the issue to match them with better service pros. The form asks for service categories, repairs, and issues.
The firm also lets you share photographs and videos with service personnel to avoid texting.
Yelp stated service businesses continued to contact you after the project was over when it gave your number. The company now connects users to companies using a temporary disguised number through a Twilio agreement to protect privacy. Instead of opening the app to interact with companies, the platform lets you SMS them immediately.
The business launched the “Yelp Guaranteed” program last year, offering up to $2,500 in money back if a project fails. Yelp claimed the protection was nationwide.
With the winter update, Yelp added rapid business replies and project archives. Businesses will have a redesigned home page, enhanced onboarding with budget suggestions for ad-sends, and the ability to arrange meetings with Yelp advertising professionals.
Yelp reported $345 million in Q3 2023 net sales on February 8. The business also boosted its 2023 sales forecast from $1.332 billion to $1.337 billion.
