Yelp announced the launch of a new feature for business owners today, which lets them encourage actual transactions from customers right from Yelp. Yelp says it will help business owners “close the loop” between customers discovering them on Yelp and making a purchase/taking an action.
It’s actually called the “Call to Action” feature, and is available to Yelp advertisers.
“It will allow biz owners to promote a desired transaction of their choosing directly on their Yelp business listing,” a spokesperson for Yelp tells WebProNews. “For example, Ticketmaster, one of the companies we’re launching with, has been using the feature on Yelp listings for over 2,000 live entertainment venues to guide consumers seamlessly from Yelp directly to the Ticketmaster page where they can purchase tickets.”
Earlier this month, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman spoke at the Le Web conference in London, and hinted at forthcoming e-commerce efforts, which would enable customers to make purchases from Yelp itself. It’s unclear if he was only talking about this, or if we will see additional features in the future. Either way, it’s a start.
“According to a recent BCG study, advertisers on Yelp report seeing an average of $23,000 in annual revenue from the site,” Yelp says in a blog post. “Yelp’s Call to Action feature, available now to Yelp advertisers, is designed to increase the revenue potential Yelp provides to business owners, with the ability to promote a specific action they’d like consumers to take. The Call to Action feature will take consumers seamlessly from a business’ Yelp listing to the the business’ own website to complete the transaction — be it scheduling an appointment, printing a coupon, buying tickets to see ‘N Sync (still holding out hope for a reunion tour!), or any other action a business wants to promote.”
Business owners who want to try out the new feature are advised to start at Yelp’s advertising page.