Yelp Taking Users From Search To Purchase

By Pete Rizzo, Editor (@pete_rizzo_)

2013 was projected to be a banner year for paid social media advertising. Sixty-four percent of marketing professionals told Nielsen at the start of the year that they would increase their paid social media budgets, and three-quarters said they would use this channel to attract consumers.

Yet for all the dollars invested in paid social ads, a new Nielsen study suggests organic referrals lead to more conversions. And one social media app specializes in just this: Yelp.

In a new survey of the popular social network’s user base, Nielsen sought to determine how these consumers go from search to purchase.

First, it provided a profile of Yelp users, who were revealed to be affluent, educated and younger. They are also dedicated, as 96 percent said they visited Yelp to inform their buying decisions.

According to the poll, more than half of Yelp users – 51 percent – reported making purchasing decisions after visiting the site. Mobile Yelp users were more likely to buy after using the app, but overall, respondents indicated that 93 percent of the time, their “Yelp usage results in occasionally, frequently or always making a purchase from a local business.”

The majority of Yelp users only occasionally called, visited or purchased from a local business. But, the survey found that Yelp has a strong underlying base of frequent users. 

Forty-one percent of Yelp users said they frequently visited local businesses they found on Yelp, thirty-eight percent said they frequently purchased from these locations and 22 percent reported to making a phone call to a local merchant after using the site.

So how do Yelp users compare to average social network users?

Research from social marketing firm Get Satisfaction and analyst Incyte Group determined that nearly 90 percent of consumers make a purchasing decision after visiting a company’s website. Only 21.2 percent make a purchasing decision after visiting a company’s social network page.

Side-by-side, these statistics indicate Yelp users are 30 percent more likely to purchase: a development that is likely to catch the eyes of advertisers eager to take advantage of its new paid advertisement service.