The Yelp badge above used to be proudly displayed on the front page of this site as well as Crip's email signature. Now Yelp is nothing more than a source of disappointment for Erickson Realty and many other businesses.
In the earlier days of Yelp, a handful of awesome clients had posted five star reviews of their experiences with Crip. These are still on Yelp. After a few more Yelpers contacted Crip to serve as their agent based on these reviews, he figured it might be worthwhile to try advertising on Yelp. His main hesitation was that savvy Yelpers can see the ads and perhaps take them as a sign that the presentation is therefore skewed in the advertiser's favor. Yelp repeatedly assured us that would not be the case.
As soon as the campaign began any and all leads from Yelp ceased with immediate effect. They didn't slow down - they completely stopped.
If you've ever looked into advertising on Yelp it isn't cheap. And of course it comes with a year's commitment. Account managers would check in from time to time, and concerns were raised from both sides. Yelp suggested more content. Fresh pictures. Dynamic, engaging stories! Crip's concern? It was working perfectly fine before the advertising started, and this is exactly what we were promised wouldn't happen (but it absolutely did).
After happily ending the ad campaign after a year, Crip had roughly 10 reviews showing on Yelp and another dozen or so hidden. Reviews get hidden for a variety of reasons but most people understand that if it's the person's sole review then it will likely be hidden. Yelp says this isn't necessarily the case, but we get it. (More on that in a second.)
Yelp periodically emails or calls anyone with a Yelp page, especially those that have previously advertised and their pitch is typically something like this: "You had massive success in the past with lead generation from our site, so why not advertise with us once again?" One of these calls led to a heated conversation about Crip's experience with his unsuccessful campaign. The call ended with both sides agreeing to disagree in a fairly candid manner.
Shortly thereafter, all but two of Crip's Yelp reviews were hidden, or "not recommended". That number is now down to one single review, and it's the first Yelp review he ever received.
Yelp assures its clients they don't edit/alter/police pages or reviews but Erickson Realty isn't the only business that has experienced issues after discontinuing advertising on Yelp. The first cautionary tale came from one of Crip's own clients. Indeed, mistakes were made - Crip should have listened and not even bothered with Yelp advertising.
One could call all of this coincidence, but we don't.
So, if you'd like to see ALL the YELP reviews of Crip and Erickson Realty, PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL HIS 30+ FIVE STAR YELP REVIEWS HERE.
And if you'd like more info about Yelp's practices, please watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIYrjBEczE
In the earlier days of Yelp, a handful of awesome clients had posted five star reviews of their experiences with Crip. These are still on Yelp. After a few more Yelpers contacted Crip to serve as their agent based on these reviews, he figured it might be worthwhile to try advertising on Yelp. His main hesitation was that savvy Yelpers can see the ads and perhaps take them as a sign that the presentation is therefore skewed in the advertiser's favor. Yelp repeatedly assured us that would not be the case.
As soon as the campaign began any and all leads from Yelp ceased with immediate effect. They didn't slow down - they completely stopped.
If you've ever looked into advertising on Yelp it isn't cheap. And of course it comes with a year's commitment. Account managers would check in from time to time, and concerns were raised from both sides. Yelp suggested more content. Fresh pictures. Dynamic, engaging stories! Crip's concern? It was working perfectly fine before the advertising started, and this is exactly what we were promised wouldn't happen (but it absolutely did).
After happily ending the ad campaign after a year, Crip had roughly 10 reviews showing on Yelp and another dozen or so hidden. Reviews get hidden for a variety of reasons but most people understand that if it's the person's sole review then it will likely be hidden. Yelp says this isn't necessarily the case, but we get it. (More on that in a second.)
Yelp periodically emails or calls anyone with a Yelp page, especially those that have previously advertised and their pitch is typically something like this: "You had massive success in the past with lead generation from our site, so why not advertise with us once again?" One of these calls led to a heated conversation about Crip's experience with his unsuccessful campaign. The call ended with both sides agreeing to disagree in a fairly candid manner.
Shortly thereafter, all but two of Crip's Yelp reviews were hidden, or "not recommended". That number is now down to one single review, and it's the first Yelp review he ever received.
Yelp assures its clients they don't edit/alter/police pages or reviews but Erickson Realty isn't the only business that has experienced issues after discontinuing advertising on Yelp. The first cautionary tale came from one of Crip's own clients. Indeed, mistakes were made - Crip should have listened and not even bothered with Yelp advertising.
One could call all of this coincidence, but we don't.
So, if you'd like to see ALL the YELP reviews of Crip and Erickson Realty, PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL HIS 30+ FIVE STAR YELP REVIEWS HERE.
And if you'd like more info about Yelp's practices, please watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tIYrjBEczE
| Recent Email From A Yelp Rep |