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Study argues Yelp drives higher conversionsthan Google and Facebook92% of respondents said they made a purchase after visiting the site.Greg Sterling on May 22, 2017 at 12:53 pm

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A new consumer survey from Nielsen, commissioned by Yelp, argues that review sites drivehigher conversions than search and social media. The survey of 2,000 US adults found that 92percent of respondents said they made a purchase after visiting Yelp, “at least sometimes,frequently or almost always.”

At the highest level, this makes sense because reviews have a strong influence on consumerbuying behavior, and review sites are generally part of consumers’ path to purchase. According tothe survey, most people who made a purchase after visiting Yelp did so within a week or less.

Source: Nielsen consumer survey (2016)

Consumers using Yelp would appear to be low in the funnel:

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Consumers who use online consumer review sites and claim they make a purchaseafter visiting Yelp are also reporting they do so faster than before, compared to aNielsen study from 2014. The number of consumers who report purchasing somethingwithin a few hours increased by 212 percent, and the number of consumers who saythey make a purchase after a day or less increased by 55 percent.

Here are some of the survey’s additional findings:

74 percent of the consumers searching online for a local business turn to consumer onlinereview sites at least monthly.

Yelp ranked above other online review sites as “most trusted, most influential and mostuseful.”

79 percent of Yelp users say they are looking for a business they can visit multiple times.

55 percent of Yelp users searching for restaurants have ordered takeout or delivery from arestaurant they found on Yelp.

Yelp did commission this survey, and in such circumstances, caution or skepticism is typicallyjustified. However, there are other data sources and non-sponsored surveys that directionallysupport the findings in the Yelp survey.

Nielsen’s non-commissioned Global Trust in Advertising Survey (2015) found that “consumeropinions posted online” ranked higher for trust than most other marketing channels.

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Source: Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey (2015)

In addition, the Local Media Tracking Study, a non-sponsored study conducted by Burke for theLocal Search Association, polled more than 8,000 consumers (2016) and found they were morelikely to connect with a local business (call, email, store visit and so on) after a visit to a reviewsite vs. other channels:

Ratings/review site: 65 percent

Social network: 61 percent

Search engine: 59 percent

Finally, a large majority of Yelp searchers’ queries now happen in the Yelp app on mobile devices.These users are often closer in time to a purchase decision as well.

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Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting thedots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local SearchAssociation. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.

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