Yelp Is Making It Easier to Add Review Content to Email Campaigns
As businesses work to increase the return on investment of email marketing, Yelp is launching a new feature designed to add local reviews and other user-generated content to Mailchimp campaigns.
The integration with Mailchimp means businesses with claimed Yelp Business Pages can enhance their marketing email campaigns by adding Yelp content, including ratings, recent reviews, photos, and business details to email newsletters and other marketing collateral. Using Yelp content blocks, businesses can embed specific reviews or examples of great customer experiences into their emails, or they can quickly add basic information from their Yelp pages, like hours of operation and store locations.
As more businesses come to rely on email as a primary marketing channel, Yelp believes that showcasing engaging content will become an even more important part of capturing the attention of customers. Email is quickly growing into one of the most influential tools in the marketer’s toolbox. More than 80% of the U.S. population uses email, while nearly half of all consumers (47%) say they prefer emails with deals and promotions from brands.
“We’re constantly hearing from business owners that email is a critically important customer engagement tool for building and maintaining customer loyalty,” says Chad Richard, senior vice president of business and corporate development at Yelp. “Yelp’s trusted content is becoming even more valuable to business owners who want to seamlessly incorporate their business information into their email campaigns, including reviews, photos, and other Yelp content, to engage and build confidence with their customers.”
As one of the earlier entrants in the email marketing space, Mailchimp made a name for itself catering largely to small and mid-size businesses. Its platform includes features like A/B testing to help business owners optimize their campaigns and track which content performs best as well as personalization tools to target customers based on interests and demographics.
“Combining Yelp’s reviews, photos, and other content with Mailchimp’s best-in-class email marketing and automations platform will allow growing businesses to easily engage their customers and build and maintain customer loyalty,” Richard says.
Richard sees the ability to leverage photos from the Yelp community as a “great opportunity” for businesses that want to tell their stories authentically through the eyes of their customers.
In addition to the Mailchimp announcement, Yelp is also adding a handful of new partners to its Yelp Fusion program. Although Yelp Fusion has been around since 2016, the program is picking up steam as the company adds even more integrations and expands the use of its content and data into new industries.
As of today, consumers using Roadtrippers will see Yelp’s content and data while planning their trips and throughout their road trip journeys.
An integration with Realtor.com means prospective homebuyers will see Yelp data on local businesses near the homes or neighborhoods they’re interested in using a “Amenities” filter.
Finally, Yelp is bringing its content into the healthcare industry by integrating with MetLife on a “Find a Dentist” feature, which should make it easier for consumers to find great local dentists and make informed decisions about their health.
