Brand collaborations can either mean bad or good news for consumers. In the case of Uber and Yelp, thankfully, it is the latter.
And while the collaboration between the two companies would appear unlikely – with Yelp being a premier online business directory and Uber being a ride-hailing app – you can trust it would benefit both consumers and business owners.
Many well-meaning local businesses such as restaurants, bars, cafes and even hair salons remain hidden from potential customers; Uber’s partnership with Yelp will help address this with Uber Explore. So if you are a business owner operating locally without a Yelp profile, it’s high time to set up one.
In this blog, we show how Uber Explore leverages your reputation and what you can do in turn:
- What is Uber Explore?
- Why does online reputation matter on Uber Explore?
- How does a good online reputation on Yelp help your business be discovered on Uber Explore?
- Attract attention on Uber Explore with Rize
What Is Uber Explore?
Ahead of your typical rideshare apps, Uber recently launched Uber Explore, a new product in its app that functions as a local search tool. It allows users to browse and book experiences, including restaurant reservations, live events and other fun activities.
The collaboration means riders who book Uber now have easy access to Yelp’s trustworthy content in the Uber Explore tab, making the Yelp reviews for business owners even more important.
In the Uber Explore tab, riders will see recommended places to visit under categories, including food and drink, arts and culture, nightlife, music and shows. On top of seeing reviews, photos and directions, riders can enjoy:
One-Click Rides
The app’s “ride there now” feature allows riders to tap a button to book Uber quickly. So, for instance, if you made a dinner reservation via Uber Explore, you can use the one-click option to book a ride to the restaurant.
Personalized Recommendations
The suggestions you receive are not random but based on your past usage of the rideshare app and Uber Eats, counting your favorite places to go to and food to eat.
Uber Explore Offers
You get 15 percent off your rides (up to $10 at the product launch) for the selected best places to explore and for top restaurants and bars. The deals will change depending on what is popular in your area.
Seamless Purchases
Purchasing tickets for events and experiences like concerts and exhibits is convenient through your Uber Wallet and Payment profile.
Uber Explore is currently available in 14 cities across the U.S. and one in Mexico.
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Orlando
- Minneapolis-St. Paul
- New Orleans
- Atlanta
- San Antonio
- Houston
- New Jersey
- Upstate New York
- Los Angeles
- Memphis
- Mexico City
image source: Uber
In the coming weeks and months, Uber’s local search tool is expanding to more cities and developing more event opportunities and experience offerings, so consumers should keep an eye on the app.
And for business owners, whether you operate within or outside the cities mentioned above, that is your hint to look into professional reputation management to ramp up your local search strategy.
Why Does Online Reputation Matter on Uber Explore?
The rideshare app aggregates your local business listing details like Yelp business reviews and ratings that consumers will see through the Uber Explore tab. This is why online reputation matters, particularly on Yelp for business owners.
Multi-location businesses have an average of 3.2-star ratings, while the top-performing brands have an average of 3.7 stars, SOCi stated in its Localized Marketing Benchmark Report (LMBR) 2022.
LMBR 2022 also revealed that the average review response time for multiple brands studied was nearly 13 days, 12.8 to be exact.
It is then only fair for us to ask how your business is doing compared to these benchmarks.
So let’s say you have a coffee shop for a business with 3.1 stars and no pictures, and your competitor in the area has 3.7 stars, decent Yelp business reviews with a number of high-quality photos. Which do you think has the better online reputation management (ORM)?
How Does a Good Online Reputation on Yelp Help Your Business Be Discovered on Uber Explore
Let’s take the previous example. Suppose a consumer trying to book Uber rides checks out the Explore tab and sees both of the coffee shops in the area.
Which do you think will then likely get a visit? It’s still the cafe with 3.7 star ratings and a mixed bag of okay and stellar reviews – aka your competition.
Now more than ever, investing in boosting your ORM through reviews is a necessary marketing strategy with real impact on your bottom line.
A Harvard Business School Paper reports that your revenue can increase to nine percent for every one-star rating on Yelp.
Take note: one star —that’s all it takes! So if you get three to four stars per review, the percentage accumulates.
Consequently, if you have a good reputation on Yelp, you are more likely to get featured on Uber Explore.
Partnering with an ORM services provider while implementing a robust email marketing strategy allows you to increase your star ratings on Yelp on par with your competitors’ or, better yet, surpass them.
Consider these when looking for an ORM services provider:
- Local business listing: Secure your listings on top directories like Google and Yelp.
- Online reputation management: Conduct initial reputation analysis to determine issues to resolve.
- Yelp reviews for business: Collect genuine reviews for businesses, even with multiple franchises, through a creative email marketing strategy.
- Review management: Monitor and respond to negative reviews and highlight positive ones.
- Local search strategy: Implement local search engine optimization (SEO).
To leverage Uber Explore’s collaboration with Yelp, here are some professional reputation management tips to ensure your Yelp profile is optimized for the local search tool:
- Category: Make sure to choose the right category, so you correctly appear in the search results.
- Storefront: Customize your online storefront by adding high-quality photos with insightful captions; make sure to include indoor and outdoor shots of your store.
- Information: Input complete, accurate information like operating hours and your menu with pricing.
- “From The Business”: Utilize this section on Yelp to showcase your business story, team and specialties.
Aside from these Yelp for business optimization tips, here is how you can further generate more ratings and Yelp reviews for business:
- Put a Yelp badge on your website.
- Purchase paid branded materials from Yelp to place on your physical store’s front door or counter.
- Highlight your reviews on your social media pages, like Facebook.
- Create check-in offers on your Yelp page; promotional offers can be a percentage or dollar amount off, freebie or a buy-one-take-one.
- Respond to consumers whenever they give you ratings or reviews.
Ultimately, you intend to let your customers know you are on Yelp so they can check your reviews or leave one.
Attract Attention on Uber Explore With Rize
Handling your local business listings across multiple sites could eat into your time and resources, especially if you do it manually. Fortunately, ORM services providers like Rize Reviews can automate everything for you — including review management and launching campaigns to generate more Yelp business reviews.
Uber Explore gives us a taste of the future of local search. So, before it expands to more cities that can either benefit or harm your business, let Rize help you take advantage of what it has to offer with professional reputation management.
We are an online reputation management company servicing brands across industries. We also offer white-label reputation management to help you and your clients leverage the collaboration between Yelp and Uber Explore.
Contact our ORM consultants to know more about how we can help you build and protect your online reputation, or request a free demo.
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