Sensis and Yelp in new partnership
Simon Betschel | 20 July 2011
Sensis’ and Yelp partner to create new opportunities for Australia’s local searchers.
Today is an exciting day for Sensis as we announce our latest ground-breaking partnership between Yellow Pages® and Yelp, the global leader in local reviews and ratings. Together we’ll work with Yelp to launch an Australian version of the Yelp website, where Aussie’s will be invited to rate their dealings with local businesses and write reviews about their experiences.
Ratings and reviews are growing in popularity in the Australian market place. Did you know that, according to the recent Sensis Social Media Report, almost two thirds of social network users (63 per cent) read online reviews before they make buying decisions? Or that they read an average of six reviews each time? Given this enormous interest, we believe this partnership will be a huge win for the Australian community.
When Yelp launches in Australia they will integrate Sensis’ Yellow Pages® local business listing data into yelp.com.au.and, tap into our leading local sales force to launch and embed yelp.com.au in the Australian market.
Not only does this mean the launch of a leading new ratings and review website in Australia, but through the partnership, Sensis will syndicate Yelp content, ratings and reviews to yellowpages.com.au, Yellow Pages® Mobile and the Yellow Pages® iPhone application.
So our advertisers can be really excited about the opportunities this partnership presents to them in the form of a deeper way to engage with potential customers online.
Yelp is a really exciting business to work with and I’m personally looking forward to the next couple of months as we work together to bring this leading product to market.
Yelp launched in 2004 and has rapidly expanded its user-generated ratings and reviews websites across North America and Europe. In fact, in June 2011, Yelp had more than 53 million unique visitors worldwide and to date more than 20 million local reviews of businesses have been posted to Yelp sites.
We anticipate yelp.com.au will be fully operational by the end of 2011 with Sensis’ Yellow Pages® media advisors offering Yelp advertising options to customers in 2012.
Simon B
Trying to advertise with the Yellow Pages this year has
Robyn Attwood | 28 July 2011Trying to advertise with the Yellow Pages this year has been a difficult and time consuming experience. I desperately want to know exactly what I am getting for my many thousands of dollars but there are no reps to demonstrate this and no-one seems to see the need to show me exactly what I am buying. I have repeatedly been sent to a website which touts the fantastic benefits of advertising but doesn’t show me the functionality of the ‘Digital Solution’ After spending money on a digital add last year I found it burried in no mans land after scrolling down to the bottom of a long list. The arranging of this advertising was instigated in June but still not completed. I am currently on hold to Yellow Pages sales department and have been for the last 15 minutes listening to a recording that which suggests to ring back at some other time because they are currently very busy. I would suggest that I am also very busy and find it frustrating that when I want to spend several thousand dollars the supplier is too busy to talk to me. Unless this service changes I will in future invest my money on SEO for my own website.
Hi Robyn and thanks for taking the time to write
Wayne | 2 August 2011Hi Robyn and thanks for taking the time to write to us. We regret that advertising with Yellow Pages has proven difficult for you this year. That’s certainly not the sort of experience we want to give our customers. My understanding is that one of our customer care consultants contacted you on Monday morning and the issue you raised has now been resolved.
Hi Robyn I agree - our experience has been the same
Marcia | 11 September 2011Hi Robyn
I agree – our experience has been the same as yours. We subscribed to Yellow Pages / Sensis for 28 years and although we were promises results they never materialised. Each year we were pursued by push sales consultants and took out advertising that did not bring results. When my husband suffered a serious injury this year, Sensis was aggressive in pursuing us and gave no consideration to the loyalty and money we had sent their way over the years. They promised to waive advertising fees where business was ceased but they have no intention of honouring their promises.
My advice – don’t take their advertising advice.
Marcia, we would very much like to respond to your
Wayne | 15 September 2011Marcia, we would very much like to respond to your concerns. Would you mind if our people contacted you via the email address that came with your comment?