Quid Pro Quo and Yelp

A friend of mine noticed someone complaining about the practice of businesses offering a discount or free gift to their customers if they would write a review on a site like Yelp. They thought this took away from the legitimacy of the business and the review site.

When we (Chris Nordyke State Farm) were first getting our Yelp profile set up, I announced a promotion where I would give away a free copy of a couple of my favorite business books to the first few people that gave us a review. After the fact I felt conflicted about it. However, I do not neccessarily think the practice is flawed for all businesses.

If a business offers a half off coupon, free cupcake or manicure, or a free appetizer when someone leaves a Yelp review, isn't the subsequent review an endorsement unto itself? Obviously the person liked the product or service- they were motivated to leave a review so they could engage more with the subject business or their product! I think this is a pleasant form of quid pro quo at work. Nothing wrong with people scratching eachother's backs.

Free stuff is fun. I often wish I had a product I could discount or giveaway for promotions, but alas, that's not the way insurance works. 

For sure, the BEST review is the unsolicited one. However, it's important to remember the adoption curve that even Yelp is still working on. Not everyone knows about Yelp or is comfortable with the platform yet- if your customers were all familiar with it, a number of them would probably be inclined to write a review. Some still need the extra motivation to check it out- and frankly the ones who are only motivated by the incentive, will likely have their review screened anyway.