Since the business case is broad and vague in its objective, I
am coming up with a few ideas on improving Yelp in terms of business
strategy and website modifications.
Business Strategy
1.
M&As to increase its customer base and international
presence. This can be further investigated based on the results of recent
acquisitions of Qype and SeatMe.
2. Enter other emerging markets which include the BRIAC countries –
Brazil, Russia, India and China. Investigate how other business such as Amazon,
eBay & Craigslist entered these emerging markets and how they have
sustained and performed.
3. Increase the service offerings to other products and services
and categorize them into broad groups. Example – Review and Sales of books,
review and sales of movies under a “Entertainment” category.
4. Since Ads are the major source of income, analyze the current
revenue recognition method for the customers and see if it needs to be
renegotiated or if a new method of generating revenues needs to be implemented.
A strong case for supporting this is:
a. Percentage increase in revenue for a customer after registering
with Yelp website.
b. Percentage increase in revenue for a customer after positive
reviews/ ratings received in Yelp website.
c. Percentage increase in revenue for a customer based on number of
clicks on in the Yelp website.
5. Identify and research major competitors for Yelp and see how
they have been performing and what actions they are taking to improve their
business.
6. Obtain feedback from both the customers and the users and try to
see if they are value add. Modify the business process within Yelp accordingly
– Perform A/B test before making it a permanent change.
7. Customer / User loyalty programs can be introduced - Perform A/B
test before making it a permanent change.
Website
1. The recent M&As and potential M&As Yelp needs to ensure
that the Branding and UI of all the websites are consistent and clear.
2. Building one parent website instead of having multiple websites
and inter connecting links.
3. More emphasis and importance can be given for customer and user
feedback on their experience with Yelp website. Inputs received needs to be
analyzed and based on a A/B test performed for a small set of population, we
can decide to implement the feature permanently. Can provide perks to customer/
users for participating in this.
4. Reduce the noise (Content / Information / Links) on the home
page. Make the home page more dynamic and interactive and wanting a new /
existing user to stay on and explore Yelp.
5. Provide the “Suggestions” functionality based on the previous
search history and website usage for a user. Can also make it more intelligent
and provide this information based on your dietary needs / goals &
preferences.
6. Make the Maps – voices enabled / provide the option for users to
open it on their own Maps applications such as – Google maps easily.
7. Can implement continuous scrolling of the web page.
8. User friendly UI which helps in - forming groups, tagging
friends / sending the review notifications etc.
9. Integrate in terms of gathering / sharing information with other
social media networks such as Twitter & Facebook.
10. Data analytic of
the many attributes and use it for building a better website / business.
11. Provide details on
the nutritional value / calorie counts for the food.
