- Yelp Inc. (YELP, Financial) launches AI-powered features to upgrade service hiring and dining experiences.
- The latest updates aim to enhance consumer interaction with service professionals and streamline restaurant operations.
- AI photo recognition and response quality badges lead the new innovative features.
Yelp Inc. (YELP) has unveiled a suite of 15 new features in its Spring Product Release, designed to enhance the customer experience in hiring service professionals and improve restaurant operations. Among the newly introduced capabilities, AI-powered photo recognition in the Yelp Assistant simplifies identifying the right service professionals by recognizing project needs from user-uploaded photos. This upgrade is currently available on iOS, with plans for Android and desktop support.
The AI initiative extends further with response quality badges, employing large language models (LLMs) to spotlight service professionals who deliver helpful and detailed replies to consumer inquiries. This feature is already operational across several service categories in select states, with plans for nationwide availability.
Yelp’s collaboration with Zapier through the integration of its Leads API facilitates more efficient lead management, offering businesses the ability to synchronize leads with over 800 tools, enhancing the workflow for national service brands.
For restaurant operations, Yelp introduced improvements to the Yelp Guest Manager, including the Guest Experience Survey, which allows restaurants to gather direct diner feedback effectively. Additional enhancements such as the Traffic Attribution Dashboard and redesigned party management tools aim to optimize seating, reservation strategies, and guest flow management.
Moreover, Yelp is set to pilot AI-powered call answering services tailored for both restaurants and service businesses. This feature, intended to manage inquiries and enhance customer communication, promises to keep operations running smoothly even during peak times.
These advancements underscore Yelp’s commitment to leveraging AI to refine its products and facilitate more meaningful connections between consumers and local businesses.
