Yelp Advertising ROI: How to Calculate and Improve Your Returns

“Is Yelp worth it?” is one of the most common questions among service business owners—and one of the hardest to answer accurately.

The problem isn’t Yelp. The problem is that most businesses don’t accurately measure what they’re getting from Yelp, and they’re losing a significant portion of the leads they pay for due to slow response times.

This guide shows you how to calculate your true Yelp ROI, where businesses typically lose money they don’t realize they’re losing, and how to improve your return on existing Yelp spend without increasing your ad budget.

Step 1: What You’re Actually Spending on Yelp

Most businesses know their monthly Yelp bill. But the total investment is larger:

Direct costs:

• Monthly Yelp ad spend (CPC or flat rate)
• Enhanced profile subscription
• Promoted listing fees (if applicable)

Indirect costs:

• Time spent manually responding to Yelp messages (hours × your hourly rate)
• Time spent reviewing Yelp analytics and managing the account
• Potential negative impact of slow response on Yelp ranking

For a business spending $400/month on Yelp ads:

• Responding manually: ~12 messages/week × 5 min each = 1 hour/week = 4.3 hours/month
• At $75/hour value: $325/month in time
• True monthly Yelp investment: $725/month, not $400

Step 2: Counting Leads You’re Actually Getting

Yelp traffic in your analytics is not leads. Leads are:

Definition of a Yelp lead: A customer who sends a message, requests a quote, or calls your Yelp phone number

Important: Yelp page views, profile clicks, and “Actions” in Yelp analytics are not leads. They’re traffic. Treat only direct contacts as leads.

Track these numbers from your Yelp dashboard (monthly):

• Total messages received
• Quote requests received
• Calls tracked through Yelp (if using Yelp tracking number)

Step 3: Counting Jobs Actually Booked from Yelp

This is where most businesses have the weakest tracking. They know how many leads came in but not how many of those became paying customers.

How to track Yelp-to-job conversion:

Method A (CRM-based): Tag every lead in your CRM with source “Yelp.” When job is won, revenue is attributed to that tag. Monthly rollup gives you Yelp revenue.

Method B (Ask customers): When a new customer books, ask “How did you find us?” and track the answers. Not perfect, but directionally accurate.

Method C (NZLeads auto-tracking): NZLeads logs every Yelp lead, the AI conversation, and whether an appointment was booked. You see Yelp conversion rates and booked appointment values in your dashboard.

The True Yelp ROI Calculation

Sample calculation for an HVAC company:

Is 4.7× good? Yes, but it’s being held back by a 25% conversion rate. Here’s what happens when response time improves.

What Faster Response Does to Your Yelp ROI

Same business with NZLeads:

Same Yelp advertising budget. Same leads. 2.3× better return. The $99 additional investment generates $4,940 additional revenue.

The Hidden Yelp ROI Boost: Response Rate and Profile Ranking

Yelp’s algorithm ranks businesses partly based on engagement metrics:

• Response rate: What % of messages do you reply to?
• Response time: How fast do you reply on average?
• “Responds quickly” badge: Earned by businesses responding within 5 minutes consistently

What these metrics affect:

• Your position in Yelp category search results
• Whether your business is featured in Yelp’s automated recommendation emails
• Customer trust signals visible on your profile

With NZLeads:

• Response rate: 100% (every single message replied to)
• Response time: Under 60 seconds (24/7, including nights and weekends)
• Badge earned: Within 2–4 weeks of consistent use

This improved profile ranking can increase your inbound lead volume from Yelp—additional benefit on top of the conversion improvement.

When Yelp Advertising Is Not Worth It

Yelp advertising genuinely doesn’t work for every business. Warning signs it might not be right for you:

• Too few reviews or low rating: Below 4.0 with fewer than 20 reviews, Yelp traffic won’t convert well regardless of response time
• Highly price-sensitive market: If your category competes primarily on lowest price and your pricing is above market, automation won’t save you
• Service area too narrow or unusual: Very specialized trades or tiny service areas may not have enough Yelp search volume

If any of these apply: Fix the underlying issue first (get reviews, adjust pricing, expand services), then re-evaluate Yelp.

If none of these apply: Slow response time is 95% likely to be the reason your Yelp ROI is disappointing.

Tracking Your Progress with NZLeads Dashboard

NZLeads shows you:

• Total Yelp leads received (this month, last month, trend)
• Response time average
• Engagement rate (% of leads that replied to your AI response)
• Booking rate (% of leads that booked an appointment)
• Estimated revenue attributed (based on appointments booked × your configured average job value)

Use these numbers to calculate your Yelp ROI accurately each month.

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Questions? Email support@nzleads.com

Related reading:

• Pay-Per-Use vs. Traditional Pricing
• Yelp Auto Respond Pricing Guide