Does Yelp drive store traffic? Denny’s is finding out

A casual-dining chain is utilizing a tool that measures how much online Yelp activity helps drive customers to stores.

Denny’s is leveraging Yelp Store Visits (YSV), a new first-party attribution tool from the local business discovery app. Through opt-in location information at scale and other signals that users provide when engaging with Yelp, YSV makes it easier for Denny’s to measure the extent to which Yelp ads are driving customers into its stores. YSV determines the cost-per-visit attributable to Yelp advertising, which Denny’s hopes will enable it to better calculate its return on ad spend with the platform.

 Ahead of the official launch of YSV, Denny’s ran a pilot program of the tracking tool with Yelp, assisted by its media agency Spark Foundry.

“We are always looking for new ways to reach our consumers and, given Yelp’s dominance in the industry, we sought a partnership to help us drive more customers to our restaurants,” said Erik Jensen, VP of brand engagement, Denny’s. “We’ve been working with Yelp since 2015, but decided we wanted to take things to the next level when we learned about Yelp Store Visits. YSV has helped us to truly understand the impact of our ad dollars and ensure we’re leveraging the right strategy. We look forward to continuing our partnership in 2020 and uncovering even more valuable ways to attract more customers to Denny's.”

“National and multi-location brands are looking for sophisticated products to help them drive ad performance, demonstrate ROI on their campaigns, and better tell their story in an increasingly noisy digital landscape,” said Tom Foran, Yelp’s senior vice president of national sales. “By utilizing Store Visits, brands are able to target their new or seasonal product offerings to a hyper-local audience and know the impact of their marketing campaigns on driving consumers into stores.”