Yelp Inc. has added a new option to its website called "Message the Business," which lets users send notes directly to company officials.
The new messaging feature can be used to ask a question, complain, praise a certain service, or other purposes, according to PC Magazine.
"Message the business" comes as a link under the phone number and address in a business' profile box. The box is located in the upper left corner of the company's Yelp page. In order for the feature to work, companies must first claim a business owner's account.
"While some customers prefer to pick up the phone, others would much rather communicate via a keyboard, so this feature adds one more way to reach out to businesses, while giving business owners another opportunity to close the loop and receive even more leads," Yelp said in a blog post.
The feature is currently being released to Yelp for Business users, Engadget reported.
Yelp said that when a customer sends a message, business owners will receive an email and can directly reply without having to log into their business owner's account.
"When people click on the 'message the business owner' button for a particular business, they'll be shown the average response time to help them understand when, on average, they might get a response," the company said.
The link will only let users send messages to business owners through Yelp or email. Users will not be able to send messages through mobile texts.
Business owners can choose to not use the messaging feature.
