From a vast and growing proprietary data set of U.S. franchise prospects, startup and business-for-sale inquiries, we use the tools of data science to discover franchise development trends and explore the impact of buyer location and demographics on franchise lead generation. Further, we survey franchise prospects and franchise systems periodically to gather buyer behavioral and benchmarking insights.
Our focus is on the growth of franchise systems through the acquisition of franchisees, particularly benchmarking in the lead generation aspect of franchise development, which includes franchise portals, search marketing, email, and social media, along with best practices for franchise development sales teams.
Periodically we use inferences from our own data industry sources to make predictions for franchise development towards preparing growing franchise systems for threats and opportunities on the horizon.
October 27, 2021 —The Consumer Price Index rose almost 5.4% in September 2021, compared to September 2020, propelled by categories like used cars and trucks soaring 24.4% and energy climbing 24.8% on average in U.S. urban areas. High prices for homes inspired a four-decade low in consumer perceptions of “good time to buy a home” …
October 13, 2021 — Over the past few years, paid Facebook advertising has become an attractive source of paid franchise leads for development teams, given its broad reach and extensive targeting options. But 2021 has become a challenging year for this resource. On Monday, October 4th beginning just before 12 pm Eastern time, Facebook and …
UPDATED: How Google and Apple Privacy Initiatives Are Likely to Impact Franchise Lead Generation September 29, 2021 — Google issued an updated timeline for their previously announced sunset of third party cookies. Instead of being sunset by 2022, Google will prevent cookies from being collected in the second half of 2023. The reason given was …
September 15, 2021 – When you’re looking for information on an unfamiliar subject, you might “Google it.” But what if you don’t know what you are looking for, or what criteria to use to compare the choices, or what options are available in a geography or category or price range? How do you satisfy yourself …
August 11, 2021 — A majority of aspiring owners say that they are most likely to respond to an email as the initial contact about a franchise in the July 2021 “mystery shopping” survey by FranchiseInsights.com. Text messaging was second in order of preference for initial contact, followed by a voice call when respondents were …
June 30, 2021 – Apple launched a “Silence Unknown Callers” feature in its September, 2019 launch of iOS 13, but the April 26, 2021 release of iOS 14.5 featured prompts to set it up when viewing the “recent” call list as seen in the graphic above. This development means that many consumers are not going …
June 23, 2021 – In June, franchise sales teams performed at the highest levels in over eight months according to results from the FranchiseInsights.com Mystery Shopping survey. Respondents reporting that they were contacted by “all of the franchises they inquired to” reached 63.5%. Further, those who reported being contacted by “none of them” dropped to …
April 28, 2021 — In January 2020, Google announced that by 2022 its Chrome web browser would no longer allow sites’ collection of 3rd party user tracking “cookies.” Cookies are unique identifiers tied to a browser that track a user’s web behavior across the web and report that data back to the owner of the …
April 21, 2021 –The highest percentage ever of aspiring owners seeing information about franchises cited text messaging as their preferred channel for initial contact in an April survey by FranchiseInsights.com. Almost a third chose follow-up by text (32.6%), edging out “voice” at 30.2% of respondents asked to rank voice, email and text. Likely contributing to …
March 17, 2021 – If you’re looking for information on a topic, you “Google it.” But what if you don’t know what you are looking for, or what criteria to use to compare the choices, or what options are available in a geography or category or price range? How do you satisfy yourself that you’ve …
March 3, 2021 – One thing that the pandemic hasn’t changed is the desire of franchise prospects to have some form of initial contact prior to receiving an incoming phone call. Tip #1 – Send an email or text to make initial contact Consumers have taken measures to block or silence callers whose numbers are …
Jan. 13, 2021 – Potential business buyers who contact franchises to explore ownership are three times more likely to leave a mobile for contact than a traditional landline number. That’s a good thing for franchise development teams – it opens up new communication channels with texting as well as voice calls, and numerous industry reports …
December 29, 2020 – While the Internet offers great convenience for prospective business owners to research and contact franchisors at any hour of any day, it also creates a challenge for franchise development teams who want to respond to those prospects in a timely fashion. And a new analysis of the largest pool of franchise-investment …
TCPA and DNC Regulations Trip Franchise Development Teams If You Call or Text Franchise Leads, Please Read This December 11, 2020 – On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments (transcript here) over the definition of an autodialer, specifically whether the “definition of ATDS in the TCPA encompasses any device that can …
November 25, 2020 – Usually we use this space to share unique, proprietary data about franchise and business buyers, but today’s insight is to give thanks for the entrepreneurial and heroic accomplishments of the people and institutions that make our economy grow. We are thankful for the millions of entrepreneurs each year who begin the …
If You Call or Text Franchise Leads, Please Read This November 20, 2020 – Usually we use this space to share unique, proprietary data about franchise and business buyers, but today’s proprietary data insight is that a lack of knowledge around the regulatory requirements for communicating with prospects is pervasive in the franchise and business opportunity …
October 1, 2020 – When we last reported results from our monthly survey of interested franchise buyers in May, franchisors were contacting 62.5% of prospective franchisees sourced from FranchiseVentures lead generation platform. In fact, this reading was the second highest in all of 2020, despite the uncertainty and organizational disruption brought by the pandemic. Soon, …
May 21, 2020 – According to a May survey of interested franchise buyers, more franchisors are consistently following through with each inquiry and attempting to make contact. In May, 62.5% of respondents report being contacted by each of the one or more franchises to which they inquired. This is all the more important, considering that …
April 24, 2020 – According to an April 2020 survey of interested franchise buyers, online franchise opportunity directories and their associated mobile apps play an integral role not only as a tool for comparison shopping, but also for discovery and consideration of less familiar franchises. Over 79% of prospective buyers chose to submit an inquiry …
April 16, 2020 – According to a survey of interested franchise buyers, more development teams are following through with each inquiry and attempting to make contact. In April, 59.6% report being contacted by every one of the one or more franchises to which they inquired. This is all the more important, considering that almost 43% …
April 16, 2020 – A comparative analysis of February and March advertising spending of FranchiseVentures clients revealed a spectrum of mindsets toward development investments, as brands contended with the financial and operational challenges wrought by the coronavirus. The two determinants of spending are 1) budget, and 2) the availability of leads (buyer demand). Some of …
March 5, 2020 Tip #1 Send an email or text to make initial contact Given the unwanted robocalls that we all get, don’t we ignore phone calls from numbers we don’t recognize? Prospects want some kind of introduction to know more about your franchise before calling you or taking your call. In a 2020 survey …
Norfolk, Virginia, February 7, 2020 — Franchise Ventures released a new tool to help franchise development teams improve early engagement with prospective franchisees. The Franchise Insights mobile app makes it easier to quickly respond to new prospects, and helps unify each prospect conversation across phone, email and text. “The mobile app helps franchise development teams …
Over 63% of franchise systems plan to spend more to recruit new franchisees in 2020, and a closer look at key segments shows that confidence is strong in franchise systems in all stages of growth. Plans to maintain or increase spending were strong across emerging, established and large franchise systems, according to a survey across …
In a strong showing of their confidence about the future, nearly two-thirds of franchises plan to spend more to recruit new franchisees in 2020, according to a survey across the Franchise Ventures demand-generation platform. “Business confidence is evident in franchises, the leading category of small businesses,” said Michael Alston, president of Franchise Ventures. “Growth-oriented franchises …
Oct. 10, 2019 – Ask any franchise development team what the No.1 franchisee recruitment challenge is, and chances are you’ll hear “contact rate” mentioned. The percentage of franchise inquiries with a successful return phone call is consistently lower than targets in industry Mystery Shopping surveys. This is even more astounding when you realize that the …
Oct. 10, 2019 – Smartphones are growing at an even faster rate this year as the No.1 way that franchise prospects begin their investment process. After several years of single-digit growth, the smartphone share of new franchise inquiries grew 12% over the past 12 months – reaching a full 73% of Internet inquiries originating on …
Feb. 19, 2019 – According to a survey of active franchise systems conducted by Franchise Insights, franchisors plan to raise their recruitment budgets this year as favorable growth conditions continue. More than 86% of franchisors plan to spend at least the same amount in 2019 as they spent on franchise lead generation in 2018. And …
Feb. 1, 2019 – What’s smarter than a smartphone? Two smart phones – yours, and the one in the hands of the local entrepreneur who wants to know more about owning one of your franchises. In less than a decade, smart phones connected to the Internet have skyrocketed to become the No. 1 channel for …
Jan. 29, 2019 – If you’re an emerging franchise, making the leap from an owned-and-operated business to the franching model, you’ve got a tough task. Your first few sales are based on the promise of your concept, not a track record in serving franchisees. Fortunately, many prospective franchisees are looking for ground-floor opportunity, and may …
Jan. 11, 2019 – Franchisors, there’s a huge mismatch in your new-unit sales funnel – 67% of all franchise inquiries are sent outsite of business hours, times that don’t lend themselves to an immediate phone conversation. And that problem gets tougher for national franchisors, when you consider the vast expanse of the 50 states and …
Jan. 2, 2019 – If you work in new franchise development, you know how crucial the first phone call is – and how hard it is to make that phone connection. Year after year, contact rates for the franchising industry remain challenging, and now we know why. It boils down to this: There’s an eye-popping …
Nov. 20, 2018 – So you want to grow your business – don’t we all? Internet marketing changes the franchise funnel, starting long before anyone talks on the phone or reads a contract. Industry consultant Art Coley sees a critical path he calls the pre-engagement phase, when a potential franchisee moves from being possibly interested …
Oct. 11, 2018 – Franchise development teams, take note: The mobile Internet revolution has up-ended the top of your marketing funnel. Internet franchise portals are the leading source of inquiries from potential franchise owners, and the smart phone is their Internet connection of choice. That’s according to new research shared at the Franchise Leadership and …
Oct. 8, 2018 – With a growing economy, savvy franchisors expect that competition will increase – not just for customers, but also for franchisees to own new locations. Forbes offers five timely tips for recruiting franchise owners, starting with “Profile your all-star candidate” – read more in Forbes