Comparative benchmarking data can be enormously helpful in evaluating and improving franchise development and sales efforts. In the following, we present observations and analysis from our historical proprietary data from surveys of franchise prospects and franchise systems on topics related to franchise lead generation as well as franchise development in general. Please see also our section on franchise development best practices.
“Contact Attempt Rate” is the percentage of franchise inquirers who report efforts by the franchise to respond to their inquiries within a seven-day period. Given the cost of acquiring leads, and the lifetime value of a franchise lead, you would think these rates would be very high, but sadly, only about half of prospects report effort to be contacted by all they were interested in, and about 20% routinely report no contact efforts at all.
While there could be many reasons for this disparity, a likely suspect would be the time zone differences between franchise sales team and prospect, and inquiries over the weekend and after business hours in the franchisor’s time zone, given that 60-70% of lead inquiries arrive outside of normal business hours.
In our research, typically less than ten percent of visitors to franchise directory websites are “very familiar” with the franchises they inquire about. Another twenty percent are “vaguely familiar” with their franchises of interest. Despite your own perceptions about the notoriety and popularity of your brand, exposure on third party platforms will ensure that you have a large selection of interested parties to engage with in growing your franchise system.
A surprising two-thirds of prospects who submit an inquiry at a franchise directory website (portal) or app go on to visit the franchise development website afterwards. In addition one fourth to one third of those who go on to visit also submit an inquiry (lead) at the franchisor’s site, a significant percentage of leads which may otherwise be attributed to organic results to the franchise development website.
In every survey, about half of the respondents say they visited the frandev sites because “they were very interested and just wanted to learn more.” About another third say they “wanted to prepare before having a conversation” with the franchise representatives.
May 29, 2024 — Cost per lead is often a key decision factor when evaluating franchise directory websites (portals), assuming quality standards are met. But leads submitted at franchise directory websites also result in substantial referral visits to franchisor websites, in addition to being a significant source of leads submitted at development websites…
September 20, 2023 — When lead sources are compared, “price”, and even “cost per sale” – are incomplete, if not misleading. There are additional critical components of value in assessing return on your investment in franchise portals or other third party lead suppliers.
September 13, 2023 – Aspiring business owners come to franchise directory sites to see what’s out there, and for the convenience of comparisons in one place, and ease of connection to franchise representatives.
May 24, 2023 — A very small percentage (5.2%) of aspiring franchise owners are already “very familiar” with the franchises they inquire about, and another 20.3% are “already somewhat familiar” with them
January 11, 2023 – It’s a new year, with new opportunities for franchise growth ahead. Yes, there are economic, legislative and regulatory headwinds, but who would bet against the collective entrepreneurial spirit, creative energy and grit of the franchise community?
November 16, 2022 – This month a shocking and record low percentage of inquirers about franchises for sale were contacted by all of the franchise systems they requested information from, according to the FranchiseInsights.com monthly “Mystery Shopping” survey. Only 42.2% of inquirers to franchises reported that they were contacted by “all of the franchises they …
October 26, 2022 — While the headlines are about an “advertising recession” underway, with Meta to provide even more insight in its earnings report today, Google’s earnings release yesterday explains the pain felt by franchise development teams over the last year. The reported growth in Google global search revenues of 4.25% understates the impact of …
October 11, 2022 – Despite soaring interest rates, volatile financial markets, declining consumer confidence and increasing lead costs, none of the U. S. franchisors responding to a recent survey say they have cut back their development budgets significantly for 2022. Moreover, one third (33.3%) have actually increased their expansion plans for this year. There was …
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA — September 21, 2022 — In comparing lead sources, “price”, and even the holy grail – “cost per sale” – are incomplete, if not misleading. There are two other critical variables in assessing return on your investment in franchise portals or other third party lead suppliers. In a prior article, we quantified the …
September 14, 2022 — In comparing lead sources, “price”, and even the holy grail – “cost per sale” – can be misleading. There are two other critical variables in assessing return on your investment in franchise portals or other third party lead suppliers. In this article, we discuss the first one. What happens after a …
May 25, 2022 – Despite March’s largest increase in U.S. inflation in more than forty years, the majority of U. S. franchisors have no plans to increase initial franchise fees, according to a benchmarking survey by Franchise Insights in April 2022. A minority (13.5%) of respondents do expect franchise fee increases in 2022 in the …
April 20, 2022 – In March 2022, U.S. inflation showed the largest 12-month increase since December 1981. The year-over-year increase was 8.5%, up from 7.9% in February 2022. The Consumer Price Index rose just over 8.5% in March 2022, compared to March 2021, propelled by categories like energy prices and rents, as used vehicles and …
January 26, 2022 — Even though over 28% of franchise prospects in January 2022 reported being already “somewhat familiar” or “very familiar” with the franchises they considered, they chose to inquire about them at franchise portal sites among hundreds of other listings. These findings are consistent with our prior data from August 2021. When you’re looking …
January 13, 2022 – First, the bad news. Supplies will be tighter, and costs higher for building a pipeline of franchise prospects given: Increasing Competition with Employers – Growing franchise systems will be competing with desperate employers who are offering better pay and more flexible work conditions to retain or add team members in an environment …
December 22, 2021 – The flow of franchise prospects usually ebbs on days leading up to holidays, as travel and spending time with loved ones takes precedence. Following the Christmas holidays in the US, franchise inquiries usually increase, as interested prospects have extra time to ponder and make big plans for the coming year. But …
December 9, 2021 — In a survey conducted December 1-8, 2021, 61.7% of franchises responding say they expect to spend “more” or “much more” on franchise leads in 2022. Confidence in a better 2022 is seen in franchise systems in all stages of growth. Active U.S. franchises responding to the benchmarking survey hailed from a …
November 23, 2021 – While over 60% of active U.S. franchisors surveyed by FranchiseInsights.com reported no changes planned for their fees in 2022,. one-third (33.3%) increased fees in 2021, and 40% plan to increase initial franchise fees in 2022. Three times as many franchises plan to increase their fees by more than 50% (4.8%) than …
November 17, 2021 – Almost two-thirds (64.9%) of active U.S. franchisors surveyed by Franchise Insights in November, 2021 reported no changes to their fees in 2021. Exactly one-third (33.3%) increased fees in 2021, and a small percentage (1.75%) actually reduced their initial franchise fees this past year. More franchises increased their fees by more than …
November 11, 2021 — Are you seeing more competition for the best franchise prospects, or finding it harder to identify the number of prospects you need to achieve your franchise development goals? Are you experiencing soaring franchise lead costs in filling your pipeline? The flow of aspiring business owners took the biggest hit in the …
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” …
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …