Franchise Prospects Consistently Focus on Just a Few Concepts for Research and Contact
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
May 31, 2023 – While many changes in franchise buyer behavior have been observed over the three years since the global pandemic began, one aspect changed very little. Despite the thousands of offerings among dozens of categories in the franchise directories at FranchiseVentures online brands, most prospects still narrow their focus to a single concept on a visit to request further information about franchises.
In looking at data for thousands of franchise inquiries during the month of April 2023, 41.6% selected a single franchise opportunity for follow up. An additional 16.1% inquired about a second franchise, and 9.8% requested follow-up from a third concept.
In total, 68.3% of all prospects inquire about only one, two or three franchises.
This is not a behavior unique to the most recent month. Looking at data for the month of April each year since the pandemic unfolded in 2020, our analysis shows results similar to the most recent month of April 2023.
What is unusual is that we know that many of these prospects did not begin their searches with a specific idea in mind. We know from franchise portal and mobile app usage data that about 46.6% of users are open to “any category”, without selecting a specific category for research.
Further, we regularly feature an article about the role that franchise portals (directory sites) play in the awareness and discovery of franchise options. In a May 2022 survey, 74.5% of prospects inquired about franchises with which they were either “completely unfamiliar” or “vaguely familiar” prior to their visits.
How To Take Advantage of this Opportunity
The implication of these findings for franchise development teams are straightforward:
- Franchise portals and mobile apps provide a useful role in generating awareness and consideration of your franchise.
- They help prospects comb quickly through hundreds of options across diverse categories to narrow the search to a few options for further consideration.
Following up promptly by email and/or text has a high probability of putting you in contact with an individual who has only inquired about a few options, and may be hearing from you first. Given the high cost and potential lifetime value of a franchise lead, it is important to act promptly, especially since the majority of your competitors do not attempt initial contact with all of their leads within seven days.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Wednesday, May 31st, 2023.