A Dependable Source of Lead Referrals to Your Franchise Development Website
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
June 14, 2023 — When evaluating franchise directory websites (portals), cost per lead is often a key decision factor, assuming quality standards are met. But leads submitted at franchise portals also lead to substantial referral visits to franchisor websites, in addition to being a significant source of leads submitted at development websites, as we first reported in September 2022.
Summary: Franchise portals offer additional ROI through referral visits to your franchise development website, in addition to franchise leads they provide.
After aspiring business owners submit inquiries at a franchise portal, very few end their search there. Most prospects who are exposed to your brand and request information about it go on to continue their research while awaiting response from a franchise representative.
Consistent with our earlier look at the referral value of portals, data from March to May 2023 show that 71% percent of them went on to visit your franchise website. More than a fourth of those (26.2% of total submitters) also fill out the lead form on your franchise website right after having requested information via the franchise portal.
“Referral value” or “pass-along value” are terms used to describe this additional value. These very interested prospects get attributed to the franchise website, even though they originated on the portal. This is a good thing, though it may lead to grossly underestimating the return on advertising spend at lead generation portals if not taken into consideration.
Next week, we will take a deeper look at what prospects are trying to achieve through this behavior.
The “Mystery Shop” survey is conducted monthly by FranchiseInsights.com from a large sample of franchise inquirers across the FranchiseVentures lead generation platform. The data presented here is from March through May 2023.
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, June 14th, 2023.