When Researching Franchises, Prospects Focus on Just a Few Concepts for Follow-Up
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
November 1, 2023 – As we have observed many changes in franchise buyer behavior in 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 July 2023, 39.3% selected a single franchise opportunity for follow up. An additional 15.7% inquired about a second franchise, and 9.8% requested follow-up from a third concept.
In total, 55% of all prospects inquire about only one, two or three franchises.
This is not a behavior unique to the most recent month. This is consistent with prior reviews, the most recent data reported in April 2023.
Many of these prospects started with a broader search, even across categories. We know from monthly reviews of franchise portal website 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 an August 2023 survey, 72.6% of prospects inquired about franchises with which they were either “completely unfamiliar” or “vaguely familiar” prior to their visits.
Make the Most of This Opportunity
The implications of these findings for franchise development teams are straightforward:
- Franchise portals and their mobile apps provide a useful role in generating awareness and consideration of your franchise concept(s).
- 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. Data consistently show that 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, November 1st, 2023.