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Published May 28, 2020

The ROI of Franchisee Satisfaction Surveys

Franchisee satisfaction is a primary indicator of long-term system growth and success in measuring the health of any franchise system. When your franchisees are happy and engaged, their businesses are more likely to be successful and they validate well, two things that benefit your bottom line.

Fortunately, high franchisee satisfaction is attainable for almost any franchise system that is committed to making it a priority. The first step is surveying your franchisees to get a baseline benchmark to understand how satisfied your franchisees are compared to those in other systems. Once you have that, you can dive deeper into the data to see what you’re doing well and where you have room for improvement, and use those insights to guide your business objectives.

If you’re wondering if that’s worth the investment of time and money, consider the return you’ll get. Dave Mattson, CEO of Sandler Training, uses their annual franchisee satisfaction survey as a growth tool. He points out, “Every year we have done this, our numbers have increased, and increased, and increased.” (Read more: How Sandler Training Ties Franchisee Feedback to Continuous Growth)

 

8 Ways Franchisee Satisfaction Surveys Increase Franchise Growth and Performance

1. Quantifying franchisee satisfaction makes your organization more intelligent and cost effective.

Franchise brands that don’t quantitatively measure franchisee satisfaction against key performance indicators year-over-year are at risk of missing performance gaps, hurting their bottom line, and damaging their reputation.

2. You’ll improve financial performance and drive faster growth.

Franchisee satisfaction has a direct and measurable impact on your system’s growth and financial performance. Franchise Business Review’s research shows that brands with high franchisee satisfaction drastically outperform brands with low satisfaction on every key performance metric.


In the most recent Annual Franchisee Satisfaction Study, Franchise Business Review found that brands with high franchisee satisfaction drastically outperform brands with low satisfaction on every key performance metric.


 

3. Baking franchisee satisfaction surveys into your annual budget gives you benchmarks to evaluate the success of your operational and development efforts.

By surveying your franchisees year-over-year, you’ll be able to tie the success of your corporate objectives directly to ROI and know how you stack up against your competitors. Mattson says, “We benchmark between us and the industry. It’s nice to know where we stand compared to other franchises because all franchisors are islands amongst ourselves.  All franchisors worry about growing their franchise organization, but most never really try to figure out where they stand against the industry.”

4. You’ll save time and demonstrate transparency for candidates as well as franchisees.

Sharing your franchisee satisfaction data with candidates differentiates your brand from others they may be considering. Providing quick and easy access to information about your brand means many typical candidate questions are answered before they reach out to your franchisees, which results in a more effective use of time.

5. You’ll increase franchisee buy-in and data quality.

Using a respected, independent third party to survey your franchisees results in higher participation rates and more robust feedback. The quality of the feedback enables you to identify and to strategically prioritize which challenges you need to tackle. You’ll have a clearer vision of what your franchisees want and need, and your franchisees will know you care about their input and value their success.

6. You’ll gain valuable public relations and marketing exposure.

Brands that rank high for franchisee satisfaction and make one or more of Franchise Business Review’s top franchises awards lists have an opportunity to promote the fact that they’ve received an industry-recognized seal of approval by an independent, third-party franchisee satisfaction market research firm in your media outreach and marketing materials.

7. You can generate more high-quality leads.

Brands that receive high franchisee satisfaction results can opt-in to Franchise Business Review’s lead generation program, which connects your development team directly with the person submitting the lead form–meaning they are interested specifically in your brand and are more serious about buying. In fact, 59% of candidates who submit inquiries indicate they intend to invest in a franchise within six months.


59% of candidates who submit inquiries through Franchise Business Review indicate they intend to invest in a franchise within six months.


8. Finally, it’s easy and convenient.

Franchise Business Review takes care of all the survey work for you and reports back with objective data you can tie directly to ROI. You can access your data anytime, anywhere through our proprietary, easy-to-use online tool.

Ready to start using franchisee satisfaction data to guide your business objectives and drive the growth of your system? Learn more about our franchisee satisfaction surveys here or request a demo.


Related Resource: Franchise Report Card

Report Card FINALIf you want to build a system where everyone wins, you need an action plan. That means understanding what you’re doing well and where you can improve. Start by using our Report Card to rate your performance in eight key areas and then get your true score!

About the Author: Ali Forman

As the Marketing Director, Ali’s role is to educate franchise companies about and inspire them to participate in FBR’s research in order to grow and improve their brands. Ali's previous experience includes senior marketing communications roles in the employee benefits, data privacy, and publishing sectors. She lives in Maine with her husband and two sons.
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