Higher Sales, Open Rates and Responses: Benefits of Building a Franchise Sales Drip Campaign

In today’s world, consumers are overwhelmed by options. Countless brands are selling the same products and offering similar services. With increasing media use and an abundance of advertisements in play, it’s harder to convince people to make a decision. Online Marketing Institute reports it takes 7–13 interactions before customers typically make a sale. So, the goal for brands is to ensure the company is continuously marketing to consumers.

The same goes for franchising and franchisors trying to bring more owners into their system. Consistently advertising and keeping in touch with interested parties — called lead nurturing — is key to convincing someone to actually sign an agreement. One of the most efficient ways brands can accomplish this is through a sales drip campaign.

This type of marketing tactic sets up automated, continual communication with leads who have some interest in the franchising opportunity. Companies will send out pre-configured scheduled content to these leads and adjust the type of information and the speed at which it is sent out based on where they are in the sales funnel. 

Corey Nicholson, Founding Partner and CEO at Cadence Franchising, specializes in this area. He has an extensive background in direct marketing and data management. He led the conceptualization of a program called Intelligent Lead Nurturing that helps brands communicate with leads efficiently based on gathered data. He explained that drip campaigns are all about mapping out a personalized marketing campaign for that person based on the information collected. 

“It starts with creating a blueprint. We indicate what all the touch points are, anything we’re going to send to these leads over time via text, email, direct, etc. And we indicate send time and wait time in between sends,” Nicholson said. 

The timeline for sending content will vary between the different kinds of leads, which can fit mainly into three categories: qualified and ready, qualified and just looking, and not qualified. The leads who are ready should be capitalized on right away. Hot Dish Advertising recommends sending communications out every other day. Consistency is key, so the opportunity stays on the forefront of their mind but adjust accordingly to the lead’s responsiveness.  

“Increase the wait interval over time to not over-communicate or be pushy. But then accelerate communication when you recognize there's engagement, and that can be done automatically using software and technology,” said Nicholson. 

What kind of information franchisors should be sending should be tailored to the kind of lead, as well. Provide a steady stream of content like franchisee testimonials and targeted ads to interested and qualified parties relevant to where they are in the discovery process. Those who requested data but don’t yet meet qualification requirements should be sent financial aid information and other resources. They should be kept in the drip at a slower rate. 

But the key is to never give up on the lead and to continue dripping because “ready” comes at a different time for everyone.

“Timing is personal to each person. I've seen plenty of people who were interested, and the timing was not right. But a couple of years down the line, things changed, and they wanted to give it a go. So brands never want to lose track of them and want to stay at the top of their mind,” said David Busker, franchise consultant and founder of FranchiseVision. “You want to have it drip and feed them a little bit. You want to keep the dream alive.” 

And when executed right, it works. Data shows that drip campaigns have 80% higher open rates, 4–10 times the response rates, and bring companies a 20% increase in sales.