How to Create an Effective Franchise Sales Drip Campaign

In franchise development, getting a steady influx of leads is the first step. But how you nurture those leads is the true key to getting prospects to sign on the dotted line.

In franchise development, the phrase “Get me more leads!” is a common one. Sure, a steady influx of leads is paramount to a brand’s growth. But a high volume of leads doesn’t always yield the best results. Targeting the right people in the right places with the right content that answers their questions before they even think to ask them is step one, but what happens after they fill out the lead form is equally as important. At the end of the day, a lead is just a lead, but how do you inspire that lead to come out of the woodwork, engage with your franchise sales team, and, ultimately, sign the franchise agreement? By nurturing them, that’s how. 

Drip campaigns are becoming an increasingly more important part of the sales process, as prospects each own a different pathway to becoming a franchise owner. Franchise development teams are now leaning on email as a way to guide the due diligence and research of the prospect. Here’s how:

Set Up Different Qualification Tracks

Starting with the form on your site to gain knowledge into what stage the franchise prospect is in: qualified and ready to buy; qualified and just looking; not qualified.

Each bucket will then require different actions.

• Bucket 1 (qualified and ready to buy) will require fast action from the franchise qualifier or sales team, followed by rich content that shows them other look-a-like successful franchisees within the system.
• Bucket 2 (qualified and just looking) will require more content, perhaps a 4-week run of research content, followed by a longer drip campaign that continuously checks in with the franchise prospect.
• Bucket 3 (not qualified) should offer more general brand information, including asking the prospect if they have any other connections to financial resources.

Segmenting these lists will help set up your content pathways. Drip campaigns require some strategy and behavior mapping. A drip campaign basically acts as a Choose Your Own Adventure story for a prospects. After the first email, prospects receive content based on their actions. For example, if the first email prompts a prospect to request a call, the email communication that follows would be much different than if they had requested more information. 

In any case, to keep a prospect engaged, it’s important to provide them with regular news, announcements and content about your brand. To complement your website, FDD and other marketing materials, it’s imperative to build an arsenal of content about your brand that tells the stories of franchise owners who have been in the prospect’s shoes and ultimately bought.

Create Purpose

Whether it’s a story about a successful franchise owner who has a similar background in a similar market, a story about your brand being featured in the newspaper or news about a product or service launch, each email in your drip campaign should have a purpose. 

It’s also important to provide prospects with content that speaks to potential objections. Content should be provided to prospects on anything that might keep them from buying. Think financing, relevant industry experience, franchisee validation, competition and more.

Measure with Data

Watch for triggers -- open rate, responses and opt-outs. Each trigger will give you an idea of where the prospect is at in the buying process. 

Review your Google Analytics for additional insights -- multiple visitors from the lead markets; time on site; new leads.

And don’t just stick to the plan. If a prospect is showing interest in a particular topic, give them more. This can be created with more sophisticated drip campaign tools.

Awarding franchises is very different from selling products -- buying a franchise is an expensive life change, and requires a long-term strategy. By implementing the proper process for drip campaigns, you’ll nurture your prospects through the process and provide them with all the information they need to know — before they even think to ask.