Top Franchise Development Website: Number 9 — Big Blue Swim School

This month, 1851 Franchise’s Franchise Development Website Awards have returned to announce the most effective and engaging development sites in franchising. A panel of nine expert judges evaluated each franchise development site according to three criteria: first impressions, quality of content and ease of use. Sites were scored on a five-point scale in accordance with these three criteria, with the overall website rankings based on a composite average of the judges’ scores. 

Ranked at number nine is Big Blue Swim School*’s franchise sales site, which received an overall average score of 3.90. When it comes to first impressions, the cleaning concept’s franchise development website secured an average score of 4.00, as well as an average score of 3.71 for content and 4.00 for ease of use. 

Recounting the website-building process, Big Blue Swim School Chief Development Officer Scott Thompson said: “We went through detailed strategic mapping, first starting with wireframes and flow, then the design and ultimately, the final key messaging and images. We looked at other sites that had a well-defined online process to lead the candidate through and combined what we liked from each into our site.”

Big Blue’s first impressions metrics were determined in consideration of five subfactors: usability, UI/UX design, site performance, SEO and mobile accessibility. The brand’s franchise sales site offers a sleek design, easily accessible, as well as user-friendliness from a design and technical standpoint. 

“It is clear that franchise development websites are really starting to tell stories and featuring great UI/UX design and visual imagery,” said Brent Dowling, CEO of Raintree* and one of this year’s judges. “These first impressions are so important in the franchise industry, where entrepreneurs are investing from an emotional standpoint. The franchise sales sites need to create an easy user experience, and it is clear that brands are getting better at this.”

The content metrics are determined by the presence and strength of three subfactors: motivating content, calls to action and reasons to buy now. Franchise sites that excelled in this area told compelling stories specifically designed to drive action. 

The Big Blue site features high-quality graphics, introductory videos as well as video testimonials from franchisees. The site also includes a section specifically dedicated to up-to-date blog posts and press articles where prospects can read more about the brand’s latest developments. 

“It is important that franchise sales websites focus less on themselves and more on the desires of the prospective buyer,” said Dowling. “One of the main ways to do that is through creative content, longer video testimonials and storytelling. In addition, third-party content is very useful as it has a lot more weight for the prospects than the franchisor simply speaking about themselves.”

Inquiry forms are the vehicle by which franchise brands receive relevant information from prospective franchisees, which makes their presence and quality critical. The ease-of-use metrics score measures the location, depth and ease of application.

“I’m pleased to see the stationary ‘Let’s Get Started’ call to action that remains regardless of where the prospect scrolls,” FranConnect president Keith Gerson noted, calling out Big Blue’s clearly stated point of differentiation on the Opportunity page as clear indication the brand is “a cut-above.” 

The development website should provide a simple, navigable form so that prospects can quickly tell franchisors they are interested. It should also detail costs so that under-qualified candidates don’t waste the franchisor’s time and qualified candidates know the specifics of what they are getting into. The form to request more information should be easily accessible on every page and easy to view. 

The three metrics of first impressions, content and ease of use offer a streamlined way to analyze the effectiveness of a franchise development website. As Big Blue’s franchise development website shows, when these three factors come together, the website can ease the franchise development process and serve as the primary entry point into the brand.

This website was built by No Limit Agency*, a sister company to 1851 Franchise.