How Leads More Than Doubled for Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa After the Launch of Its New Franchise Development Site

Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa has always seen a high interest in its franchise opportunity thanks to a robust sales process, but the brand still knew its franchise development website could benefit from a refresh that would take industry best practices into consideration. The brand was determined to continue its quest for franchise expansion and grow beyond its existing 450-plus locations.

As a massage and facial spa concept committed to providing the ultimate customer experience, Hand & Stone wanted to make sure its franchise development website conveyed a sense of zen while also showcasing valuable information about its franchise opportunity and clarifying its best-in-class offering. What resulted was a collaboration with No Limit Agency to elevate the website in the interest of a more visually appealing and user-friendly experience. 

“Our franchise development website was tough to navigate,” said Hand & Stone Vice President Bob McQuillan. “It just didn’t portray the nicest graphics. We also wanted a website that, from an SEO perspective, could attract attention from markets in which we were developing. We are a different brand from our competition and we wanted our website to reflect that. That’s what we’ve tried to do over the years, and with No Limit Agency and 1851 Franchise, we had the opportunity to do just that.” 

Led by Senior Digital Project Manager Michael Palm with support from Vice President Liane Caruso, No Limit Agency proceeded to work on a full relaunch of Hand & Stone’s franchise development website. In addition to McQuillan, No Limit Agency worked with Hand & Stone’s Chief Information Officer, Brock Clayton, and Director of Franchise Development Nicole Alburger. 

The new website launched in April of 2019, and since then, franchise leads have more than doubled for the spa brand. 

“All franchise sales sites must answer the ‘Why This Brand’ and ‘Why Now’—as well as give the buyer the tools to research the opportunity by properly educating the buyer about product, leadership and vision, territory availability, financials (how much it costs and how much can be made) and validation through franchisees,” No Limit Agency CEO Nick Powills said. “With blocking and tackling nailed with the new site, leads increased significantly—not just from new people in, but because we better defined the key information needed to go from an incognito lead to an actual prospect.”

Another major change had to do with graphics. 

“We had shown more of a business setting on our franchise development website,” McQuillan said. “From a graphics perspective, you’d see people in front of a Hand & Stone building or you’d see people at the front counter. We weren’t really showing the experience.”

That has since changed. Prospective franchisees who now visit the brand’s franchise development website immediately sense that zen vibe the brand so desperately wanted.

“Now you see someone who is absolutely and completely relaxed, with a half-smile, getting a massage or facial,” McQuillan said. 

Then there was the user experience (UX) aspect. 

Buttons with clear calls to action such as “Let’s Talk” and “Download Brochure” were added to the franchise development website’s homepage, allowing prospective franchisees to easily request more information. 

Hand & Stone executives have also benefited from the website redesign. One major change made by No Limit Agency was giving executives the ability to make changes to the website’s slider. 

“No Limit Agency gave us the ability to make changes on the fly,” McQuillan said. “For example, Hand & Stone was featured as one of Forbes’ “Best Franchises To Buy” in 2019. Forbes is a really incredible publication that everyone knows about, including investors, and it’s the kind of news we’d want to put on our franchise development website as soon as possible. Thanks to the changes made by No Limit Agency, now we can.” 

Above all, the brand wanted to humanize its website and portray the backstories of its franchisees. Hand & Stone prides itself on maintaining a franchise system filled with interesting and accomplished entrepreneurs and wanted that to be reflected on the new franchise development website. By putting 1851 Franchise stories on the website and making them easily accessible, the brand could target people who might be interested in franchising or in passing along the information to a prospective franchisee. 

“We didn’t have this on our website and saw an opportunity to deliver this,” McQuillan said. “Now when you go to the ‘Newsroom’ section of the Hand & Stone franchise development website, you’ll see all of the things we wanted to portray.” 

Powills is thrilled that the collaboration between Hand & Stone and No Limit Agency has yielded such successful results for the spa brand. 

“Hand & Stone’s development team has done an amazing job at closing more deals with a lower budget than the majority of franchise brands with similar growth goals,” Powills said. “While we thought there was a gap in the content and the structure of their site, we didn’t predict that it was that wide, given their ability to close. That is a testament to the strength of their sales process. Today, the Hand & Stone site is rich in best practices to help drive educated leads and has already led to even more deals.”

To learn more about franchising with Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, visit http://www.handandstonefranchise.com/. 

To learn more about No Limit Agency and our services, visit  https://www.nolimitagency.com/.