Top Franchise Development Website: Number 2 — Kidcreate Studio

1851 Franchise’s Franchise Development Website Awards are back once again to celebrate the most effective and engaging development sites in franchising. This year, a panel of eight 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. 

In second place is Kidcreate Studio’s franchise sales site, which received an overall average score of 4.6. The arts and craft concept’s franchise development website secured an average score of 4.5 for first impressions, 4.7 for content (the highest of any site) and 4.5 for ease of use. 

The first impressions metrics for each franchise development site are broken down into five subfactors: usability, UI/UX design, site performance, SEO and mobile accessibility. The Kidcreate Studio excelled in this category, offering visitors a sleek design, smooth scrolling, SEO-driven keywords and easy accessibility, as well as user-friendliness from a design and technical standpoint. 

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 according to this criterion told compelling stories that are specifically designed to drive action, and Kidcreate Studio is a prime example. 

“I love the high-quality videos at the top of the Kidcreate Studio page,” said Liane Caruso, senior vice president of entrepreneur media and one of this year’s judges. “The content in the video really shows what it would be like to be a franchisee, which should be the main goal of all franchise development content.” 

In addition to video testimonials from franchisees, the Kidcreate Studio site features high-quality video graphics, easy-to-digest text and well-crafted infographics, as well as a section specifically dedicated to blog posts and press articles where prospects can read more about the brand’s latest news. 

A franchise development website should clearly outline costs, requirements and business model specifics so under-qualified candidates don’t waste the franchisor’s time and qualified candidates know the specifics of what they are getting into. The Kidcreate Studio site presents analytics, numbers and information in a clear and consistent format, while also dividing it up into designated sections based on each individual ownership model. 

“I love that the brand’s focus is on ‘what's in it for you’ in terms of how they present the reasons to join the franchise,” said Michelle Rowan, president and COO of Franchise Business Review, another one of this year’s judges. “They outline who makes a successful franchisee in their system, the financial requirements, and then provide a lot of franchisee testimonial videos for the candidate to connect with others like them.”

Lastly, the ease-of-use metrics score was determined in relation to location, depth and ease of application. The development website should provide a simple, navigable form so that prospects can quickly tell franchisors that they are interested. The form to request more information should be easily accessible on every page and easy to view, as can be seen on the Kidcreate Studio site.

“The form and awards are at the top before the fold, which is a smart design,” said Caruso. “The site has smooth movement with all the information you need right at the home page.”

Franchise development websites can be an essential starting point in the franchise development process and the three metrics of first impressions, content and ease of use offer a streamlined way to analyze the effectiveness of a specific website. Kidcreate Studio’s website is a prime example of how these three factors can come together to create a winning franchise development site and a valuable asset in a franchise marketing toolkit.