Report dives into franchise development do’s and don’ts
Written by M. Scott Morris
When the business environment is uncertain—who could deny that this year?—it’s more important than ever to get the details right.
Franchise Update Media’s annual Mystery Shop provides a scorecard for franchise development teams. It’s a revealing snapshot of how well brands are connecting with the people who could become their newest franchisees. The best performers were celebrated in October during the 2025 STAR Awards at the Franchise Leadership & Development Conference in Atlanta.
Since 2019, Jayson Pearl, president of ServiceScore, and his team have researched online form submissions and telephone responses. “I always think of it as a diagnostic,” he says. “It’s a real objective check on the health of their inquiry process.”
This was Adam Redd’s first year to participate. As director of franchise development for Celebree School, Redd says that reviewing the quality of franchise development websites was a learning opportunity. “I really enjoyed the process,” he says. “It forced me to look at things from a different perspective, and I learned a lot about how companies present themselves to candidates online.”
Read on to see how well the participating companies handled the important details of franchise development.
Online form submission
For roughly six weeks in August, a fictional character named Mario Jordan was submitted as a qualified lead at 102 different websites. Pearl says the mystery shop examines how well brands connect with potential franchisees during those critical early moments. A quick response is the first step in building trust and moving a candidate forward.
Jayson Pearl
President, ServiceScore
“After companies see the results, sometimes they’re surprised, and sometimes it confirms what they already know about their processes and the responsiveness of their teams,” Pearl says. “One of the things that we do is make it objective. There’s a report, and none of the questions is subjective.”
This year, researchers found that 44% of the contacted brands called potential prospects. Of those, 25% called within 4 hours, 56% called within 4 to 24 hours, 2% called between 24 and 48 hours, and 16% called beyond 48 hours.
In last year’s shop, 55% of brands called the lead at any point. The response was 41% in 2023 and 55% in both 2021 and 2022.
Pearl sees the numbers as both a reality check and a call to action. “It’s not satisfactory to say phone calls aren’t important because it’s all text now,” he says. “It really depends on the person.”
According to Franchise Update Media’s 2025 Annual Franchise Development Report (AFDR), the cost per lead has increased from $97 in 2021 to $351 in 2025. Last year’s cost per lead was $271. The cost per sale has increased from $9,270 in 2021 to $17,550 in 2025. It cost $13,757 to close a sale in 2024.
Returning to the mystery shop numbers, 60% of brands sent a text follow-up to a lead, which is 10 percentage points higher than in 2024. In this year’s report, 35% sent a text and made a call, and 15% only texted.
When a call was scheduled with the shopper, 96% of recruiters were available for the call, which is better than last year’s 93%. This year’s no-show rate was 4% compared to 7% in 2024 and 11% in 2023.
Pearl says it was good to see improvement from year to year, but companies shouldn’t become complacent about their technology. “There are lots of elements of the process that technology can streamline and add efficiency, but there are also things that can break,” says Pearl, adding that executives should require regular audits of the technology surrounding prospect recruitment.
Questions to consider include:
- Does your lead form submit correctly without errors?
- Do all the form fields work on your lead form?
- Does your CRM sync correctly with the salesperson’s calendar app?
- Does your AI chatbot help or cause frustration?
Website shop
Adam Redd
Director of Franchise Development, Celebree School
Redd began judging websites in July. After getting the list of companies, he searched Google for franchise dev websites. He found sites for 101 of 104 companies. He couldn’t find sites for two companies, and another site was down for maintenance.
“The site was undergoing maintenance, but there was no contact information to reach out to,” he says.
Each site was judged in five categories:
- Video content (testimonials and brand videos)
- Investment details
- Candidate criteria
- Available territories
- Inquiry form
Redd weighed each category equally, following the assignment’s guidelines. For each category, brands could earn a 1, 0.5, or 0. Redd says that a 0.5 grade was for sites that had the information, but it wasn’t easy to uncover.
“If it was difficult for me to find,” he says, “it’s going to be definitely difficult for somebody else to find who didn’t know what they’re looking for.”
During his shop, he discovered that 65% of brands lacked a franchise testimonial video, something he says is crucial for potential prospects. “I would expect a website to have testimonial videos or at least some type of testimonial,” Redd says. “Video is better. It’s easier to digest.”
“After companies see the results, sometimes they’re surprised, and sometimes it confirms what they already know about their processes and the responsiveness of their teams. One of the things that we do is make it objective. There’s a report, and none of the questions is subjective.”
He points to changing media habits and shrinking attention spans as reasons why video content is now fundamental. "Short-form videos are really taking hold. People like to capture information quickly," he says.
Videos don't need to be long. They can range from 15 to 60 seconds. They also don't need heavy production values. An iPhone or Android phone can get the job done without making the finished product feel overly staged. Authenticity, Redd says, is more important than production value. "It doesn't have to be a full-out production of a video that costs thousands of dollars," he says.
When it came to investment details, Redd found that 38 companies included Item 7 information from the FDD. In addition, 56 of the sites included candidate information. "It allows people to disqualify themselves," he says. For example, Celebree School requires a passion for working with children, which helps filter out those unsuited to its business model. In addition, clear financial requirements can save time and improve lead quality.
But there's nuance. "At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what their net worth or liquidity is. If they submit a lead, I'm going to call them," he says. "Sometimes, people don't know what their liquidity is or truly understand the definition. It's my job to establish that relationship and let them understand what those pre-qualifications are."
Redd found that 77 of the 101 sites included available territories, a key piece of information for serious candidates. All of the active sites also included an inquiry form. "Essentially, everybody had an inquiry form, which is a good thing," Redd says.
For Redd, the best websites are simple, transparent, and easy to navigate. "This is part of the customer experience journey. If you make it complicated or you make things buried, it's difficult to find," says Redd, adding that he plans to use what he learned to update Celebree School's website.
Direct calls
Not all brands have telephone numbers on their websites. Last year, it was decided to use call responses in the event of a tie for a STAR Award. The rule was also followed this year. Pearl and his team at ServiceScore looked for phone numbers on 102 websites and made the calls.
"Phone calls are important when it's a considered purchase. A considered purchase is where it's urgent, expensive, or complicated," Pearl says. In such cases, people often want to speak with an expert on the phone rather than do more research on their own or interact with a chatbot.
Here's a breakdown of the results:
- 55% of participating brands had a phone number. In 2024, it was 67%. The 2023 number was 62%.
- 34% of those answered when called in 2025, a drop of 3 percentage points from 2024.
- 18% had someone who answered the phone and could handle an inquiry. It was 20% last year.
- 16% had someone answer and take a message. The number was the same in 2024.
- Of the 66% of calls that weren't answered, 16% did not go to voicemail, and that was the same in 2024.
- The remaining 50% of calls from that 66% that weren't answered went to voicemail, a 2 percentage point increase from last year.
- Of those that went to voicemail, 54% were called back within 24 hours. It was 30% in 2024.
Key takeaways
By some measures, franchisors must market their opportunities to five generations. Each group has its own media habits and preferred ways of communicating.
"The goal is to reach people in the style they prefer," Pearl says, "and make it easy for them to take that next step."
Successful franchise development during uncertain times is about executing the fundamentals with consistency and care. That means easily navigable websites, authentic content that connects with prospects, and quick and thoughtful follow-ups.