Franchisors spend heavily on recruiting franchisees and far less on finding out how existing ones feel. Yet satisfied franchisees stay longer, follow standards more willingly and recommend the brand to the people a franchisor most wants to recruit. A franchisee satisfaction survey is the simplest way to measure that, as long as franchisees trust it enough to answer honestly. This guide covers what to measure, how to run a survey that produces usable results, and when to bring in an independent provider.
Why measure franchisee satisfaction
There are three practical reasons.
- Early warning. Falling scores on support or communication often show up before falling sales, resale requests or disputes.
- Better decisions. Results show which parts of the support package franchisees value and which they do not, so head office can spend where it matters.
- Recruitment evidence. Prospective franchisees are told by every brand that the support is excellent. The Best Franchise Awards, run by employee and franchisee survey provider WorkBuzz, make this point directly: with hundreds of franchisors describing their training and support in similar terms, independent satisfaction results help the best stand out.
Right at Home UK, a home care franchise with around 80 franchises, is a published example. In a WorkBuzz case study, the company says it has held Five Star Franchisee Satisfaction for 11 consecutive years, and uses anonymous client and caregiver surveys to support recruitment, retention and service improvement.
What to measure
A useful survey covers the whole relationship, not just whether franchisees are happy. The 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction accreditation, run by WorkBuzz alongside the Best Franchise Awards, measures five areas, which make a sound starting framework.
| Area | What it covers | Example question |
|---|---|---|
| Training and support | Training, mentoring and support to establish, maintain and grow the business | How well did the initial training prepare you to run the business? |
| Franchise system | Competitiveness of the products or services and the proven business model | How competitive are our products and prices in your area? |
| Culture and relationships | The culture and ongoing relationships with franchisees | How well does head office listen to franchisee feedback? |
| Leadership | Franchisor leadership and maintenance of system standards | How confident are you in the network’s direction? |
| Overall satisfaction | How the franchise compares with expectations and whether franchisees would recommend it | Would you recommend this franchise to a friend? |
Add a small number of open questions, such as what head office should start, stop and continue doing. Open comments often explain the scores.
How to run it so franchisees answer honestly
Keep it confidential
Franchisees depend on the franchisor for their livelihood, so many will not criticise head office if they think they can be identified. Confidentiality is the main reason networks use an independent provider rather than an internal form. Agree in advance how results will be reported, for example only in groups large enough to protect anonymity.
Aim for a high response rate
Results from a minority of franchisees can mislead. The 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction programme, for example, requires a response rate of at least 60%, and franchisors with 10 to 19 franchisees must also provide at least 10 responses. It is open to franchisors with at least 10 UK franchisees.
Survey every year
A survey captures views at one point in time. The same programme requires franchisors to resurvey annually to keep their status, and a yearly cycle lets you see whether changes have worked.
Share results and act on them
Franchisees judge a survey by what happens next. Brief the network on the headline results, explain two or three priorities, and report progress during the year. If the same complaints come back unchanged, response rates will fall.
Turning results into action
The most common mistake is to treat the survey as the end of the exercise. A practical approach is to pick no more than three priorities from the results, assign an owner at head office to each, and agree what franchisees will see change and when. Typical priorities include the quality of field support visits, the speed of answers from head office, the usefulness of national marketing and the clarity of communication about changes to the system.
It also helps to look beyond franchisees. Right at Home’s case study describes anonymous surveys of clients and caregivers alongside franchisee satisfaction, used to support recruitment, retention and service improvement. Customer and staff views show whether problems franchisees raise are reaching the people they serve, and whether improvements are working.
Results can also feed recruitment and development. The Franchise Relationships Institute says it has researched the factors that drive franchisee success and built them into recruitment and development tools, and it runs presentations for franchisee conferences on profitability and relationships. Using what satisfied, successful franchisees have in common to shape who you recruit and how you support them closes the loop between satisfaction and growth.
Recognition can help sustain the effort. According to the Best Franchise Awards, franchisors taking part in WorkBuzz’s franchise satisfaction benchmark are eligible for both 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction and the awards, so some networks gain accreditation even if they are not shortlisted.
Choosing a provider
When comparing survey providers, ask:
- Is the survey independent, and how is confidentiality protected in reporting?
- Can results be benchmarked against other franchise networks?
- Does it cover franchisees only, or also their staff and customers?
- What support is there to interpret results and plan action?
- Is there an accreditation or awards route linked to the results, and what are its conditions?
Providers differ in approach. WorkBuzz runs a franchise satisfaction benchmark linked to the Best Franchise Awards and 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction. The Franchise Relationships Institute, founded by Greg Nathan, focuses on the psychology of franchise relationships, with tools and training for franchisor teams developed by business psychologists and franchise professionals. Some franchise management systems, such as Azura, add benchmarking and dashboards that show franchisee performance alongside survey results. Browse our customer feedback and franchise coaching listings, and HR providers for staff surveys.
Connecting satisfaction with standards
Satisfaction and standards are two sides of the same relationship. A network that enforces standards harshly may see satisfaction fall, while one that never checks standards may find satisfied franchisees running inconsistent sites. Reviewing both together gives a fuller picture; our guide to franchise brand standards covers the audit side. If falling satisfaction is linked to franchisees wanting to leave, our guide to franchise exit strategy explains how exits work.
