Why Franchisee Adoption Fails (and how to actually fix it)
Fifty-five percent of franchise marketing materials never get used by franchisees.
(Or at least that’s what I measured via Canva Enterprise’s analytics dashboard for one 130+ location franchise).
But now that I’ve worked with 16 different franchises, it feels pretty appropriate to apply that percentage across the board.
As a franchisor, you’ve spent thousands developing launch rollout materials, guidelines, templates, print and digital materials to support campaigns, events, and every day efforts. Your franchisees downloaded them once, then went back to using and posting random print outs of cartoon animals wearing your product (that’s a real life example by the way, I couldn’t make that up).
The issue is not franchisee laziness or lack of care. It’s a fundamental misunderstanding about communication from the top.
Here's what most franchise systems miss: the problem often starts before the materials even reach franchisees. It starts with how corporate announces, implements, and models adoption themselves.
After working with handfuls of franchise brands and managing marketing for 130+ locations myself, I've identified six specific reasons franchisee adoption fails — and more importantly, how to fix each one.
The Six Reasons Franchisee Adoption Fails
1. The Announcement Illusion
Corporate teams work incredibly hard to create announcements within the system, but they drastically underestimate how often that announcement actually needs to be repeated for all franchisees to see it, read it, and understand it.
Here's what typically happens: Corporate sends one comprehensive email, posts it to the franchisee portal, mentions it on the quarterly call, and considers the initiative "announced." Mission accomplished, right?
Wrong.
The reality is that franchisees are drowning in emails. They rarely check the portal. And they zone out during 90% of corporate calls because they're mentally juggling a dozen operational fires.
That franchise owner you emailed? They opened it while simultaneously dealing with a customer complaint, a sick employee calling out, and a vendor delivery issue. They absorbed nothing. They meant to come back to it later. They never did.
What you think is "beating a dead horse" by mentioning something a third time is actually the first time many franchisees are genuinely processing the information.
I see this constantly. A franchise system will launch new social media templates with one comprehensive email, a portal upload, and a mention on the monthly call. Three months later, 73% of franchisees surveyed said they "weren't aware" the templates existed. The materials weren't bad. The announcement strategy was.
The principle here is simple: When you think you've announced something successfully within your network, announce it again. Then announce it three more times.
The "Rule of 7" from marketing applies internally too — people need to see or hear something seven times before they internalize it. Different franchisees consume information in different ways; some read every email, others only pay attention on calls. Some check the portal religiously. Most do none of these consistently.
If you announced it once, you announced it to maybe 20% of your network at best.
2. Departmental Silos Kill Initiatives
Here's a scenario I see constantly: marketing creates a brilliant new initiative (obviously). They develop materials, write instructions, and launch it to the network. But operations runs the weekly franchisee calls and conducts store visits. If operations doesn't know about the marketing initiative — or doesn't understand why it matters — they won't reinforce it, and that won’t be their fault.
Silos are naturally created when only one department is responsible for regularly meeting with franchisees. Marketing builds something, but operations talks to franchisees every single week. Those weekly operational touchpoints are more influential than any corporate marketing email will ever be.
And here's the thing: franchisees trust their field consultant or operations contact more than they trust corporate marketing emails. They have a relationship with that person. That person understands their specific challenges. When that person mentions something matters, franchisees listen.
But if that person doesn't know to reinforce your marketing initiative because marketing and operations don't talk to each other? Your initiative dies.
Whoever talks to franchisees most frequently needs to become the primary evangelist for your marketing initiatives.
I worked with a beauty franchise that launched a massive summer-long promotion requiring marketing support from franchisees. Marketing sent beautiful materials — emails, portal posts, tutorial videos, data on how helpful the promotion could be to their bottom line in what are some of the slowest months for the industry – the works. But the operations team didn't know how to talk about it during their regular one-on-one calls. At the height of the promotion, only 32% of locations had opted in.
And all of those 32% of locations were bringing in more revenue than the remaining 68% of non-participating locations.
There were a few lessons learned with that adoption rate but the biggest one was internal, corporate team buy-in. You need to ensure that whomever is responsible for franchisee meetings is armed with the correct information and knows they're responsible for continuing to push the initiative forward.
3. Corporate Hasn't Adopted It Themselves
Franchisee adoption fails when corporate hasn't done a great job of adopting the initiative themselves.
Franchisees watch what corporate does, not just what corporate says. If you launch a social media strategy for franchisees that you’re fully expecting franchisees to follow but corporate's Instagram account doesn't rarely posts anything, franchisees notice.
"Do as I say, not as I do" destroys credibility instantly with franchise owners, who are skeptics by nature. They're watching to see if corporate believes in this initiative enough to use it themselves.
Lead by example. Corporate adoption must happen before, not after, you ask franchisees to adopt.
If you launch a playbook, corporate needs to use the playbook publicly. If you create templates, corporate accounts should be using those templates where franchisees can see them. Share screenshots of corporate using the materials in your rollout communications. Reference corporate's own experience: "We've been using this for 30 days and here's what we've learned..."
Internal adoption also means all corporate departments use it, not just marketing. If operations, marketing, and executive leadership – let alone corporate-owned locations – aren't following the playbook, why should franchisees?
4. No Consequences for Opting Out
Here's a biggie that can make executive leadership uncomfortable: when a franchisee opts out of a promotion or ignores a marketing initiative, do they ever see data on what they missed?
Usually, the answer is no. And the discomfort comes from the word “consequences,” as if that can only mean a fine.
If a franchisee skips your Valentine's Day promotion, are they aware that participating franchisees saw a 23% revenue lift? Do they know what sitting on the sidelines cost them?
Without visible consequences — or visible benefits — there's no motivation to participate. Opting out feels safe because franchisees never see the opportunity cost.
Franchisees need regular network-wide reporting that shows: those who opted in versus those who sat on the sidelines.
This isn't about shaming franchisees who don't participate. It's about making the opportunity cost visible and quantified. Create FOMO. Top performers should be celebrated publicly with clear attribution to what they're doing differently.
The structure is simple:
Campaign dates and details
Participation rate across the network
Average performance of participating locations (revenue, traffic, new customers)
Average performance of non-participating locations
The gap between the two groups
Testimonials from top performers
When franchisees can see "I left $10,000 of recurring membership revenue on the table by not participating," behavior changes fast.
5. Complexity Overwhelm
Franchisees aren't sitting at a desk with a design team and unlimited time. They're running a business — managing hiring, customer complaints, inventory, payroll, scheduling, and a hundred other operational fires. Marketing is most often the last priority because it's never urgent until it's a crisis.
The cognitive load of translating corporate strategy into local execution is massive. When you give franchisees twelve options, you exceed their mental capacity before they've even started. When your instructions require tools they don't have or skills they haven't learned, you basically guarantee failure.
If your marketing system feels too simple, it's probably just right for franchisees.
Here's the truth: franchisees don't want creativity. They want clarity. They want to know exactly what to do and when to do it. Save the creative options for the franchisees who master the basics and proactively ask for more.
6. Initiative Overload
It's natural for corporate teams to feel like they need to constantly create and release new tools, campaigns, and resources to support franchisees. More is better, right? We're being supportive!
But too much newness creates overwhelm.
Here's what it looks like from a franchisee's perspective: Corporate launches new social media templates in January. New email campaign tools in February. New promotion strategy in March. Complete rebrand in April.
The franchisee is still trying to figure out January's templates when April's rebrand hits and makes everything they finally learned obsolete. They give up entirely because they can't keep up with the pace of change.
What feels like "support" from corporate feels like "chaos" to franchisees.
Corporate teams need to be strategic with not just announcements but how much is reasonable to expect franchisees take on or take in at any given time.
I recommend a maximum of one to two major initiatives per quarter. Give franchisees 90 days to adopt something before introducing something new. Build on existing behaviors rather than constantly starting from scratch
In conclusion
When you fix these six problems, franchisees don't adopt because you forced them to. They adopt because it's clear, it's modeled, it's simple, and they can see other franchisees winning by doing it.
If your franchisees aren't using your marketing materials, you don't have a franchisee problem. You have a systems problem.
And systems problems are fixable.
Need help auditing your franchise marketing system and rebuilding it for adoption? I specialize in diagnosing exactly where adoption breaks down and implementing the systems that fix it. Book a marketing audit call or take my Fractional CMO Readiness Quiz to see where your system stands.