A Reliable Source For Franchise Development Website Referrals
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
January 12, 2026 — When interested buyers submit inquiries at a franchise portal, only a fraction of them end their searches there. The vast majority of prospects who are exposed to and inquire about your brand on these franchise directory sites go on to continue their research while awaiting your response.
89% of survey respondents said they also submitted a second inquiry at the franchisor’s website shortly thereafter.
December’s survey data set a new high for referral percentage when compared with with earlier looks at the referral value of franchise portals which ranged from about 65-75% over five years of monthly surveys. In the December 2025 survey, 89% of them went on to visit the corresponding franchise development websites. Of those who visited, 37.5% (or 33.3% of total submitters) also filled out the lead form on the franchisor websites right after having requested information via the franchise portal.
33.3% of the referred visitors from portals also submitted a second inquiry at the franchisor’s website shortly thereafter.
“Referral value” and “pass-along value” are terms used to describe this benefit, which is in addition to the expected “conversion” value of a franchise lead. These very interested prospects get attributed to the franchisor’s website, even though they originated on the portal. Despite the error in attribution, these follow-up visits are very valuable, providing more informed prospects.
These referrals must be considered in calculating the return on advertising spend (ROI) at franchise lead generation portals. Regularly reviewing sources of referred traffic on your website analytics platform (e.g. Google Analytics) is the best way to know what sources are the most productive.
The “Mystery Shop” survey is conducted monthly by FranchiseInsights.com from a large sample of franchise inquirers across the Franchise Ventures lead generation platform. The data presented here is from prospect surveys from December 2025.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
Interested in more insights from our proprietary data set? Subscribe here to make sure you hear about them first.
Contact Franchise Ventures to get your share of today’s aspiring franchise owners.
Published on Monday, January 12th, 2026.