Customers build trust with a brand based on consistency. When they choose your franchise, they expect a familiar and reliable experience, regardless of the specific location they visit.
This consistency starts online. From the moment a client books an appointment through your social media page or website, they anticipate a seamless scheduling process across all your locations.
The in-store experience is equally important. Clients expect exceptional service, a welcoming atmosphere, and products of the same quality, no matter which salon they walk into.
Therefore, brand consistency should matter to franchisors and franchisees as well. According to Marq, it can increase your revenue by 10–20%.
As you know, maintaining consistency can be challenging for a franchise. Different owners and employees, diverse markets, potential supply chain issues, and possible oversights can threaten your brand’s reputation.
Even minor changes such as décor, staff training, and channels used to communicate with the clients can form a fragmented brand image. That can make the customer feel confused and lost.
How can both franchisors and franchisees maintain the brand consistency of a franchised wellness, spa, or salon?
Building Trust and Customer Loyalty With Consistent Branding
Consistent branding matters for franchises because it helps you:
- Form a positive image of your franchise by strengthening the brand reputation
- Make your marketing efforts more effective because of the consistent messaging
- Build a loyal customer base for your franchise
Consistency in branding means that customers and clients understand what your brand stands for. Based on your marketing messaging, they know what they can expect from your services.
However, branding is more than the logo above the door or even the color palette you use for social media.
Another key part of brand consistency is delivering on the promises of marketing campaigns. This means providing service of the same quality across all locations.
A good customer experience can increase both sales and loyalty by 73%. Combined marketing and quality service should create positive customer experiences.
Franchises that get this build customers’ trust and have repeated customers. Their clients are loyal to your brand because they know what to expect every time at every location.
If you’re a franchisor or a franchisee, how do you put that into practice?
The Franchisor’s Role: A Foundation for Brand Consistency
Building brand consistency starts with a franchisor. To set the right foundations for brand consistency, it’s important to provide:
- Standardized Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Training and development programs
- Continual quality insurance
SOPs are manuals that detail all of the key business operations. They outline the intricacies of service delivery, correct product application, and how to interact with customers. SOPs are blueprints for creating predictable experiences in all locations.
Training programs are the backbone of your franchise. This is where staff and franchisees gain all the necessary skills and knowledge to uphold the standard of your brand.
Rely on regular inspections and audits to check if the franchisees keep up the standard across all locations.
Pro Tip: One thing franchisors do wrong is they don’t support franchisees. Their help stops after they give franchisees initial SOP documents, guidelines, and training.
Instead: Start a dialogue with franchisees. Use MyTime to check on their progress and offer additional support. Pinpoint inconsistency and share newly discovered best practices for your industry.
Role of Franchisees: Apply Proven Branding Strategies
If the franchisor sets a great foundation, franchises can apply it to replicate the success of other locations that provide the same service.
With the right guidelines, they can:
- Find and hire the right talent — employees who are aligned with brand values and can provide positive customer service experiences
- Train staff with materials that highlight all the key skills, branding guidelines, and procedures followed by other business locations
- Create a unified brand atmosphere with the prescribed equipment, technology, decor, and furniture
- Present the brand message and visual identity to the local market
However, it’s also important to continually track the progress based on the KPIs of a business. Based on that data, analyze what can be improved in your service processes, provide continual training for the staff, and streamline tasks.
MyTime is a software for franchise management that franchisees can use to see their profits, manage bookings, create marketing campaigns, and more. It can help you achieve consistent branding with features like centralized booking, pricing, client communication, and business analytics.
Brand Consistency Is a Mutual Effort
Franchisors and franchisees work together to reach a common goal — one of them is brand consistency. Ultimately, both want the business to succeed. Both want to provide the best experience to their spa or salon clients.
Franchisors use their frontline experiences to provide franchisees with initial materials and communicate brand standards.
Franchisees need feedback to identify what facets of their service can be improved.
MyTime helps franchisees and franchisors communicate with each other. It does so by providing Franchisors with tools to monitor Franchisee marketing, sales, and booking activities allowing them to provide feedback on brand consistency. Also, it gives the franchisor all the data they need to support lower-performing locations and respond quickly.
Grow Your Franchise With MyTime While Staying on Brand
For multi-site businesses like spas, wellness centers, or salons, maintaining a consistent brand image across all sites is crucial. It’s not just about having a strong brand presence; it’s also about delivering top-notch services that complement your branding.
To get there, franchisees need support — both from the right tools and franchisors themselves. MyTime is franchise management software that can help you with that.
No matter how big your franchise gets, the easiest way to standardize practices and stay consistent is by managing your business operations in one place.
Book a free demo and get started today.
