Franchise Thought Leaders Share Insights on Tracking Marketing Performance
How do you measure the return on a franchise marketing campaign?
That’s the question we posed to these franchise professionals — and it’s one that franchisors and franchisees wrestle with. As their perspectives below reveal, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
Some franchise marketers stress the importance of analyzing marketing campaigns at both the corporate and local levels to improve clarity and alignment, while others prioritize closing deals over traditional measurements, such as cost per lead (CPL), social media impressions and cost per acquisition (CPA). These insights come from firsthand experience working with franchisors and franchise owners to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) in real time.
And as franchising continues to grow — with the International Franchise Association’s 2025 Franchise Economic Outlook pointing to continued gains in units, jobs and overall economic impact — the pressure to measure what really works in marketing is only increasing.
The following franchise thought leaders make it clear that marketing campaigns are more likely to succeed when franchisors and franchisees work together and effectively tell the brand’s story.
Bottom row, from left to right: Timur Csillik, Sebastian Aguirre, Ozan Salih
Michelle Hummel
“Measuring ROI in franchise marketing requires looking at performance on two levels: brand impact at the corporate level and revenue-driving results at the local franchisee level. At its foundation, ROI starts with alignment. Every campaign must be tied to a clear objective, unit-level sales growth, lead generation, grand-opening traction or franchise development support. Without that clarity, results become subjective rather than measurable.” — Michelle Hummel
Jack Monson
“I’m no longer interested in old-school ROI measurements such as leads, impressions, cost per lead and cost per acquisition. The only thing we should measure now is the number of franchise deals closed from our marketing campaigns.” — Jack Monson
William Siegel
“Marketing initiatives, ROI and KPIs should be readily available to the corporate marketing team and franchisees to review with up-to-the-minute updates.” — William Siegel
Timur Csillik
“We are extremely data-driven regarding our KPIs. We have predefined objectives and key results (OKRs) for each marketing channel and revisit them on a biweekly basis. Our main indicators are 1) CAC (customer acquisition cost) 2) average lifetime value and 3) average basket size.” — Timur Csillik
Sebastian Aguirre
“Assessing the ROI of a franchise marketing campaign involves analyzing several metrics, which include marketing investments with measurable business outcomes.” — Sebastian Aguirre
Ozan Salih
“My perspective tends to focus less on individual campaign tactics and more on how franchisors and operators can think about ROI at the unit, cohort and network level – particularly where consistency, repeatability and long-term unit economics matter.” — Ozan Salih
