5 Takeaways From the 2025 Franchise Customer Experience Conference (FCXC) for Marketers

If you missed it or attended but couldn’t be everywhere at once, we put together the following takeaways and highlights from FXCX for franchise marketers.

This year’s Franchise Customer Experience Conference (FCXC) highlighted a franchise ecosystem grappling with rapid technological advancements (hello AI 👋), a challenging economic landscape, and the enduring need for human connection. The central themes revolved around the strategic integration of AI, the evolving dynamics of customer experience, and the importance of franchisee engagement during economic headwinds.

And while AI was definitely a main topic of conversation, many back-to-basics and foundational best practices were highlighted as key ways to engage new and retain existing customers as they demand more from brands today than ever before.

 

Takeaway 1: Embrace AI as an Enabler, Not a Replacement

As the opening keynote session pointed out, AI isn’t about replacing people; it’s about removing what gets in their way. The synergy between humans and AI is clear: humans build trust, while AI delivers speed and consistency. As Mario Castrejon, VP of Marketing, FranNet pointed out, “the most effective applications of AI are those that handle the manual tasks and heavy lifting, simplifying processes rather than adding complexity.”

A few practice applications of AI we heard throughout the conference included:

• Simplified Action Plans: Use AI to create simplified action plans for Franchise Business Coaches (FBCs) to better understand and coach franchisees. AI can also be used to ensure the action plan gets executed and everyone is held accountable.
• Internal Chatbots: Similar to the above, create AI chatbots (such as Edible Brands is doing) to provide franchisees with instant answers from playbooks and historical data, reducing calls to FBCs.
• Omni-channel Support Desks: Use AI to handle repeatable customer questions, freeing FBCs to be coaches, not just answerers.
• CX Tools: Explore AI-powered inbound and outbound front desk tools for appointment-based businesses to enhance upsell, cross-sell, and seamless booking.
• Talent Acquisition: Use AI tools to cull through applications for employee recruitment and to identify best-fit candidates.

 

The panel of Edible Brands executives also reminded us of the need for company-wide policies needed around AI—reinforcing concerns around legal implications, data security (“do not put anything proprietary into the platform”), the need for internal AI centers of excellence, and the challenge of regulating open LLMs. Some brands are looking to mitigate those concerns by building their own in-house (and therefore secure), AI tools to drive adoption while meeting the riding security and privacy needs.

 

“AI isn’t about replacing people, it’s about removing what gets in their way. Humans build trust. AI brings speed and consistency. It works best when the tech is actually doing the heavy lifting instead of creating more complexity.” Mario Castrejon, VP of Marketing, FranNet

Takeaway 2: Harness Your Data for Unified Intelligence

The foundation of modern franchising lies in centralized and normalized data. It’s no longer enough to just collect data; you need to know the story it’s telling and how best to use it. Every marketer’s success hinges on their ability to harness and use data, and so we’ve seen more marketers than ever before leveraging Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards, Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), and MarTech integrations. A unified data set provides multiple benefits to move faster and smarter:

• Clear, actionable insights to improve marketing performance and drive friendly and healthy competition among franchisees
• Empower Franchise Business Coaches (FBCs) with the intel needed for effective coaching
• Up-level team members day-to-day by removing manual tasks to focus on real needle-moving initiatives
• Reliable data set to feed LLMs and AI initiatives

 

With two-thirds of retail orgs having consumer data spread across 90 multiple systems, many marketers are still working to unify fragmented data before they can fully leverage AI for data-analysis. Consistent data collection processes and standardized definitions are crucial to having clean data to use in not only AI, but refining digital strategies such as advanced personalization, sequencing, and up / cross-selling.

 

Takeaway 3: Double Down on Franchisee Engagement and Alignment

In times of uncertainty, increased communication with your franchisees was a top tip provided by many session speakers and panelists. Franchisee engagement should be a core KPI that brands actively track through surveys and open dialogue, while acknowledging the margin pressures many franchisees are feeling and bringing them into the conversation regarding fee structures and supply chain costs can be ways to stay aligned during times of uncertainty and change.

 

“If you don’t know what every single one of your franchisees is thinking, they’re probably thinking something negative.” Dawn Perry, Chief Brand Officer, CertaPro Painters

 

Critical to success is alignment: asking customers what they truly want and ensuring this aligns with the franchisee’s vision. Remember, “it’s not what you say, it’s what they hear.” And when rolling out new initiatives, keep it simple—as Mitch Cohen advised. Rollouts should be concise, perhaps even a one-pager, focusing on the why to ensure understanding and adoption.

“Make it simple! A rollout is one page…I can’t execute a novel.” Mitch Cohen, Multi-Unit Franchisee, Sola Salon Studios and Jersey Mike’s Subs

 

Additional tips and tricks to stay aligned with franchisees provided throughout the conference includes:

• Franchisee Engagement KPIs: Beyond traditional sales or operational metrics, franchisee engagement and activities to drive performance emerged as a critical KPI.
• Communication is Key: Step up communication with franchisees in times of uncertainty. Surveying franchisees and direct conversations are essential to understand their sentiment.
• Coaching, Not Just Answering: AI tools were suggested to free up FBCs to transition from being “question answerers” to “real coaches,” providing intel and action plans.
• Navigating Financial Pressures: Acknowledgement of margin pressure at the franchisee level. Discussions on technology fees, supply chain costs, and the importance of transparent communication with franchisees about these increases.
• Simplifying Rollouts: New technology and big initiatives require high touch with a simple playbook and focusing on the why to drive adoption. 
• Supporting Local Growth: Franchisors need to empower franchisees to build their brand locally, to earn their growth and be philanthropic in their communities.

“Use AI to create simplified action plans for FBCs to understand the full picture for a franchisee and create an action plan to drive engagement and performance.” Russell Hoff, COO, Heights Wellness Retreats

Takeaway 4: Prioritize Human Connection and Local Engagement

Despite the surge in AI and digital tools, storytelling, personal connection, and the human touch were emphasized by speakers more than ever. In a market where economic expansion is limited, retaining existing customers and understanding their “why” becomes paramount.

Grassroots marketing still cuts through digital clutter, fostering word-of-mouth referrals through local business partnerships, and don’t underestimate the power of influencers, especially micro-influencers (under 50k followers), who can humanize the customer experience when expectations for partnerships are crystal clear. Additional tips and tricks to focus on creating positive experiences and moments of delight to build trust and brand equity include:

• Adapting to Changing Customer Search Behavior: Lead flow is down across the world as consumers increasingly get answers from AI. This necessitates adjusting KPI dashboards to focus on booking % via different sources, rather than just traditional lead volume.
• Customer Control & Value: Empowering customers with tools like QR codes to control their brand experience, and building value and a culture of value in the community were emphasized as crucial for success in challenging times.
• Moments of Delight: Engrain a culture of delight into your brand, by empowering employees to make someone’s day with giveaways or handwritten cards. A personal touch never dies, and as Walt Disney originally showed us, can be a powerful tool to connect with customers and create a brand advocate for life. 

“Building value is critical to be successful through challenging times. Create a culture of value in your community. A mantra of ‘maybe they’re right’ makes any idea safe, to create trust, safety and value with franchisees and the local community.” Stacey Ryan, President, School of Rock

Takeaway 5: Focus on Operational Excellence and Agility, with a Customer-First Mentality

As a marketer, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with AI and all the latest technology advancements that are changing literally every day. But that doesn’t mean you have to be an expert in everything—ensure you focus on your customer and the end goal first and foremost, and pull in resources and skillsets from there. 

Oftentimes this means getting back to fundamentals and revisiting grassroot efforts. For others, it’s revisiting your brand’s personas, brand playbook, customer research and journey. These are the building blocks to knowing your customer deeply, and when paired with a system for rapid learning and improvement will set brands up for success. Tactical tips also provided at the conference include:

• Focus on Fundamentals: Refocusing on core drivers of success: local brand trust, operational excellence (closing leads, improving average tickets), and adapting to shifting consumer expectations.
• Speed vs. Deliberation: While technology accelerates, the advice was to slow down and focus on need to do vs nice to have, but once identified, move quickly.
• Culture of Experimentation: Instilling a culture where failing is okay to encourage innovation, especially with new technologies like AI.
• LMS for Education and Engagement: Leveraging Learning Management Systems (LMS) to gamify, educate, and reward employees and franchisees.

 

“Technology is accelerating at a faster rate, everyday, more than it ever has. Slow down and focus on need to do vs nice to have, but once identified move quickly.” Kristin Kid, Chief Operations Officer, Head To Toe

 

We had a blast hearing some of the top franchise marketers in the space talk about what was working for them at FCXC and are excited to get back to helping franchise marketers tackle some of these digital challenges.

If you want to learn more about how Netsertive can help you better integrate and take back control of your digital marketing, contact us!