Join us as we take a deep dive into frandev trends in Q1 of 2025, exploring the search volume for franchise-related keywords, how that volume has fluctuated since 2022, and what we expect to see in the months ahead.
Here at Reshift Media, we work with dozens of franchise organizations to cultivate their franchise lead pipeline using digital marketing strategies. We’re also the inventors and owners of Franify, which is the world’s most popular franchise development digital marketing platform. As such, we like to examine the data available to us to stay on top of franchise lead generation trends.
We’ve compiled our findings into a free video, exploring how many people are searching for franchise-related keywords, how that interest has changed since 2022, what we expect to see for the rest of 2025, and what actions franchise organizations should take in the months ahead. Watch it now:
Using Google Trends, we looked at how many people have been actively searching for franchise-related terms such as “best franchise to own” and “franchise opportunities.” This allows us to approximate interest based on how much or how frequently people are searching for franchise development terms on Google. As you can see from this chart, which spans from January 2022 to April 2025, interest in franchising terms in Canada declined in Jan-April 2025, despite Q1 historically being the strongest period of the year for franchise leads.
Interestingly, Q1’s decreased interest is not reflected in the United States data. While franchise interest in Canada decreased 13% YOY, interest increased in the US by 12%. Typically, the Canadian data largely follows the trend lines of the US, but in 2025, there have been a lot of macroeconomic factors at play, including tariffs, international trade disruptions, and volatile stock markets. While the global economic uncertainty appears to have dampened Canadians’ interest in starting a business, the sentiment does not appear to be shared by those in the US.
We also looked at Q1’s ad performance in our Franify system. While each franchise organization’s performance has varied, in aggregate, we see that the click-through rate (which indicates the likelihood of users clicking an ad when they see it) was weaker than usual in Q1. We typically see a decrease in CTR in autumn going into the holidays, but it usually rebounds in the new year. In Jan-March 2025, we saw lower than normal CTRs, though we did see a slight improvement in April.
Despite the slower-than-expected start to 2025, we’re already seeing signs that anxiety over economic turbulence has begun to lessen, while the fundamentals of franchising remain very encouraging. Franchise organizations should have a strong marketing strategy in place to take advantage of increased franchise purchase interest in the months ahead. Check out our video for strategies. Need customized help? Contact our digital marketing experts.
