The customer journey has gone digital. People expect to find businesses online, check reviews, get answers quickly and move between channels without thinking twice about it.

As customer expectations have changed, so has the role of the franchisor in helping franchisees meet them. The support around a franchise needs to keep pace with the way people now discover, research and choose a business.

Here, Francesca Rau, Head of Marketing at Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries, looks at how franchisors can use technology and data to make that support more useful, more proactive and, ultimately, to make life easier for the people running their businesses.

Support cannot stand still

Running a franchise today looks very different from running one five years ago. Customer habits have shifted, digital channels play a much bigger role and franchisees have more information to keep on top of than ever before. Good franchise support has to move with that.

Franchisees have invested in a brand because they want the benefits of being part of something bigger, including expertise they wouldn’t necessarily have access to on their own. It’s up to the franchisor to keep building on that promise as new challenges emerge.

At Monkey Puzzle, recent investments include nursery management, customer relationship management, marketing and business performance. We’ve also developed a bespoke platform that brings these areas together, giving franchisees one clear view of performance, from customer enquiries to their online presence. For busy franchisees, that means less time moving between different platforms and an easier way to see what matters most.

Less admin, more value

Of course, introducing more technology for the sake of it isn’t the answer. Nobody running a business wants five different platforms to check before they’ve even started their day. A useful system should give something back.

That might sound simple, but it matters. Franchisees should be spending their time leading their teams, speaking to customers and growing their businesses, rather than piecing together information from several places.

Keeping up with the customer

The customer journey has changed just as quickly – and the first interaction is now very likely to happen online. For a nursery, parents might find a setting by exploring the website, looking at reviews and making an enquiry – all before having a conversation with anyone.

Franchise support has to recognise this. Our work across websites, SEO, paid search and online reputation helps our settings manage these different touchpoints.

That support goes beyond providing the tools. We want to empower our franchisees by educating them on what influences their online visibility and reputation, so they can make informed decisions and take practical steps to strengthen their nursery’s local presence, with our team there to offer deeper support when needed.

It means franchisees are supported in delivering a brilliant experience within their nursery and making the customer journey as smooth as possible. The digital support should ultimately make it easier for nursery teams to turn initial interest into meaningful relationships with families.

Knowing when to step in

One of the real advantages of having better data is knowing when to step in. By keeping an eye on occupancy, enquiries, tours, registrations, staffing, quality and digital performance, we can get a feel for how a nursery is doing and where a little extra support could help.

It’s just as useful when making bigger decisions. When we’re looking at potential new nursery locations, we use demographic and catchment analysis from a location intelligence platform – which helps us understand the local area and gives franchisees more to work with before making such a significant investment.

For us, it’s about joining the dots. The numbers can point us in the right direction, but it’s the conversations and experience behind them that turn that information into something genuinely useful.

More time for what matters

With all the talk around automation and AI, it’s easy to think that the more technology we use, the less personal business becomes. But when it’s working properly, it should actually give people more time to be people.

That’s especially true in early years education. A parent may start their search online, but choosing who will care for their child is incredibly personal – and no system can replace the conversations, relationships and trust that come with that.

Franchising is no different. Having clever tools behind the scenes is valuable, but the real opportunity is using them to give franchisees more time and headspace to focus on running a great business.

For franchisors, that’s what smarter support should be all about. As the way people run, find and choose businesses continues to change, our job is to keep evolving with it and give franchisees what they need to make the most of the opportunities ahead.