What franchises should look for in an email service provider

Franchise marketers know that their job comes with a set of unique challenges. So naturally, the tools they use need to be designed with those same challenges in mind. A couple of examples: You have to address the individual needs of multiple locations, yet somehow maintain a cohesive brand image across all of them. You want to empower your franchisees, but at the same time ensure you're providing a consistent experience.

That’s why it’s especially important for franchise marketers to keep a few considerations in mind while choosing an email service provider (ESP). And to be fully transparent, we offer all of these things here at Emma, but we also know there are a lot of other great options out there and we’re not the perfect fit for everyone. So here are five things you’ll want to look for when shopping around to ensure your platform works for you (and not the other way around).

1. One central admin

To start, a tiered or parent-child account structure is a must-have for franchises. This allows you to set up sub-accounts for every location – each with its own set of user permissions – and easily manage them from one central account. It gives you the ability to give franchisees as much freedom as you would like without losing your central authority.

2. Asset sharing

A huge need in the world of franchise marketing? Controlling your brand identity. So be sure to find an ESP that allows you to share creative assets — like logos, images, and templates — with one, 50, or all of your franchisees to ensure a consistent brand experience. Bonus points if the ESP lets you lock down certain parts of the design to give you total control over what franchisees can and can’t edit.

3. Easy to use across the board

Having control is nice, but that doesn’t mean you should (or even have the bandwidth to) do it all. Empower your franchisees with a feature set makes it easy for them to create and send email campaigns that look great and get great results.

4. Homepage dashboard

It’s not necessarily a must, but definitely a “nice-to-have.” A homepage dashboard allows you to see what’s happening at all locations and drill into individual franchisee accounts with ease. The at-a-glance view of most recent activity and results lets you quickly identify which locations are nailing it and which ones could use a little help.

5. Help when you need it

Speaking of a little help, even the savviest marketers sometimes need an extra hand or some strategic advice. Finding an ESP that goes beyond basic customer support and offers strategic, design, or technical services can help you and your franchisees hit your goals that much faster.

Hope this info is helpful while you’re shopping for a new ESP. And if you’d like to try out our Franchise Edition, just get in touch! We’ll happily let you take it for a test drive.