Industry best practice is under 5 minutes — but most franchise brands aren't close. According to the FranFunnel Franchise Lead Response Time Study · 530 brands · fielded March–April 2025, 44% of franchise brands never sent a personal reply — just an automated acknowledgment, or nothing at all. Among brands that did reply, the average time to a first email reply was 9.1 hours. Under 5 minutes is the benchmark. Under 60 seconds is what wins.
Speed matters because a franchise candidate filling out a form is in a moment of peak intent. That window closes fast. The same candidate likely submitted to two or three other brands at the same time. Whoever responds first controls the conversation — and first contact is one of the strongest predictors of whether a lead books a meeting at all.
The practical implication: responding quickly can't depend on a rep being at their desk. A franchise lead that comes in at 9pm on a Friday needs the same response as one that comes in Monday morning. That's why the brands with the highest contact rates use automated first contact — a personalized text fires in under 60 seconds from submission, regardless of time zone or day of week, and keeps the conversation moving until a rep is ready to take over.
For a deeper look at response time benchmarks and what the data says about how franchise brands actually perform, speed-to-lead research.