Boft Franchise Promotion: How We Found Customers in 27 Countries

Boft is an international chain of automatic photo printing machines, present in over 140 cities worldwide. The company manufactures both the machines and software in-house. Boft operates in both B2C, attracting users to print photos, and B2B, selling franchises.

The client approached us with the task of generating a steady stream of franchise applications in the countries where they operate, using paid ads.

Boft had experience running ads campaigns, but there was no paid ads specialist on the team, so no one on the client’s side could properly analyze the results.

We needed to establish a systematic approach to ads campaigns to attract more franchise applications. We defined a lead as a user who made initial contact with the company by filling out a form on the website.

At the start, we analyzed some target markets and found that Boft had few direct competitors in the franchise space. No one was promoting franchises through digital channels, so there were no examples or established guidelines for popular creative assets or approaches. We began with our own experience and market research as a foundation.

The advertising campaign was planned for Facebook and Instagram. Before launching, we created a CJM that outlined the process up until the contract was signed.

Our goal was to increase the volume of applications while improving their quality. We aimed to attract an audience that was ready to discuss the details of cooperation and, ultimately, to sign a franchise contract.

The core audience consists of mid-to-upper-level managers, entrepreneurs, and individuals interested in investment. We focused on people with above-average incomes who have «spare» funds to start a small, quick-return business.

To reach these audiences, we used interest and behavior-based targeting, along with the user database the client already had.

The layouts were provided by the client, and our team developed the offers to accompany them. All creatives featured straightforward and clear messaging.

In each offer, we described the essence of the proposal, the investment amount required, and the estimated payback period.

We tested various formats, including static images, carousels, and videos. Ultimately, we chose to keep only the static images. Although the video format generated a lot of clicks, it did not lead to conversion on the website.

We initially planned to run the campaign to generate applications directly on the website. However, the launch coincided with new advertising restrictions introduced by Apple’s iOS 14.5 update. The client did not have a verified domain, and the pixel was not yet set up, so while we were installing and prioritizing ads, we decided to test the audience using a traffic objective.

We divided all countries of operation into three regional groups:

• Latin America
• Europe
• Asia

As a result of the test run, ads were only displayed in countries with the lowest impression and click costs. Countries with higher purchasing power received little to no impressions due to intense competition in the advertising auction, yielding no results in those areas.

For example, we ran ads across all countries in the Asian region, but most impressions were concentrated in Saudi Arabia. In contrast, impressions in Japan and South Korea were almost nonexistent.

The test period confirmed the need to optimize ads for the conversion objective. We further segmented the campaign by geographic region, grouping countries with similar CPM values based on data from the first week of impressions.

The results in each of the groups:

Latin America: We received many low-cost leads, but their quality was quite low. Many users showed initial interest, yet only a small percentage followed through to a call with the manager.

Asia: Users actively clicked on the ads, but fewer completed applications, and the CPA was higher than in other regions. The conversion rate from application to call was also low.

Europe: Europe yielded the best results overall. However, due to the large number of countries in this group, we further segmented them by CPM:

• Expensive
• Medium-priced
• Cheap

After several months of campaign management, we decided to stop showing ads in Latin America and Asia. Leads from these regions were of low quality and came at an unreasonably high cost. The freed-up budget was reallocated to test advertising specifically in Japan and the USA.

1. Why did we choose Japan?

Japan had been grouped with South Korea, but due to its high CPM, it received fewer impressions. We saw significant potential in the Japanese market and aimed to gather more representative results to assess if applications and conversions into calls would increase from this region.

As a result of the test campaign, we found that while the Japanese audience was interested in the offer, they were not yet ready to take serious action. Further research and adaptation of the campaign were needed, but we lacked the time and resources to pursue this.

2. Why the US?

In the US, the client was renewing relationships with partners who had curated franchises there. Additionally, US users are among the most financially capable in the world and show strong interest in investing in profitable projects.

Despite the high CPM, the US audience delivered impressive results:

CTR

2.47

%

CR in a lead

24

%

CPL

4

$

Total Leads

541

Average CPL

7

$

After extensive testing and optimizations, we decided to focus solely on European countries, where we achieved the best cost-per-lead to application quality ratio.

Ads were shown in high-cost countries during the Christmas season, a period when the advertising auction is particularly competitive. By this time, the CRM database had been enriched with new ad contacts, which we used to build a look-alike audience in Europe. As a result, we successfully obtained high-quality leads at an improved CPL.

In the six months we’ve worked with Boft, we’ve made significant progress through numerous experiments. We successfully identified the best regions for obtaining high-quality leads and demonstrated that targeted advertising can be effective in a challenging niche like franchise promotion.

Key Observations from the Project:

• Thorough Market Research: Before launching in a new country, it’s essential to research not only advertising specifics but also the local mentality, financial well-being of the target audience, their interests, and the optimal language for the ads. This groundwork helps in creating personalized creatives that drive purchases.
• Budget Allocation: It’s generally better not to split budgets across campaigns. Our case was an exception, as extensive testing was needed to identify countries with the lowest-cost, highest-quality leads.
• Concise Messaging in Europe: European users tend to dislike storytelling and lengthy texts. They want to understand the product immediately, with straightforward information about what it offers.