Highlights and Takeaways from the 2024 Franchise Customer Experience Conference (FCXC)

More than 350 attendees and many top executives in franchise marketing converged at the 2024 Franchise Customer Experience Conference (FCXC) in Atlanta, June 17-20. The agenda covered a wide range of “customer experience-related” topics including operations, technology, branding, consumer marketing, and more.

The FCXC, presented by Franchise Update Media and the IFA, is the only event of its kind, designed specifically for franchise executives focused on enhancing the customer experience. It offered unique insights and strategies focusing on the latest trends in technology, AI, and consumer demands so franchises can provide a better, faster, and more efficient experience for their customers.

The integration of Artificial intelligence (AI) into many facets of franchise operations was a popular topic throughout the conference. The ongoing development in AI technology and its potential applications in consumer marketing, franchisee benchmarking, training, recruitment, and more, was a major part of many discussions during the event.

FCXC featured keynote speakers, general and breakout sessions, and a sold-out Sponsor Networking Area. It revealed key findings from the Annual Franchise Marketing Report (AFMR), recognized winners of the 2024 Franchise Innovation Awards, and provided time for attendees to connect, learn, and potentially strike new deals.

This year the conference added to its C-suite-focused Summits by launching a third workshop. The perennial CEO Summit and the relatively new CMO/COO Summit were joined by the CTO Summit this year. The intensive sessions sought to provide an interactive and informational forum that resulted in meaningful takeaways for those who participated.

Mike Walsh, a best-selling author and CEO of Innovation Research Lab, served as this year's keynote speaker. He talked about what it will mean to live in an AI world from a customer and employment experience perspective. “AI will make every company a technology company,” he said as he tossed out what he called “mind grenades” of his thoughts and observations. “Does AI have us at the dawn of a new industrial revolution?” he asked. His overall message was for people to find ways that AI can make them a better leader and how it can create more value in their company.

FRANdata president Darrell Johnson presented his economic report, which showed mixed customer sentiment. Consumers are worried about inflation, and even though wages are rising, interest rates remain high. However, Gen Z is poised to become the dominant spending force in the next decade, and this group relies more on social media than search engines to discover brands. Johnson also said that AI is changing operations in areas such as training, franchisee support, automating task predictive analytics, and even customer feedback management.

The second day featured a general session and case study of Batteries Plus, followed by announcements of the Innovation Award winners, and takeaways from the 2024 Annual Franchise Marketing Report (AFMR). That was followed by one more General Session Panel, “Monetizing the Customer Experience Across Disciplines – How to build a CX program that drives top and bottom-line revenue.”

The afternoon then featured a number of breakout sessions including “Using Data to Create Personalized Marketing Experiences,” “Maintaining Consistent Customer Experiences Across the System,” and “What to Do With a Botched Tech Rollout.” Other afternoon sessions included sessions including titles such as “Marketing Programs That Maximize Spend, Execution & Results,” “Using AI to Improve Execution and Customer Experience,” and “Utilizing Customer Feedback & Data to Improve Customer Experience.”

New to the FCXC this year was a fully interactive session called “Meet Your Match with Supplier Sponsors.” Here, conference sponsors got the chance to make 2-minute business pitches with franchisors before each brand executive rotated to another sponsor spot. The rapid-fire pitches gave franchise executives a chance to learn about products and services, identify potential partners, and collect information to share with their brands.

Look for more highlights of the FCXC and information about the Franchise Innovation Award winners in the Q3 issue of Franchise Update magazine.