The document outlines strategies for utilizing data analytics, specifically through RaceInsights, to enhance marketing efforts for races. It emphasizes the importance of tracking registrations, transactions, and demographics to make informed decisions, optimize marketing activities, and boost participant engagement. Key recommendations include implementing loyalty and referral programs, analyzing marketing performance, and using custom source tracking for effective campaign management.

1. RaceInsights Analytics
Using Your Data to Drive Strategy

2. Hello!
Johanna Goode
Andrew Burke
We like RaceInsights.`
You can find us at:
johanna@runsignup.com
andrew@runsignup.com

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Why Use Data for Marketing
❖ Spend money smarter. Data helps races make better decisions.
❖ Create better content. When you know what works, you know what to create.
❖ Be bolder. When you have access to the results, you have the confidence to
try something new (once).

4. ““Half the money I spend on
advertising is wasted; the trouble
is, I don’t know which half.”
- John Wanamaker

5. Find Your Baseline
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❖ How many registrations, transactions, and
donations did you have last year?
❖ How many of each in the previous years?
❖ Is there a seasonal pattern to your
registrations or donations?
❖ What were your previous marketing
strategies?

6. Data Sources
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Our Source: RaceInsights & GiveInsights. RunSignup’s integrated analytics engine
tracks every click, registration, transaction, ticket purchase, and donation on your
RunSignup website to track the real value of a marketing strategy.
Other data sources:
❖ Google Analytics
❖ Facebook Insights
❖ Instagam Metrics
❖ Google Adwords, Adroll, et.

7. Basic Conversion Definitions
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A Conversion is when someone takes a desired action (such as registering or
purchasing a ticket)
Pageviews: Each view of any page
on your RunSignup website
Signups: Registrations
Transactions: Money paid to the
race for any reason
Signup $: Money paid to the race
specifically for registrations
Donation $: Money paid to the race
for donations

8. Website Traffic Definitions
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Direct Traffic: Traffic that cannot be tied to another source. This can include visitors who type in the URL
directly, use a bookmark, or come to the site from a QR code or untagged email. In RunSignup, imported
participants also show as direct.
Referral Source: Traffic that comes to your site from a link or another application
Common Referral Sources
Search Engines: A search engine like Google, Yahoo,
or Bing.
Social Media: Most commonly, Facebook, Instagram,
or Twitter. They can show in different ways:
facebook.com and l.facebook.com are web views;
m.facebook.com and lm.facebook.com are mobile
views.
Race Calendars: Common calendars include
RunningInTheUSA.com or halfmarathons.net, but you
will also see referrals from a calendar on the website
of a local timer, club, or running store.
Your Website: If you have a non-RunSignup website
that links to registration, you will see your main site
as the referral source.

9. Examples of Sources in
RaceInsights
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Each conversion type on the previous slide can be attributed to a source like these:

10. Types of Email Sources
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Emails from the system: Emails sent from the RunSignup System will show up with the name of the email
that it is tied to (both manual & automated emails)
Emails from other races: Emails from a different race, club, or partner on RunSignup sends that leads to a
view or registration. This includes emails who link to RunSignup, where the potential participant then uses
the search function.
Email Definitions for RaceInsights

11. Custom Source Tracking
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Custom source tracking allows you to create a unique link that you can
use for specific marketing actions to track their results. RaceInsights will
then show that specific source and the registrations, transactions,
donations, and page views from that marketing action.
Promotion -> Source Tracking -> Source Tracking Codes

12. Custom Source Tracking
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Use Custom Source Tracking Links for:
❖ Facebook ads
❖ Email sends not from RunSignup
❖ Email blasts from outside groups like a marketing agency or a local gym
❖ Add dollar amounts for the campaign to track the ROI of specific actions

13. Get Started: Set Your Goals
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Decide what KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) will demonstrate success in
your campaign. Common goals for races include:
❖ More website visits
❖ More registrations
❖ More transaction dollars
❖ More donations
❖ Less money spent on marketing
❖ Less time spent on marketing
You have to understand your goals to evaluate your success

14. Track Your Marketing Activity
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Track ALL marketing activities on a central calendar so you can connect
actions to swings in your conversions. These actions include:
❖ Facebook ads
❖ Email sends
❖ Coupon code shares
❖ Special events
❖ Price increases
❖ Instagram campaigns
❖ Media
❖ Race ambassador
actions

15. Transactions Reports
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16. Transactions and Registrations
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17. Take Action with
Transaction Reports
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❖ Use your previous year’s data to
understand the impact of price
increases and marketing activities
❖ Compare your curve to the average
❖ Test out marketing in slow vs. heavy
registration periods to see what has
the biggest impact

18. Promotion Reports:
Loyalty
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19. Loyalty: Repeat Participants
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The graphics are pretty,
but it’s those buttons at
the bottom that are
actionable.

20. Loyalty: Repeat Participants
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21. “18% of participants
return to a race in the
subsequent year

22. Marketing to Non-Returning
Participants
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❖ Email to remind participants to return - include pictures and
references to previous events to remind them how much fun it is!
❖ Create a Facebook Custom Audience
➢ Create an ad with pictures of the previous years to target non-
returning runners
➢ Create a Lookalike Audience for all previous participants to find
new runners to replace non-returners.

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Facebook Custom Audiences allow you to target
ads at specific people on a or to create Lookalike
Audiences of people with similar characteristics
to those on your list.
❖ Custom Audiences can take into account a
person’s Lifetime Value (LTV)
❖ Custom Audience Reports can be downloaded at
Promotion -> Facebook Custom Audiences
❖ You can also create Custom Audience Reports
with more filters in CRM
Facebook Custom Audiences

24. Marketing to Repeat
Participants
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❖ Emails to repeat participants: include encouragement
to invite friends and family
❖ Create a Facebook Custom Audience for a targeted ad
❖ Create a Loyalty Program (details ahead)
❖ Promote a Referral Rewards Program (details ahead)

25. Creating a Loyalty Program
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A Loyalty Program opens registration to priority registrants before the general public. You can
create a Loyalty Program of previous participants to reward them for their participation and
make them feel valued.
Race -> Registration -> Loyalty Program
❖ Makes returning participants feel special and encourages them to lock in registration
early
❖ Motivates others to register so that they can access early registration in subsequent
years
❖ A small discount or loyalty-only swag can create extra motivation in a Loyalty Program

26. Promotion Reports:
Referrals
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Referral Report
Promotion, Referrals
Report. ROI is Return on
Investment and is
calculated:
Net profit/Investment

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Referrals allow you to generate codes for participants and track the registrations
they refer. You can use rewards - automated refunds, swag, or a combination of
the two - to encourage referrals. Example:
Example:
❖ $75 Registration
❖ $20 Refund for 5 Referrals ($20 refund vs. $375 in registrations)
❖ Full Refund for 15 Referrals ($75 refund vs. $1,125 in registrations)
❖ Premium Jacket ($60) for 20 Referrals ($135 for $1,500 in registrations)
Creating a Referral Program

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Low Completion Rate
❖ While many participants will
refer someone, most will not
reach the threshold for a
reward
❖ You’ll owe a refund for 5
referrals...but if they refer 1-4,
that’s still valuable to you,
with no refund owed
Why Referral Rewards Works
High Loyalty Rate
❖ The participants that DO make
the effort to refer enough
participants to earn a reward
are valuable assets. By
rewarding them, you make
them feel more connected
and loyal to your race

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Referral Rewards Results
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Registrations for every
refund (when referral
rewards are enabled)

31. Promotion Reports:
Coupons
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Coupon Report

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Coupon usage is ballooning. Make sure you aren’t over-discounting your event:
❖ Set time limits on coupons to make them stronger calls to action.
❖ Pre-set your coupon plan ahead of time and stick to it.
Getting the Most Out of Coupons
Watch the ROI.
If it’s falling, you
may be over-using
coupons.

34. Demographic Reports:
Age and Gender
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Demographic Reports
Available Reports:
❖ Registrations by Age
❖ Registrations by Gender
❖ Registrations by City
❖ Registrations by State
❖ Registrations by Country
❖ Participant Heat Map

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Demographic Reports: Age &
Gender
Compare your demographic reports to the national averages.

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Gender
❖ Women are still a majority of
participants. Include them in
your advertisements, and offer
gender-specific sizing to make
women feel welcome.
Take Action with Demographics
Age
❖ Boost your margins with a
kids race, age-based pricing,
and an emphasis on age
group awards and a Master’s
Division.
❖ Mix up your advertising to
reach different groups - social
media and FOMO are key for
Millenials & GenXers.

38. Demographic Reports:
Location
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Demographic Reports: Location
The “Download CSV” on the Participant Heat Map gives you a view of
everyone’s zip code.

40. Take Action With Location
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❖ Target advertising to hot spot zip codes
❖ Reach out to running clubs and make connections with community
leaders in under-represented.
❖ Try targeting a new zip code beyond your current reach to test if it’s
worth expanding your advertising

41. Registration Reports
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Registration Reports
Available Reports:
❖ Giveaways
❖ Question Responses
❖ Registration Periods
❖ Revenue by Event
❖ Imported Registrations
❖ Day of Week
❖ Time of Day
❖ Registrations per Day

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Take Action with
Registration Periods
❖ Decide: do you prioritize early
registrations or maximizing your
registration dollars?
❖ Try adding or adjusting price
increases to shift your revenue and
registration curve.

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Take Action with
Revenue By Event
❖ Compare your revenue by event to your expenses (and time) per event
❖ Adjust your pricing if there is a misalignment of cost and revenue, or consider changing
your event options

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Take Action with When
Runners Register
❖ Target emails to peak days and
times.
❖ Schedule coupon code releases and
special promotions when participants
are most active
❖ Run Facebook ads when runners are
most likely to register

46. RaceInsights in CRM
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RaceInsights in CRM
Source Insight Data is Now Available
in your CRM
❖ No historical data, so moving forward from
9/24/2019
❖ Filter participants, fundraisers, donors, and
club members by source - either a custom
source (from a tracking link) or from a link
including a work (like Facebook or
RunSignup)

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Take Action with
RaceInsights in CRM
❖ Use a Facebook custom ad to target participants who came to any of your races from
Facebook
❖ Send an extra email to participants who came from an email send
❖ Send a personalized invitation to register and a coupon to anyone who joined from a
specific affiliate link (like a local gym or running club)

49. RaceInsights Success
Story
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Build a Complete Picture of
Marketing Performance
Challenges:
This large race wanted to:
❖ Allocate marketing spend effectively
❖ Do A/B testing on segmented email audiences to test the relative success of
types of email layouts and conversions
❖ Target participants who register on Facebook with Facebook ads about their
referral program

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Custom Source Tracking Setup

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Follow-Up Steps
From this setup, the race:
❖ Compared the results on emails to determine their future email styles and
calls to action
❖ Used comparative success of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to determine
how much marketing money to put towards each
❖ Used the CRM to build a list of registrants from social media, and created
targeted ads around referral rewards, as well as creating a Lookalike
Audience to target.

53. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at:
johanna@runsignup.com
andrew@runsignup.com
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