We are very thankful for all of the race directors, timers, partners, and runners who used RunSignup yesterday. We are also thankful that our self-serve technology worked so well (and that we didn’t have too many support calls!).
At RunSignup, we always want to share our data on the trends and drivers of registrations to provide relevant and actionable information to our customers and the industry at large. Here is our review of 2016 & 2017 Turkey Trot statistics.
SignUp
While there are more Turkey Trots, as reported by RunningUSA, it looks like RunSignup continues to gain market share. Returning races saw an average growth of 2.8% in registrations from 2016 to 2017. Of races hosted on RunSignup in 2016 with at least 100 participants, only 8 were cancelled in 2017.
| Thanksgiving Day | 2016 | 2017 |
| # of Races | 253 | 340 |
| # Registrations | 307,805 | 382,255 |
| # Races Online SignUp on Thanksgiving | 88 | 115 |
| # Thanksgiving Day Registrations | 4,271 | 4,499 |
Promotion
We looked at the impact of RunSignup Referral Rewards between October 1st and Thanksgiving Day in 2016 and 2017, as most races will issue referral rewards in the months leading up to their race. It looks like more races are being more aggressive with Referral Rewards. It is also nice to see a Cost per Acquisition of less than $1, given that typical Facebook ad costs are around $5-10 per acquired customer.
| October 1st – Thanksgiving Day | 2016 | 2017 |
| # of Referred Registrations | 9,296 | 21,959 |
| % of Registrations | 4% | 10% |
| # of Referral Refunds | 1,972 | 1,548 |
| Estimated Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) | $2.31 | $0.77 |
| Estimated Return on Investment | 1,526% | 5,846% |
We also took a look at how emails, Google, and Facebook posts targeting potential participants during the month of November convert to registrations for the top 10 Thanksgiving Day races on RunSignup. While races emphasize different marketing channels, we generally see that email blasts, price increases, and coupons are the most effective ways to drive registrations. It’s interesting to note that the top 10 Thanksgiving Day races did not do Facebook campaigns like some of the more sophisticated race series do.
| Email: # Registration Conversions | Google Search: # Registration Conversions | Facebook Ad: # Registration Conversions |
| 1,534 | 1,651 | 44 |
| 184 | 343 | 145 |
| 1,198 | 101 | 1 |
| 383 | 4 | 61 |
| 479 | 7 | 17 |
| 23 | 138 | 6 |
| 574 | 173 | 8 |
| 41 | 1,234 | 54 |
| 216 | 279 | 15 |
| 1,074 | 1,391 | 47 |
Check-In
There was modest growth of our check-in app this year. 2018 will bring a brand new version of the app, which will make things even simpler to meet the needs of more races.
| Thanksgiving Day | 2016 | 2017 |
| # Races using Check-In App | 36 | 40 |
| # Check-Ins | 57,000 | 66,926 |
Results
Turkey Trots are typically not the most competitive races of the year, but there is still a lot of enthusiasm for people wanting to know their time and share their experience. We continue to see growth in the use of our Results platform and scoring software, as well as good initial uptake on our free Photo platform. Also of note is the >50% growth in overall pageviews on Thanksgiving Day – people looking at Photos and Results as well as last minute race information. And primarily on their mobile devices (85%!).
| Thanksgiving | 2016 | 2017 |
| # Races using RSU Results | 142 | 190 |
| # Results Uploaded | 136,000 | |
| # Races using Notifications | 56 | 73 |
| # Notifications | 74,000 | 112,937 |
| Pageviews on Thanksgiving | 566,000 | 868,000 |
| % Pageviews from Mobile | 83% | 85% |
| Finishers scored by The Race Director | 278,673 | |
| # Races using Photos | 11 | |
| # Photos Uploaded | 10,602 |
If you are interested in more trend data like this, visit RunSignup.com/Trends for our annual Registration Trends Report with Running USA. And stay tuned for an updated report coming in February.