Getting started with RunSignup can feel a little overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be.

In this webinar, our onboarding team will highlight a series of powerful but often overlooked features that can make your race day smoother, your setup more efficient, and your participants happier. Whether you’re a first-time race director or someone who’s only scratched the surface of the dashboard, this webinar will help you discover tools you may not even know you’re missing.

Key topics include:

• Flexible Pricing Options
• Promotion and Marketing Tools
• Self-Serve Management Tools
• And more!

This session is designed for newer race directors, but even experienced users might learn something new. We’ll answer questions throughout the webinar and wrap up with live Q&A.

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Summary of Webinar 

Agenda

1. Dashboard tips & tricks

2. Flexible pricing options

3. Promotions & marketing tools

4. Donations

5. Volunteers

6. Participant management (self-serve tools)

1) Dashboard Tips & Tricks

How to find the dashboard (most common newbie question)

• Log in → click profile icon → My Races → choose race

• Or from your public race site while logged in → profile icon → Race Dashboard

Make the dashboard easier to use

• Expand the full menu so you don’t constantly hit “Show More”

• Change menu font size (small/medium/large)

• Set these under Profile → Dashboard Settings and it becomes the default across races

Menu Search (huge time saver)

• Use the menu search (upper-left of dashboard) to jump to settings quickly (example: typing “QR” surfaces “QR Codes & Links”).

2) Flexible Pricing Options

Framed as ways to:

• Incentivize signups

• Drive early registration

• Make events more appealing to families / budget-conscious runners

A) Age-Based Discounts

What it does: Automatically applies discounts based on DOB entered during registration. No promo code needed.
Example given:

• Ages 0–12 → $15

• Ages 60+ → $20

• Everyone else → default price (e.g., $25)

Where: Financial → Pricing → Age-Based Discounts
Overlooked settings: Options to display age-based pricing on:

• event tiles

• registration path
  (These are optional but recommended so people know discounts exist.)

Other options:

• exclude giveaways for discounted categories

• prevent stacking with membership discounts

B) Multi-Person Signup Pricing (Family Pricing)

Purpose: Encourage multiple registrations in one transaction.
Where: Financial → Pricing → Multi-Person Signup Pricing

Common setup example:

• “Family discount”

• 4+ registrants → Cart total is $75 (total stays $75 whether 4 or 8)

Nice feature: Auto-select multi-person pricing once the threshold is reached in cart.
Optional: prevent giveaways.

C) Coupons

Purpose: Promote race to specific audiences (partners, social followers), create urgency, track redemption.
Where: Financial → Pricing → Coupons

Example demo:

• Code: “FREEDOM”

• $5 off per registrant

• Can limit by:

  • number of transactions

  • total registrations

• Can set expirations / usage caps

Extra helpful feature: Auto-apply coupon link
→ share a link that applies the coupon automatically so participants don’t have to type the code.

3) Promotions & Marketing Tools

Key message: “Put it on RunSignup and you’re done” is a mistake. You still have to actively promote.

QR Codes & Links (built-in)

RunSignup generates QR codes for:

• signup page (registration path)

• homepage

• donations

• results

• photos

Use on flyers, posters, social posts, post-race comms.

Referral Rewards (underused, high impact for small races)

Turns participants into promoters via personal referral links/codes.

Best practices:

• Promote the referral program repeatedly (email + social + website)

• Use achievable goals + motivating rewards

• Celebrate top referrers publicly

Email Marketing (Email V2)

Positioned as one of the best marketing channels, built directly into the dashboard:

• Target specific groups

• Design polished emails

• Automations like:

  • price increase reminders

  • incomplete registration nudges

  • follow-ups

Benefit: avoids juggling external tools (Mailchimp/Constant Contact).

4) Donations

Why it matters

Adds purpose + raises revenue, especially for nonprofits or nonprofit partners.

Built into registration flow

Donation opportunity appears when participants are already engaged.

Commonly overlooked improvements:

• Add a nonprofit logo (preferably different from race logo)

• Keep description short and clear

• Customize donation levels (amounts + wording)

  • Explain what each level funds/supports

Donation at Checkout (micro-ask)

Recommend small amounts like $3, $5, $10 at checkout:

• Low pressure

• Captures donors who skipped donation page

• Doesn’t show if they already donated earlier

5) Volunteer Tool (highly overlooked)

Positioned as a replacement for spreadsheets/Google Forms.

Features:

• Create tasks + time slots (as simple or detailed as needed)

• Email volunteers only

• Custom volunteer waiver

• Custom questions (e.g., T-shirt size)

All-in-one volunteer management without external tools.

6) Participant Management (Self-Serve)

Goal: reduce RD workload by letting participants manage their own registration.

Covered tools:

• Refunds & refund policy

• Giveaway/add-on management

• Deferrals

• Event transfers

Access path for participants:
Profile → find race → Manage Registration

Refunds & Refund Policy

• Set clear policy early to reduce support requests

• Options include:

  • cutoff dates

  • percentage-based refunds over time

  • optional full refund including processing fee (note: RunSignup processing fees aren’t refundable by RunSignup—RD covers that cost)

• Encourage editing policy language to match your branding

Giveaway / Add-on Self-Serve Management

Participants can change selections (e.g., shirt size) up to a cutoff date.
Where: Participant Management → Giveaways / Add-ons (enable it)

Deferrals (especially useful with “no refunds”)

Deferral = move registration to next year (different from event transfer).
Can:

• charge deferral fee

• set cutoff dates

• apply event-specific rules

Event Transfers

Let participants switch distances/events (e.g., 10K ↔ 5K)
Options include:

• transfer processing fee

• cutoff dates (even by event)

• allow transfers into full events

• keep same bib number

Live Q&A Highlights

• Deferrals with one annual event: Yes—deferrals allow entry into next year if injured/life happens.

• QR code scam concerns: Presenter hasn’t seen complaints; suggested it’s a comfort-level decision.

• Early-bird discounts: Yes—use tiered pricing under Race → Registration → Dates, Pricing & Options

• Prevent adults in kids-only event: Limit age range in that event’s additional options (0–10).

• “How did you hear about us?” question: Add registration questions; recommended dropdown/checkbox over essay.

• Donation add-on at checkout: Set under Donations → Setup → Checkout Add-on, keep amounts small.

• FAQ page placement:

  • Legacy: Race Website → Custom Sections then show in menu

  • Website Builder (V2): add a page and place in navigation

• Group discounts (teachers/first responders): Best handled with Membership-based pricing (with optional validation fields).