Expert Race Management for Multisport Events
About DQ Events
DQ Events is a full-service event management company that hosts around 12 triathlons a year, as well as 30 to 40 road races. Working with events ranging from 100 participants to 4,000+, DQ Events offers timing services, race management, and results services. Admired by race directors for their extensive product offering at an afforable price, DQ Events takes their 20 years of race experiences to deliver memorable races for everybody involved. DQ Events made the switch to RunSignup two years ago for a more integrated platform, and has seen several processes within the company streamline since the switch.
RunSignup Integration
Prior to using RunSignup, DQ Events relied on several services for results, email marketing, registration, and websites. The company initially became interested in RunSignup when they saw how easily the platform integrates with various scoring services. The RunSignup platform has streamlined processes for DQ Events, allowing them to access all of their needs in one place.
After using the RunSignup platform for over two years, DQ Events has been able to provide their clients with the services they need more efficiently. One key advantage that sets RunSignup apart from their competitors is the customer service. DQ events takes advantage of this option to get answers to their problems. Instead of waiting for a reply, they get a response to their questions within minutes.
DQ Event’s experience with RunSignup has been successful so far, and they look forward to using the service in the future.
“A really beneficial thing about using RunSignup is that it’s so streamlined and easy to integrate with almost any scoring software that we are using and it gets everybody in the same place. RunSignup does everything for free, I don’t have to pay them to do it.”
Sean Perazzelli, Timer and Part Owner at DQ Events
RunSignup Web Tracking
“A new feature for me that I’ve been trying to use a little more is the web tracking and analytics. You can actually see who is getting to your website and spending money from what ads so you can make sure that your ad dollars are being put to use.”
RunSignup offers extensive web tracking and analytics tools right when you open your race dashboard. Track referral sources, custom sources, and email sources with data showing you page view, signup, and transaction numbers from specific websites and emails. By tracking this data, DQ ensures that they are paying for the ads that maximize their ad dollars rather than ads with no ROI.
To set up referral tracking, go to race dashboard >> promotions >> source tracking >> add code.
Email Marketing with RunSignup
DQ Events uses RunSignup’s free email marketing platform to communicate with participants. “RunSignup email marketing is very easy to use. You can set up a template so all of your emails look the same and your athlete knows it’s coming from you.” If you already like your previously used email format, simply paste the email html into the html editor and change your desired information. RunSignup’s built-in email marketing allows usersto build specific contact lists and send them the informationthey need to be ready for race day. To learn more about email marketing, check out one of our several blogs or our webinar.
Automated emails are an additional email feature offered by RunSignup. DQ Events relies on automated emails, such as incomplete registration emails, to increase race signups. With this feature, the RunSignup platform automatically tracks users who started to register but didn’t finish. Race directors can then set incremental emails to be automatically sent to these users. In addition to incomplete registration emails, race directors can also set automated emails for RaceJoy, registration follow up, price increases, and sponsors. To set up automated emails, go to race dashboard >> email marketing >> automated emails.
Another way that DQ Events uses automated emails is to promote sponsors. To promote a sponsor, they use a two step email process. First, the email a list of their past participants promoting their sponsor. Theythen take the promotion and paste it into an automated registration confirmation email. By doing so, they reach both past and current participants with their sponsor messages.
DQ Events and the Video Finish Feature
DQ Events takes pride in how fast they put results out to their participants, and RunSignup allows them to take those results one step further with video finish results. Video finish results identify runners by their bib numbers and match them with the correct participant on the RunSignup website. All your race needs is a camera set up at any point of the course! DQ Events has received very positive feedback regarding video finish results since first offering them. The feature gives races that extra marketing push to differentiate themselves from other races.
To get started, go to Race Dashboard >> Go Race Day >> Results >> Edit Results.
Key Takeaways
1. Automated emails allow DQ Events to reach new participants and promote sponsors with little hassle on their part.
2. DQ Events uses RunSignup’s result features to seamlessly provide their runners with quick results. The video results feature allows them to differentiate their results tailored to each participant.
3. Web tracking and analytics through RunSignup help DQ events find where their signups are coming from and how to maximize their ROI on specific ads.
To read other customer case studies, you can visit the RunSignup website, or check out our YouTube channel.