ActiveCampaign success story · Racket sports programs and events

How a Chicago racket sports company recovered 500+ abandoned carts in six months with ActiveCampaign.

Name: Overtop Media Digital Marketing
Address: 933 Louise Ave Suite 101-18, Charlotte, NC, 28204, US
Telephone: (704) 237-0707
Price range: $$

Toss and Spin runs racket sports programs and brand events in Chicago. Its founder used to paste hundreds of addresses into a blind copy field. With tags, automated journeys, cart recovery and text messages in ActiveCampaign, it recovered 500+ abandoned carts in six months and answers 80% of customer questions by text automatically.

Business: Toss and Spin
Market: Chicago, Illinois
Goal: Grow memberships without manual email

Two people playing tennis on a green court, seen from above

The results.

Implementation began in March 2024 and the company says results appeared within 30 days. The cart figure covers six months. The 5x compares what members spend with what non-members spend; it is not a before and after measurement. Targeted emails outperform list-wide sends by 15 to 20%.

500+abandoned carts recovered in 6 months
80%of customer questions answered autonomously through SMS
5xcustomer spend by converting buyers to members

Figures as reported by the business in the story; ActiveCampaign does not publish dates or a measurement method for them.

The challenge.

Toss and Spin was founded during the pandemic by a former college tennis player to connect communities through racket sports. It runs programs at city parks and brand activation events, and has grown from two employees to 16 full-time staff.

Customer email started as about 700 addresses pasted into a blind copy field. An email tool and a booking system did not remove the manual work, revenue was unpredictable, and reports took an intern months to build and were out of date when finished. The team compared 15 platforms before choosing ActiveCampaign.

ActiveCampaign event invitation email and a follow-up text message confirming a club event

What they did.

Platform switch · Tags and segments · Automated customer journeys · Abandoned cart recovery · SMS with keyword auto-replies

Tags for every customer: Entry point, behavior and location tags feed segments, so each customer hears about the programs near them that match how they first came in.
Journeys that run themselves: More than 500 customer journeys run through automations, aiming to turn a first-time buyer into a member within 60 days.
Carts recovered automatically: Abandoned class and event checkouts trigger reminders, and last-minute open spots go out as offers.
Questions answered by text: Text messages with keyword auto-replies answer common customer questions without staff.
Answers instead of reports: Active Intelligence answers plain-language questions about segments, timing and zip codes, replacing months of manual analysis.

Why it worked.

Our read on the decisions behind the numbers, and what any business can take from them.

Membership is the goal: Members spend five times what one-off buyers do, so every journey is built to move people toward membership.
Recovery is the easiest revenue: Someone who almost booked a class is the warmest lead there is. A timely reminder brings many of them back.
Text answers the small questions: Quick automated replies remove the friction that stops people booking, and free the team for real conversations.
Personal beats broad: Emails personalized by tags opened 20% more often, and a third of all campaigns had zero unsubscribes.

How we would run this play for your business.

You do not need a national budget to use the same ideas. This is how Overtop Media Digital Marketing puts them to work in our ActiveCampaign automation and management.

Tag and segment your customers: We set up tags and segments in your ActiveCampaign account around what customers buy, where they are and how often they come.
Build the path to membership: A first-visit journey with the right offers at the right moments, measured by how many buyers become members.
Recover checkouts and fill spots: Cart reminders and last-minute availability messages by email and text, timed to how your customers book.
Bring in new players: Our Meta ads reach new people near your locations and send them straight into the welcome journey.