Constant Contact success story · Race events and coaching company

How a Maryland race company grew its list 30% with Constant Contact segmentation.

Name: Overtop Media Digital Marketing
Address: 933 Louise Ave Suite 101-18, Charlotte, NC, 28204, US
Telephone: (704) 237-0707
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Rip It Events organizes races and coaching programs from Columbia, Maryland. With 18 races to fill in one year, it gave every race its own list and timed its emails for the evening. Its list grew 30% year over year, and its open rate ran 30% above the industry average.

Business: Rip It Events
Market: Columbia, Maryland
Goal: Fill 18 races a year

Runners in colorful shoes on a road race course scattered with confetti

The results.

Year-over-year growth and a comparison with the industry average open rate, as stated by Constant Contact.

+30%list growth year over year
+12%open rate year over year
+30%open rate vs. industry average

Published in July 2023, when the company was planning 18 races that year. Figures as reported in the story; Constant Contact does not publish how they were measured.

The challenge.

Rip It Events began as charity races organized by friends and grew into a racing events company with coaching packages, run by its owner since 2010. That year it had 18 races to plan and publicize, alongside contractors, sponsors, permits and approvals.

Most of its runners are roughly between 30 and 60, and many work full-time jobs, so they rarely read personal email during the day. Every race also needs participants to know about safety, location and pricing before race day.

Build a list per raceEvery race list holds the people who ran it.
Write useful emailsSafety, location, pricing and a clear registration button.
Send in the eveningTimed for when working runners read email.
Prune the inactiveReports flag contacts who stopped engaging.

What they did.

A list per race · Registration emails · Evening send times · Drag-and-drop email builder

A list for every race: Each race has its own list built from the people who ran it, using list management, so promotions go to the runners most likely to return.
Evening send times: Social media engagement showed when runners were online, so emails are scheduled for the evening, when they actually read them.
Emails that answer questions: Branded emails with buttons to registration, FAQs and full event pages, built in the drag-and-drop editor, with room for photos and video.
Watching attrition: Reports on general emails show who has stopped engaging, so the lists stay healthy and trusted.

Why it worked.

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

Past runners are the best prospects: Someone who ran a race once is the most likely person to sign up again. Lists built race by race put the offer in front of them.
Timing matches real life: Emails sent when working runners are off the clock get opened, rather than buried under the workday.
Useful beats promotional: Emails that answer the questions runners have before a race build trust that carries into the next registration.
Email works with social and video: Social posts and video documented the races, and email turned that interest into registrations.

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 Constant Contact email marketing.

Segment by event and history: Lists by event, past attendance and interest, so every promotion goes to the people most likely to come.
Build the registration journey: Announcement, early-bird reminder, last call, confirmation and race-week details, scheduled in advance.
Test the send times: We test days and hours against your own audience instead of guessing.
Fill the gaps with ads: Facebook and Instagram ads aimed at people like your past participants, for the events that need a push.