Years ago, we were helping with a race that wanted to charge an abnormally high entry fee, despite our advice against it. As you might imagine, they had a much lower turnout than what they had hoped. This could have been averted by making a better decision about pricing their race. Read on for some tips on race pricing and discounting.
Pricing
When pricing your race, the #1 thing to consider is what other races are charging and making sure that your pricing is in line with that.
Here is a table from our friends at Runsignup showing a breakdown of average pricing by distance:
When establishing pricing for one of our upcoming races, I consulted this table to make sure that our pricing fell in line.
Want to stand out? Consider pricing below market rate to attract attention (but only if you have sufficient sponsorships to cover the costs and it makes financial sense to do so).
Also, consider the perks of your race, what runners get, etc.- if you are at the top end of the market in price, but low-middle in terms of benefits, that’s not a recipe for long-term success.
Price Increases
A great strategy to drive registrations is to have price increases leading up to your race. In fact, 26% of sign-ups occur within 3 days of a price increase, so building in price increases is a smart strategy.
However, just having them isn’t enough- you need to let people know and promote it via email, social media, etc.
Discounts
Discounts are another way to get more sign-ups for your race. Some popular discount options are:
- Group/family/team discounts
- Memberships/special categories, such as first responders, military, students, etc.
- Child (age-based) discounts
Consider these when deciding on how to price your events.
