Nineteen years ago, Joe Miller was inspired by his Nascar to open up a go-kart track where everyone and anyone could drive like the pros. Since day one, Fastkart Indoor Speedway has become a mecca for adventurous families, thrill-seeking adrenaline junkies and corporate bigwigs looking to burn off some steam.

As Fastkart grew to span four locations in Washington and Utah, Joe saw the need to effectively manage his customer database. His team was exploring developing an enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) system that would have the ability to manage the company’s customer information and consent waivers, but would also serve as a platform for sending marketing messages.

Enter CityGro.

Since implementing CityGro at Fastkart, Joe has been able to tap into several of the features to forge strong relationships with his customers.

Data Collection for Demographics

The first step in the Retention Marketing Cycle is Collect. Fastkart has tailored its onboarding process to collect powerful information that gives Joe insights into the demographics of his customer network that he could never glean just by watching the types of people coming into the store — it’s a broad scope. This data is invaluable for other marketing channels, as he has data to back up any hypotheses about his customers.

For example, Joe was shocked to learn that 45 percent of his customer base is female. Understanding the almost-equal split in his audience led him to create marketing campaigns across the web that catered to thrill-seeking females more than he would have without this data.

“Instead of being like a shotgun, it’s a little more like a rifle shot to talk with the people that are interested in Fastkart.”

“Instead of being like a shotgun, it’s a little more like a rifle shot to talk with the people that are interested in Fastkart.”

Targeting Special Events

After collecting loads of customer profiles into the CityGro CRM, Fastkart has a monthly strategy meeting to determine the best way to manage that data and communicate with those customers.

Joe and his team draft original content each month to avoid canned messages and to make sure his customers don’t see the same texts over and over again. One strategy that they’ve found particularly effective is targeting the high school-aged demographic around major events like Homecoming and Prom. These kids looking to wow their dates are hyper-responsive to the prospect of a fun date without breaking the bank.

Bounceback Offers

The best part of the Retention Marketing Cycle is just that — it’s a cycle. Once a company has communicated with its customers, it can double revenue by communicating with the customer to bring them back just one time. Fastkart does this by implementing bounceback offers.

Within 24 hours of a customer completing their ride, he or she will get a text offering a heavily discounted ride within the next seven days. Since Fastkart is primarily thought of for special events like birthdays, company parties and other special occasions, it tends to be a fairly long buying cycle. Joe aims to shorten the gaps between customer visits through these bounceback offers, as well as a free ride on a customer’s birthday.

In just three years of working with CityGro, Fastkart has been able to collect well over one hundred thousand contacts. This network is now opted-into receiving customized messages that will help bring them back in to take another spin around the fast track.

“CityGro has helped us to maintain the customers we already have — it definitely has paid for itself. I’m going to pay for a CRM whether I use one or build it out myself. The way CityGro works is definitely a return on investment.”