G2

Verified User in Sporting Goods

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

10/24/2026

"Omnichannel Automation That Keeps Dealer Segmentation and Triggers in Sync"

4/5

What do you like best about Positive User?

I love how Positive User wraps email, SMS and web tracking all into one omnichannel automation hub, which fits our sporting goods wholesale and dealer outreach really well. We had a messy situation with a gear distributor out of Colorado Springs earlier this spring that showed me how broken our old setup was. Back then, we kept dealer contact lists, seasonal promo sequences, and restock alerts in separate email tools and spreadsheets. I updated their inventory alert preference in my offline tracker but didn’t adjust the automation workflow. Our system kept sending them weekly discount emails they’d explicitly asked to pause, and they got frustrated enough to pause all new orders with us. That headache pushed me to look for a platform where I can manage dealer segmentation and message triggers together.

What I value most is the flexible custom fields and audience builder. I set up fields for SKU groups, warehouse lead times, dealer tier pricing, and contract renewal dates. Every dealer profile holds their gear category interests, preferred message channel, and opt‑out rules right there. When we roll out a new hiking gear drop, I can segment the list, build a simple email and SMS sequence, and set rules so they only get messages matching the products they carry. After that Colorado Springs mix-up, I migrated all our regional dealer lists into Positive User. Whenever a dealer tells us they want to slow down promos, I flip one field, and all the automated sequences adjust automatically. No more sending unwanted messages by mistake.

The CSV import works reliably when I refresh our dealer lists before each season. I get updated contact and inventory data from our fulfillment partner in Denver, and I can map all my custom tier and SKU fields without fighting weird formatting. A few weeks ago, I imported a batch of new outdoor retailers ahead of our fall camping gear launch, and it took way less time than manually tagging each contact one by one. The contact timeline logs every email open, SMS click, and form submission, so if another sales teammate jumps in to follow up with a dealer, they can quickly see what messages have already gone out.

I also rely on the simple visual workflow builder to set up restock reminders and renewal nudges. I put a trigger in place to alert dealers when popular climbing gear is back in stock. A couple months back, a shop in Fort Collins had been waiting for that inventory. The automated alert hit them right when stock arrived, and they locked in a solid PO before the stock ran out. For our small sporting goods team, we don’t need a bloated enterprise marketing stack. Positive User keeps our dealer communications segmented, automations easy to tweak, and helps us avoid those annoying misfires that can burn dealer trust. It’s the first thing I open each morning to check active sequences and dealer opt‑in status. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Positive User?

Honestly, Positive User works solid for our dealer outreach, but there are a few frustrating quirks that slow me down, and I ran into a really sticky issue with a distributor out of Boulder last month that drove this home. I was bulk updating our dealer tier pricing and preferred notification channel using CSV import ahead of our winter ski gear launch. I lined up all the column headers, double-checked every custom field, and uploaded the file. Most records updated fine, but the tool randomly wiped the SMS opt-in flag for a handful of contacts. That Boulder dealer’s opt-in status got cleared completely. Our sales rep sent them a text about restock availability, and they immediately replied saying they’d only agreed to email updates. They were annoyed and threatened to hold off on their seasonal order. Now I always save a backup copy and run a tiny test upload before touching the full dealer list, which adds extra time every campaign cycle.

The reporting side feels really limited for our sporting goods wholesale needs. My manager asked me to pull a report showing which dealers opened our restock alerts, grouped by their pricing tier, the gear categories they carry, and whether they submitted a PO afterward. Positive User’s filters don’t stack well enough to pull that all together in one view. I had to export contact activity, deal data and order records separately, then piece everything together manually in Excel. That ate up most of my afternoon, and it’s easy to mis-match a dealer’s activity to their order history when I’m juggling multiple sheets. I wish we could save custom report templates built for wholesale dealer campaigns instead of rebuilding it every time we run a promotion.

I also wish the notification rules for internal alerts were more flexible. Right now, any time a dealer opens a message or submits a form, the alert goes to everyone assigned to that contact. A couple weeks ago, our marketing intern got an alert for a high-priority dealer inquiry and reached out without checking the prior conversation. They sent the wrong lead time for snowshoe inventory, and I had to jump in to correct it and smooth things over. It would be nice if I could route order-related alerts only to our sales team, and opt-out/compliance alerts straight to me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Positive User solving and how is that benefiting you?

Before Positive User, our dealer communications were all over the place. We had email sequences in one platform, SMS alerts in another, and a separate spreadsheet tracking dealer preferences, tier pricing and which sporting goods lines they stocked. We couldn’t keep our messaging aligned, and that incident with the Colorado Springs distributor was a tough lesson. I marked they wanted to pause promotional messages in my spreadsheet, but there was no way to sync that flag over to our email automation. The dealer kept getting unwanted restock promos, got fed up, and put their upcoming order on hold. That’s when I knew we needed one place to manage audience segmentation, automated outreach and opt-in preferences together.

Positive User fixed that disconnect for us. I set up custom fields for SKU categories, warehouse lead times, dealer tier pricing and contract renewal dates. Every dealer profile holds their preferred contact channel, the gear lines they carry, and their opt-out rules in one single record. When we prepare a new product drop, I can filter the audience and spin up simple email and SMS journeys tailored just for them. After that Colorado Springs issue, we migrated all our wholesale dealer contacts into this tool. Whenever a dealer asks us to slow down promos or stop texts, I toggle their preference inside the record, and the automation automatically adjusts. No more sending messages they didn’t sign up for.

The automated journey triggers save me hours of repetitive follow-up work. I built workflows to send back-in-stock alerts for popular items, remind dealers about expiring contracts, and send post-delivery check-ins. Not long ago, a shop in Fort Collins was waiting for our backpack inventory. The trigger fired the second stock was live, and they placed their PO right away before stock sold out. That alert helped us lock in revenue we might have missed otherwise.

CSV imports also make seasonal list refreshes way less painful. Every quarter, our fulfillment partner sends over updated dealer data, and I can import it and map all our custom fields quickly. Before, I had to manually update each dealer’s info one by one, which was slow and error-prone. The contact timeline logs every open, click, reply and form submission, so any sales teammate can jump into a dealer conversation and see the full context without chasing me down for notes.

We’re a small sporting goods wholesaler, so we don’t want a huge, complicated enterprise marketing tool. Positive User gives us an easy way to segment our dealer list, run targeted automations, and honor contact preferences consistently. It hasn’t eliminated all manual checks, but it cut down those careless miscommunications that risk dealer trust and lost orders. It keeps our outreach organized and makes our seasonal product launches and restock alerts much easier to manage. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.