Public Gaming Magazine July/August 2020

12 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2020 FOLLOWING A MARKETING ROADMAP As a marketer for most of her career, Shannon understands the importance of providing players and non-players with the necessary information to move them to the digital space. e journey to purchase is di erent for digital players than brick-and- mortar players, and the lottery is constantly addressing those di erences. “We don’t have nearly 11,000 retailers to help sell our products online; foot tra c and point of sale marketing support is critical for traditional businesses,” she said. “When we launched the iLottery program, we had to consider how reaching online players would be di erent and what the impact on retail could be. Our goal was to reach a new audience. To achieve this, we started by allocating funding to digital advertising to drive tra c directly to the Michigan Lottery website and our mobile apps. “Digital media kicked o the user journey. We needed to make sure that we were driving tra c to the website but then once the player got to the website, we relied on our platforms to act as our online storefront. Much like point of sale that informs players and clerks that answer questions at retail, the website and mobile apps needed to be informative and accessible to our players.” Fast forward to 2018 and the lottery fully optimized its website, providing pertinent information to players and allowing the lottery to more easily update the site. e latter was among the biggest changes as the lottery could now more frequently update content, easily launch new games, include CRM capabilities, and deliver more personalized o ers to players. And players responded favorably. “We have been able to improve our players’ experiences with our learnings,” Shannon said. “We can serve bonuses to iLottery players based on their unique behavior. Some of the bonuses might be working towards converting web visitors to online players. Other times we are simply focused on retaining our current players.” RETAIL TO DIGITAL/ DIGITAL TO RETAIL e Holy Grail for iLottery sites is to engage retail customers on both the digital and the retail channels, and to do that without a negative impact on the retailer network. As Shannon puts it, they strived to “break down silos” between in-store, digital and mobile to focus on the lottery’s most important business goal – increase contributions to good causes. is is where Shannon and other executives at the lottery, representing the di erent areas within the operation, put together a plan that would bene t all stakeholders of the organization. “We reviewed the user experience from both sides of the business,” she said, “and started to de ne how we would leverage retail outlets to drive tra c online and collect player information, and vice-versa. We then created immersive experiences that allowed players to naturally ow back and forth between the channels at their convenience. By doing this, we were able to double the number of retail players logging into their online accounts on a daily basis and triple the number of digital players logging into their accounts daily. We were then able to expand our marketing e orts to each group. “As part of our overarching marketing strategy, we gave players a reason to go from in store to online but more importantly have provided them solutions that t their needs and wants, giving them a value proposition to sign up for an account.” An example of marketing and promotions e orts geared to both sales channels is the lottery’s daily Spin to Win. Introduced in 2018, this promotion allows players to log into their online account daily, spin a wheel and win either free play online, an in-store coupon or entries into a monthly drawing to win a cash prize. e Michigan Lottery also built functionality within its iLottery program that allows players to purchase an Online Game Card at retail to fund their iLottery account. ey also created a voucher that allowed their players to withdraw winnings from their online account and cash out at retailer locations. e e orts allow retailers to receive increased foot tra c, a sales commission and a cashing commission, all while Lottery is improving the user experience, making it easier for players to fund their accounts and providing a faster withdrawal option. e success of these marketing programs is easy to track. “We expect to send nearly $3 million in cash outs alone to retail locations in FY20,” Shannon said. “ at’s $3 million that players can use in our retail locations. And we have given players who previously only bought at retail a reason to open an online account. Additionally, these e orts are helping us foster our relationships with our retail partners, giving them opportunities to bene t from our online tra c.” WHERE FROM HERE? Lotteries are fully aware that how they build their digital footprints is critical to their economic futures. Loyalty, in all sectors, has moved online and has been accepted by players. It is only a matter of time before commerce also follows this path. “How we evolve our online games is a big question on our minds these days,” Shannon said. “What play mechanics should we be looking at? How can we enhance the prize tables while also staying within regulatory and responsible gaming guidelines? How can we use advanced technology to provide a more immersive experience? is is not only a challenge for the Michigan Lottery but for the entire industry. How do we continue to evolve our most basic and traditional products when society’s attention span is getting shorter and shorter? “How we answer these important questions will help all of us determine the future of online lottery sales. For me, I’m hoping that one day soon, it will be as easy as a Michigan player saying, ‘Alexa, buy me a Powerball ticket for tonight’s drawing.’” n