Public Gaming November/December 2020

22 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 Paul Jason: How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact The Lott's digital business? SHARON ANDERSON: Having had continued investment and support from executive leadership in our digital business since 2015, we felt we were well prepared to handle the organic migration of customers’ shopping behaviour from purchasing in-store to online. From the outset, there was a big expecta- tion on the digital team that we were doing everything we could to ensure the success of the business. Fortunately, the majority of our retail outlets remained open to trade, but we still saw an increase in sales in our digital channels. Digital sales as a percent- age of all sales grew from 26.7% in the six months to December 31 2019 to 28% in the six months to June 30 2020. With this in mind, we revisited the journey for those customers who have never purchased a lottery entry online before. We planned each customer journey and produced experiences to align with each step. is included new content that highlighted how to join e Lott online, what it means to be a member and how to play online. A unique customer segment of older Australians emerged during COVID-19 seeking to purchase online however they didn’t necessarily have the technical understanding. We communicated with our Customer Care Contact Centre daily to understand what issues they were receiving calls about and used this to overhaul our online help centre content. During the rst few months of the pandemic, the regulatory requirements and restrictions were changing daily as the situation evolved. e challenge became trying to understand what the biggest priority of the business was for that day while being exible enough to pivot towards working on the new require- ments. While that was happening, we also launched PayPal as a new payment method, implemented a new brand identify for e Lott, supported a signi cant donation and re-launched Saturday Lotto, one of e Lott’s agship lottery games. It was exhausting and challenging work for our team, but I'm proud of what we achieved as a business function during this time. Did the COVID-19 pandemic impact your projects for FY20? What was your biggest project for FY20, and why was it such an important project for the business? e biggest project for us in FY20 was the launch of our omnichannel program in August 2019, which focused on combining both the online and retail experiences through a single membership. We led the digital execution for this project, and it was a good opportunity for our team to focus on how our digital channels can drive an in-store interaction. As part of the project we digitised a version of the physical membership card our customers use in-store to register entries within our existing apps. Not only saving them wallet space but also ensuring they always had their membership card on hand. For members who also purchased online, we added another feature within the apps to allow them to use the funds within their online account to purchase entries in-store. We’re looking forward to building out more features in the future that allow players to use their own device as an in-store experience. Our focus has always been on building our online channels for the future and the great thing about omnichannel is that it meets current and future customer expectations. What other projects did you focus on in FY20, and how did they benefit The Lott's customers? PGRI INTERVIEWS SHARON ANDERSON HEAD OF DIGITAL – LOTTERIES (THE LOTT) TABCORP PGRI INTRODUCTION: Sharon Anderson is the Head of Digital for The Lott, at Tabcorp, Australia's leading gambling-led entertainment company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Since 2015, Sharon has driven the digital strategy that has contributed a signifi- cant increase in sales and customer satisfaction scores across The Lott's digital channels. Sharon is passionate about innovation, customer centricity and data-driven deci- sion making. She has led and worked directly with teams across marketing and technology to transform products, people, and processes at all levels within the organisation. THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL: LOOKING INTO THE POST-COVID19 WORLD