33 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 New Player Acquisition and Player Retention in an Increasingly Competitive Games-Of-Chance Marketplacecontinued from page 16 Smart portfolio management paves the way for a successful online game business continued from page 43 about working with our existing retailers to find new ways to sell and attract players,” she said. “Over the past 20 years we’ve seen the retail product continue to increase in sales and while we’re in a bit of a lull right now, I’m confident sales will increase at retail. The industry has always found ways to keep the retail product growing. But it will take a reimagining of how we do things in the retail environment. You don’t take your wallet into the store to pay for gas anymore. So how do you get that wallet into the store? Things like a digital menu board help merchandise your products and promote sales. We’ve seen it work in a number of lotteries. To attract new players we have to find them where they are at a time that works for them. Some of this is digital but is also means making the retail experience as simple as possible for players.” As the director of a lottery that does not sell online, Brian certainly agreed with Jennifer’s assessment. “Even if you can’t sell through the internet, you need to offer a good mobile app and make sure the retail experience is as seamless as possible,” he said. “In the end, we’re basically selling the same type of product that was created 50 years ago but we have to figure out how to make it relevant, available and, for new players, approachable. I attribute a great deal of our success to adding features to our app. We can’t sell through it, but players can check their numbers and enter promotions. Our app downloads have doubled over the past year. That’s an example of staying relevant, even if you can’t sell through that app. It’s easy to complain about what we don’t have but that won’t help us attract players. We need to make lottery as simple and accessible as possible, offer exciting promotions and products, and get in front of as many people as possible.” Andrea added to Brian’s comments by stressing the importance of doing as much as you’re allowed in the area of digital. “To entice new players, you must bring the online experience to retail,” she said. “Most players buy their tickets at gas stations, convenience stores and supermarkets. Lottery is typically not the primary reason they are there. How are we going to make it as easy as possible for them to see the product, to get their hands on lottery tickets, and play our games? Perhaps it’s a single sign-on experience that’s hassle free and allows them to purchase with different types of payment methods. Let’s figure out how we can best attract and engage our customers. We’ve seen it work in the video game world, where players are continually provided with new experiences that keep them online as long as possible. If we can extend the experience for our players, they will find lottery fun and enticing and continue to purchase our products.” Jessica explains how best to attract and retain players. “Through our CRM platform, we’re collecting first party data that allows us to understand the characteristics of players and predict their future value to the lottery,” she said. “This data is collected from both iLottery and non-iLottery player activity and includes second chance entries, loyalty points earning and iLottery purchases. We can now build profiles of players that help lotteries create look alike audiences to reach new players in their paid media channels. This information also helps the acquisition and retention teams work together so they are not operating in two separate funnels. The more collaboration, the more your teams can better chart the user journey and make better decisions on how to reach players. Everyone at the lottery should be on the same page and using the player data available to them to make the most informed sales and marketing decisions possible.” Brian wrapped up the panel by urging his colleagues throughout the industry to identify the competition and make sure we stay a few steps ahead of them. “Look at what happened during the pandemic,” he said. “Lottery was the only game in town and our sales boomed. But when consumers returned to their normal routines, and other forms of gaming returned, our sales didn’t drop to pre-pandemic levels. Why? They liked the experience they had. They liked the value proposition. Currently our growth is not the same as it was in that initial stage of severe disruption, but we are retaining a lot of players, many of whom may not have played lottery before the pandemic. If we can make our games appealing, offer a variety of price-points, and make the sales process as seamless as possible, we’ll continue to attract and retain new players as well as satisfy the needs of our current players. We just need to execute on well-conceived plans and stick to what we all do best.” n and directly know if they won or not. Furthermore, by delivering the best possible service to our partners, which begins with a compelling instant games portfolio, we also bring lots of knowledge about how to optimize market and portfolio strategies. We not only aim to optimize revenue of the games categories our partners have booked from us. Instead, we believe that applying our knowledge to help our partners optimize their portfolio management and therefore their customer lifetime value benefits the operator, the players, and ZEAL as a games supplier. This holistic portfolio management approach facilitates crossselling, thereby attracting customers who might never have played instant products and enhancing the overall player experience for everyone. If our operator partners can increase their players’ lifetime value, they can more efficiently monetize customers for the benefit of good causes. ZEAL’s mission is to build a tailor-made solution for each lottery partner and their portfolios. For that matter, the portfolio of our support services can be configured to align with your exact needs, including some or all of our products and services. We offer the whole range of managed services from delivering and aggregating game content to managing our partners’ instant game portfolio and even the whole iLottery platform as needed. Our long-term goal is to work with our partners to shape the future of lottery for the benefit of the good causes supported by government lotteries. Category management is one of several measures that we apply to bring innovation to an industry that is on a tremendous trajectory of change, growth, and prosperity.. n
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