40 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: The long-term strategy for engaging with players and maximizing sales Jim Acton, Lottery Industry Consultant While there might not have been balloons or cake, the 10th anniversary of the North Carolina Education Lottery’s (NCEL) entrance into the digital world on Oct. 1, 2022 was nonetheless a critical milestone and worthy of celebration. The lottery’s Lucke-Rewards loyalty program’s success has been incredible – from zero to almost 1.8 million members, 150,000 active monthly users, and a 93 percent redemption rate for loyalty points. Metrics like these are cause for celebration. For the NCEL, the launch of the LuckeRewards program began a digital journey which over the course of the past ten years has increasingly provided the lottery with a deeper relationship with its players and a better understanding of their interests in lottery games. “Our loyalty program offers a variety of promotional opportunities to further engage with and serve players, maintaining relevancy beyond a single ticket purchase,” said Randy Spielman, Deputy Executive Director for Product Development and Digital gaming. “This allows us to develop more meaningful relationships through insights and interactions that were not available to lotteries before the rise of digital platforms and programs. We now know our players on a level that helps us provide them with the products and content they are seeking.” Lotteries have offered some type of digital experiences for almost 20 years but it is only more recently that they have truly captured the power of knowing exactly who their customer is and what they want to purchase. Players clubs have been a mainstay from the beginning, followed by second-chance programs. Loyalty programs joined around 2008-2010 and more recently, lottery apps have proliferated in the marketplace, offering everything from the ability to check tickets, scan tickets into a second-chance and/or loyalty program and, in some states, purchase products. This has resulted in the ability of lotteries to enhance the current relationship players have with retailers by establishing the direct connection to players. This shift has had another result – stronger connections with players that allow for frequent messaging and a wealth of information about players and their play habits that can be used to build the foundation for future sales growth. This is more commonly referred to as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), the framework that focuses the mission on the consumer and integration of the digital initiatives that add value to lotteries’ products and services. The next generation discussion revolves less around “channels, media, and platforms” and more around the customer. Following in the footsteps of industries such as airlines, casinos and credit cards, the lottery industry is now using an array of tools to turn information shared by their players into business intelligence which in turn drives ongoing improvement of products, promotions and messaging. CRM is the vision and the catalyst that moves us from the product-driven world of the past to the customer-driven world of the future. Leading this charge are lotteries, like North Carolina, that have fully embraced this new relationship with players. The end result has been more informed decisions, such as advertising buys on web sites frequented by lottery players and email notifications that include the latest game information. Lotteries are now delivering exactly what players are looking for in a form that works best for them. The following is a look at a few lotteries which have used CRM to shape their digital offerings and strengthen their relationships through engaging and entertaining online experiences. NORTH CAROLINA As Player Loyalty and CRM Manager for the N.C. Education Lottery, Liz Bowles Button understands the importance of the Lucke-Rewards loyalty program to both the lottery’s players and the lottery itself. As stated above, they have more than 1.8 million members (in a state with about 10 million residents) which results in a wealth of information. “What players show and tell us through their interactions is key to developing critical in-house insights,” said Button in July in a presentation at the Professional Development Seminar put on by the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. “Consumer Research, Google Analytics and account driven eCommerce are excellent sources of data. But not a single one of these can provide the holistic, North Carolina Lottery’s Lucke-Rewards site Continued on page 60
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