In the casino industry, Harrah’s is recognized as having the most loyal customers. Before CRM systems were a necessity, Harrah’s pioneered a customer loyalty program and found that by uncovering player habits and personal preferences, they could gain an unchallenged competitive advantage. As a result of their CRM integration, a player rewards campaign was created and then based on a ranking system, which inspired players to spend more money in order to qualify for more lavish perks and benefits.
In a report published by the University of Mississippi, Harrah’s’ CRM was able to discover that 26% of their gamblers generated 82% of GGR, proving that their advantageous high-rollers were not as profitable as the retirees with disposable cash who preferred playing slots. The operator credited three tools that contributed to their competitive player insight: strong data mining, predictive analytics and segmentation tools – all of which still remain a priority in today’s advanced CRM technology.
After adding an additional 40 casino integrations in three countries, Harrah’s CRM network allowed them to generate more than 20% growth and customer expense increased 9% following the loyalty program. At a time when the market value of the casino industry as a whole was down by more than 25%, Harrah’s stock price almost tripled within five years. Coincidence? We think not.
With a market of increased options and increasing player demands, casinos have since incorporated CRM as a necessary method of survival.
As competition between operators continues to increase, the capability of their CRM systems will be the differentiating factor in how they improve their GGR. Managing customer acquisition and retention is simplified with CRM systems since they integrate all player spending and behavioral data across multiple touchpoints and channels. Industry-leading systems are designed to track events as they happen, such as hotel room reservation or casino activity, and store new information for customer profiling and awarding .
One of the newer systems leading the CRM pack is Comtrade Gaming’s iCore: Engagement Edition – a growth for casino operators. The product addition upgrades slot machines into a promotional channel that communicates personalized incentives, venue promotions and player account information on the game screen.
Additionally, it enriches the player experience on G2S standardized gaming machines using an award engine with predictive modeling to evaluate and communicate bonus eligibility in real-time. Casino operators need to target a particular and growing market segment within the land-based industry and CRM systems provides a straight-forward and elegant way for operators to engage and reactivate all player segments.
Casino CRM as an omni-channel solution (as is Comtrade Gaming’s iCore extension) displays all activity information via pre-defined customer pages on web or mobile app to monitor their recent offers, messages, bonus and loyalty updates or search through their promotional history. Event-based messages such as e-mails, SMS or push messages are also handled by iCore, providing quick feedback to the customer and ensuring new rewards are offered as soon as the customer is eligible for them, even during gameplay. Most importantly for the operator, the data collection portion of the CRM system grows at the same rate as the gaming operation.
According to the UNLX Gaming Research and Review Journal, only the most competitive CRM systems contain the following product functionalities:
- Provide customer service through customization
- Segmentation players based on a value scale
- Targeting players with appropriate offers and promotions
- Sharing player information across the enterprise
- Improving cost management
- Increasing profitability
As we have seen in Japan, Brazil and other similar markets, legislative and economic priorities call for the creation of integrated resorts as a condition to promoting a national gaming industry. In a 2015 report, PWC confirmed tourism visits increased by 400% since the launch of IRs in Singapore, meaning that smart promotions were imperative to driving player activity.
The two casinos in Singapore engage in a hyper-competitive player marketing strategy, which creates the necessity for a multi-channel CRM system to optimize marketing initiatives.
CRM FOR CASINO OPERATOR BENEFITS
- Unified 360° customer view to show all property activity in one central profile
- Dynamic customer segmentation on their activities for personalized offers
- Centralized marketing automation with rules-driven bonusing and loyalty
- Award customers in real-time while they are engaged at your property
- Cross-selling between hotel/resort, slot/ table games and food and beverage
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