Betting on Customer Loyalty
| Category: Database Marketing | Date: 2003-10-23 |
Americans continue to show strong support for gaming as an entertainment activity. An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults -- 92 percent -- say casino entertainment is acceptable for themselves or others. Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults say casino entertainment is acceptable for anyone -- an increase of one percentage point over last year -- and 30 percent say it is acceptable for others but not themselves. Only 8 percent of Americans say casino entertainment is "not acceptable for anyone."
One of the most surprising, yet logical places for sophisticated database niche marketing is the $7 billion casino industry. Faced with fierce competition in a crowded industry, the smartest casinos have been leaders in building and using a database for direct marketing. Yet, with all the data they collect -- what games clients play, how long they play, whether they win or lose, what they eat, what shows they attend, even when they sleep -- its surprising what casinos dont know about their customers.
Playing the smart bet
Increasingly casinos are playing the database-marketing card to extend marketing capabilities and improve yield. As database marketing, data warehousing and data mining become more refined, casinos are embracing strategic database marketing as a competitive weapon. Historically, casinos have wanted to know everything about their customers: age, birth date, anniversaries, married/single, type of work, where they live, what cars they drive, favorite sports and entertainment, and how many children they have. The information enables a casino to create specific promotions tailored to different customer segments and even individual customers within each segment. For example, casinos send slot machine and blackjack players special invitations to slot and blackjack tournaments, which say, boxing fans dont receive. Boxing fans, on the other hand, may get advance notice and perhaps be "comped" when theres a related event that is likely to bring them back to the casino. Big spenders may receive "comp" meals and hotel rooms and on their birthday receive a card and perhaps their favorite chocolates (to show the casino really cares).
Now, through database marketing, casinos are uncovering more crucial customer information. Database mining has revealed that the best casino customers are less likely to be big spenders, and that profits increasingly depend on "churn" moving through a larger number of smaller bets.
To achieve "churn," casinos must promote heavily to a specific audience segment. Increasingly, casinos are using database marketing to reach beyond the 3% - 10% of their customers who are high rollers and to identify, cultivate and build loyalty in the much larger market segment of middle-market, occasional gamblers; and the gambler they have identified as a possible competitors customer from down the street.
Hotels Are Upgrading Database Marketing Systems to Personalized Customer Services
In hotels, the trend is toward a thoroughly personalized "home-away-from-home" atmosphere. Hotels are going the extra mile to court leisure and corporate customers and develop loyalty with high tech business amenities, exercise facilities and personal touches like remembering a guests wine preference. This focus on personal service has spawned a trend in more advanced hotel database marketing systems. In order to upgrade guest services, hotels must use the new, sophisticated database marketing technology to upgrade their customer databases in order to be able to remember their customers special preferences.
An increased need to be more responsive to their best customers characteristics is also driving the industry to link to internal and external data sources that provide information on consumer habits and patterns. Such links reveal a customers special needs, preferences, billing arrangements, the time of year traveled and the number of stays in a hotel. Armed with such pinpoint information, hotels can tailor special packages to the specific tastes of individual guests.
Knowing When To Hold and When To Fold
Casino gaming is a paradise for database marketers; it has some of the riches data sets available. Transaction data is store on "rated players" every time they bet, eat if they are comped, or stay at the hotel. Player information is record and calculated on revenue per minute. Arriving at the net cost or gain can be tracked in real-time. Segmentation takes on a completely new meaning when the casino wants to keep a guest playing a little longer or wants to distract them if they are winning excessively at the tables.
The casino gaming is a very sophisticated industry in the accounting and transaction area, but lacks the experience and savvy analysis from the management side. With the competition becoming so fierce many casino owners who have heretofore wanted to promote from within are now starting to go to the outside to find sophisticated marketers from package-goods companies and consulting companies to help them become more technologically sharp.
So Who Counting Anyhow?
Counting the competitors players is a practice that is as old as the casino business. This practice is like competitive shopping in the retail business. It is also the only way to get accurate market share information on individual casinos in Nevada and other jurisdictions.
Casino revenue information is available from the Gaming regulators for total markets or portions of total markets, but not individual casinos. The time lag for this information is about sixty days after month end in Nevada. An accounting firm also provides a revenue reporting service for participating casinos, reporting monthly information for the total group and not individual casinos.
Most casino operators keep up with their competitors by periodic visits. Some go beyond the weekly or monthly visit to a few competitors. In fact, one prominent casino owner, walks through over twenty competitors casinos each day. Many casinos also count the competitors casino players. One casino in Las Vegas counts a few competitors three times per day, once on each shift. Several of our client casinos counted their competitors players prior to the start of our service. Lake Tahoe casinos have counted the competitions players daily for many years.
A number of casinos also count their own players several times per day, some as often as hourly and others less frequently. On-line slot systems make the counting of slot players easier and more accurate in their own casino. This information is used for evaluation of marketing and promotion programs, and major events. It is also used for planning staffing levels a week or two in advance by shift. This often results in large savings by closely matching staffing levels to customer needs.
Based on research in 30 countries, and every area of the United States, it includes dynamic promotions that produced millions and a high number of new players. Besides new business, the most successful programs keep the regulars coming back, and employ successful methods to upgrade the player pool and increase the play per visit.
Effective marketing techniques are sprouting continuously and it is getting to the point where more effective marketing will become a necessity to maintain your share of the market.
Ad programs are a small part of bringing a crowd through the doors for many casinos. Riverboats, for example, rely almost completely on ads as far away as five states. Last year, eleven pulled up the gangplank and went out of business. The lack of professional marketing techniques eventually produces a lack of players.
Brand Marketing vs. Retail Marketing
Casino ads are getting more sophisticated (and more important) every year, as the number of casinos is increasing monthly. As of this date, more than 2,000 casinos operate in 103 countries.
While most of the ads are little more than announcements that their casinos exist, there is a factor of 4% that actually does what it is intended to do; produce new business.
The most effective marketing practices and techniques that will be implemented include dynamic Hotel & Casino Direct Mail programs, latest advertising approaches and actual ads producing the highest number of accountable responses in the world market.
Included are the internal marketing programs in the industry for:
Comps delivered based on play, frequency and profitability
Incentive travel programs
Latest techniques to sell conventions and meetings
Co-op travel programs
High response customer follow-up programs
In-house promotions
Attracting corporate business
Effective ways to open new markets
Building specific markets including programs to attract retirees, foreign visitors, business women, week-end packages and tourists
Brand marketing is taking on a whole different appeal moving away from "loose slots in Town" to more upscale approach as the recent Bellagio (Wynn Property), Mandelay Bay which offer the promise of a unforgettable stay at their virtual property.
Harrah’s is probably the most consistent which the same look and feel in all the communication whether it be television, print, direct mail or Internet website.
Systems Approach
The industry seems to have their financial systems working tolerably well, but their database marketing systems in most cases are out of date. Many casinos due to increased competition are moving to more sophisicated data mining systems.
The industry is really divided into two significant groups, the mega-casinos with hotels attached which have thousands of hotel rooms and are usually chain dominated (Trump Hotel and Casinos and Wynn’s various properties) and mid-size casinos many without hotels attached to them who rely on city traffic.
Some of the larger and more sophisticated systems are below with their website address for easy reference.
Below are the reference to some casino data mining systems
Ultragem Data Mining
Ultragem Data Mining from www.ultragem.com
NeoVista Data Mining Solutions
NeoVista Software, Inc.
Data Mining Technologies Inc
Data Mining Technologies, Inc.
QUEST Data Mining Project
QUEST Data Mining Home Page
IBM QUEST Data Mining Project
QUEST Data Mining Home Page
Casino Data System Inc
Home Page
Modular Mining Systems
Modular Mining Systems from mmsi.com.
Pacific Data Systems Pty Ltd RN
Pacific Data Systems Pty Ltd - Home Page
Net Data Systems RN
Award-winning web development since 1994. 18 years systems development. E-commerce, electronic marketing, corporate email, electronic ...
Micro Data Systems Ltd RN
Database and application developers of client/server solutions
Smaller systems are usually boutique by their nature, and in many cases costumed designed to reflect the properties unique style of play and customers. These systems are usually closed systems and require the software developer to maintain the code and provide updates.
What’s The Next Best Bet?
The Web encourages new ways of thinking, but it’s not a good place for keeping secrets. It’s more like follow-the-leader than follow-your-instincts. Once someone has a good idea, everybody has that same good idea.
This is exactly the case with Internet travel. Selling travel over the Internet is an easy decision. With $5 billion in sales projected for 2000, there’s real opportunity. But its nothing near what it could be once people become accustomed to, if not dependent on, booking leisure and corporate travel online.
As a category, travel and gaming crosses the lines between consumer and business, men and women, entertainment and education, work and play. Travel with its gaming component is connected to local events and far away places; dream vacations and sales meetings; weather, culture, shopping, driving, going to camp, visiting grandparents and meeting clients.
An increased need to be more responsive to their best customers characteristics is also driving the industry to link to internal and external data sources that provide information on consumer habits and patterns. Such links reveal a customers special needs, preferences, billing arrangements, the time of year traveled and the number of trip to a casino. Armed with such pinpoint information, hotels can tailor special packages to the specific tastes of individual guests.
About the Author.
:To contact see details below.
DBMarkets@aol.com
http://www.msdbm.com
One of the most surprising, yet logical places for sophisticated database niche marketing is the $7 billion casino industry. Faced with fierce competition in a crowded industry, the smartest casinos have been leaders in building and using a database for direct marketing. Yet, with all the data they collect -- what games clients play, how long they play, whether they win or lose, what they eat, what shows they attend, even when they sleep -- its surprising what casinos dont know about their customers.
Playing the smart bet
Increasingly casinos are playing the database-marketing card to extend marketing capabilities and improve yield. As database marketing, data warehousing and data mining become more refined, casinos are embracing strategic database marketing as a competitive weapon. Historically, casinos have wanted to know everything about their customers: age, birth date, anniversaries, married/single, type of work, where they live, what cars they drive, favorite sports and entertainment, and how many children they have. The information enables a casino to create specific promotions tailored to different customer segments and even individual customers within each segment. For example, casinos send slot machine and blackjack players special invitations to slot and blackjack tournaments, which say, boxing fans dont receive. Boxing fans, on the other hand, may get advance notice and perhaps be "comped" when theres a related event that is likely to bring them back to the casino. Big spenders may receive "comp" meals and hotel rooms and on their birthday receive a card and perhaps their favorite chocolates (to show the casino really cares).
Now, through database marketing, casinos are uncovering more crucial customer information. Database mining has revealed that the best casino customers are less likely to be big spenders, and that profits increasingly depend on "churn" moving through a larger number of smaller bets.
To achieve "churn," casinos must promote heavily to a specific audience segment. Increasingly, casinos are using database marketing to reach beyond the 3% - 10% of their customers who are high rollers and to identify, cultivate and build loyalty in the much larger market segment of middle-market, occasional gamblers; and the gambler they have identified as a possible competitors customer from down the street.
Hotels Are Upgrading Database Marketing Systems to Personalized Customer Services
In hotels, the trend is toward a thoroughly personalized "home-away-from-home" atmosphere. Hotels are going the extra mile to court leisure and corporate customers and develop loyalty with high tech business amenities, exercise facilities and personal touches like remembering a guests wine preference. This focus on personal service has spawned a trend in more advanced hotel database marketing systems. In order to upgrade guest services, hotels must use the new, sophisticated database marketing technology to upgrade their customer databases in order to be able to remember their customers special preferences.
An increased need to be more responsive to their best customers characteristics is also driving the industry to link to internal and external data sources that provide information on consumer habits and patterns. Such links reveal a customers special needs, preferences, billing arrangements, the time of year traveled and the number of stays in a hotel. Armed with such pinpoint information, hotels can tailor special packages to the specific tastes of individual guests.
Knowing When To Hold and When To Fold
Casino gaming is a paradise for database marketers; it has some of the riches data sets available. Transaction data is store on "rated players" every time they bet, eat if they are comped, or stay at the hotel. Player information is record and calculated on revenue per minute. Arriving at the net cost or gain can be tracked in real-time. Segmentation takes on a completely new meaning when the casino wants to keep a guest playing a little longer or wants to distract them if they are winning excessively at the tables.
The casino gaming is a very sophisticated industry in the accounting and transaction area, but lacks the experience and savvy analysis from the management side. With the competition becoming so fierce many casino owners who have heretofore wanted to promote from within are now starting to go to the outside to find sophisticated marketers from package-goods companies and consulting companies to help them become more technologically sharp.
So Who Counting Anyhow?
Counting the competitors players is a practice that is as old as the casino business. This practice is like competitive shopping in the retail business. It is also the only way to get accurate market share information on individual casinos in Nevada and other jurisdictions.
Casino revenue information is available from the Gaming regulators for total markets or portions of total markets, but not individual casinos. The time lag for this information is about sixty days after month end in Nevada. An accounting firm also provides a revenue reporting service for participating casinos, reporting monthly information for the total group and not individual casinos.
Most casino operators keep up with their competitors by periodic visits. Some go beyond the weekly or monthly visit to a few competitors. In fact, one prominent casino owner, walks through over twenty competitors casinos each day. Many casinos also count the competitors casino players. One casino in Las Vegas counts a few competitors three times per day, once on each shift. Several of our client casinos counted their competitors players prior to the start of our service. Lake Tahoe casinos have counted the competitions players daily for many years.
A number of casinos also count their own players several times per day, some as often as hourly and others less frequently. On-line slot systems make the counting of slot players easier and more accurate in their own casino. This information is used for evaluation of marketing and promotion programs, and major events. It is also used for planning staffing levels a week or two in advance by shift. This often results in large savings by closely matching staffing levels to customer needs.
Based on research in 30 countries, and every area of the United States, it includes dynamic promotions that produced millions and a high number of new players. Besides new business, the most successful programs keep the regulars coming back, and employ successful methods to upgrade the player pool and increase the play per visit.
Effective marketing techniques are sprouting continuously and it is getting to the point where more effective marketing will become a necessity to maintain your share of the market.
Ad programs are a small part of bringing a crowd through the doors for many casinos. Riverboats, for example, rely almost completely on ads as far away as five states. Last year, eleven pulled up the gangplank and went out of business. The lack of professional marketing techniques eventually produces a lack of players.
Brand Marketing vs. Retail Marketing
Casino ads are getting more sophisticated (and more important) every year, as the number of casinos is increasing monthly. As of this date, more than 2,000 casinos operate in 103 countries.
While most of the ads are little more than announcements that their casinos exist, there is a factor of 4% that actually does what it is intended to do; produce new business.
The most effective marketing practices and techniques that will be implemented include dynamic Hotel & Casino Direct Mail programs, latest advertising approaches and actual ads producing the highest number of accountable responses in the world market.
Included are the internal marketing programs in the industry for:
Comps delivered based on play, frequency and profitability
Incentive travel programs
Latest techniques to sell conventions and meetings
Co-op travel programs
High response customer follow-up programs
In-house promotions
Attracting corporate business
Effective ways to open new markets
Building specific markets including programs to attract retirees, foreign visitors, business women, week-end packages and tourists
Brand marketing is taking on a whole different appeal moving away from "loose slots in Town" to more upscale approach as the recent Bellagio (Wynn Property), Mandelay Bay which offer the promise of a unforgettable stay at their virtual property.
Harrah’s is probably the most consistent which the same look and feel in all the communication whether it be television, print, direct mail or Internet website.
Systems Approach
The industry seems to have their financial systems working tolerably well, but their database marketing systems in most cases are out of date. Many casinos due to increased competition are moving to more sophisicated data mining systems.
The industry is really divided into two significant groups, the mega-casinos with hotels attached which have thousands of hotel rooms and are usually chain dominated (Trump Hotel and Casinos and Wynn’s various properties) and mid-size casinos many without hotels attached to them who rely on city traffic.
Some of the larger and more sophisticated systems are below with their website address for easy reference.
Below are the reference to some casino data mining systems
Ultragem Data Mining
Ultragem Data Mining from www.ultragem.com
NeoVista Data Mining Solutions
NeoVista Software, Inc.
Data Mining Technologies Inc
Data Mining Technologies, Inc.
QUEST Data Mining Project
QUEST Data Mining Home Page
IBM QUEST Data Mining Project
QUEST Data Mining Home Page
Casino Data System Inc
Home Page
Modular Mining Systems
Modular Mining Systems from mmsi.com.
Pacific Data Systems Pty Ltd RN
Pacific Data Systems Pty Ltd - Home Page
Net Data Systems RN
Award-winning web development since 1994. 18 years systems development. E-commerce, electronic marketing, corporate email, electronic ...
Micro Data Systems Ltd RN
Database and application developers of client/server solutions
Smaller systems are usually boutique by their nature, and in many cases costumed designed to reflect the properties unique style of play and customers. These systems are usually closed systems and require the software developer to maintain the code and provide updates.
What’s The Next Best Bet?
The Web encourages new ways of thinking, but it’s not a good place for keeping secrets. It’s more like follow-the-leader than follow-your-instincts. Once someone has a good idea, everybody has that same good idea.
This is exactly the case with Internet travel. Selling travel over the Internet is an easy decision. With $5 billion in sales projected for 2000, there’s real opportunity. But its nothing near what it could be once people become accustomed to, if not dependent on, booking leisure and corporate travel online.
As a category, travel and gaming crosses the lines between consumer and business, men and women, entertainment and education, work and play. Travel with its gaming component is connected to local events and far away places; dream vacations and sales meetings; weather, culture, shopping, driving, going to camp, visiting grandparents and meeting clients.
An increased need to be more responsive to their best customers characteristics is also driving the industry to link to internal and external data sources that provide information on consumer habits and patterns. Such links reveal a customers special needs, preferences, billing arrangements, the time of year traveled and the number of trip to a casino. Armed with such pinpoint information, hotels can tailor special packages to the specific tastes of individual guests.
About the Author.
:To contact see details below.
DBMarkets@aol.com
http://www.msdbm.com
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