It's just sitting there, waiting for you to ask it the right questions.
Your database is calling. It knows who your best customers are. It knows when loyalty begins. It knows how much you should reinvest and when.
In four simple steps, I can help you become a data-driven organization.
1. Database
assessment
This is a series of reports to diagnose the health of the existing
player pipeline, to identify the "sweet spot" segments within the
database, and to target those who are on the threshold of more regular patronage.
This is a most telling process about a company's core customer, its position in
the marketplace, and the trajectory of where it is headed.
2. Segmentation
A database assessment carries forward naturally into discussions of
how to parcel out incentives responsibly across multiple segments. Relevant
messages and appropriate offers, as well as the identification of potential
marketing test and controls is tantamount to improving existing marketing
activities.
3. Programming
Once we know our target audience, I help to calibrate the multiple
facets of a loyalty program towards greater incremental returns. Casinos manage
points programs, player development programs, direct marketing campaigns, and
tiered card structures to court their players. Each marketing vehicle has its
unique purpose. My goal is to deliver the proper incentives using the right
channel to avoid over-investment across the board and inappropriate spending
with the wrong cohort of players.
For most projects, my focus is on improving the direct marketing
strategy. I deliver a series of matrices that lay out which players fall in to
which segments, what incentives they should receive, when they should receive
them and how they should be delivered. During on-site meetings we fine-tune the
matrices to build team consensus regarding the strategy. We can also build in a
few workshops to make sure that the direct marketing strategy fits in well with
the other loyalty programs to avoid the risk of over-investment.
4. Reporting
Building a data-driven organization doesn't happen overnight.
Marketing, Casino Operations, and Hotel Operations need to align their goals
and activities toward the same ends. I help to identify monthly and quarterly
quantitative tools to bring these oft divergent silos together. We meet to
discuss a selection of reports and to identify areas of further study, areas of
concern, and action items that are flagged by my quantitative reports. I then
act as a quarterly coach to see if cross-departmental efforts have moved the
needle based upon the action items of the previous quarter.
Data brings divergent teams together. Let the numbers be your springboard to action and reaction in lieu of dueling egos and opposing perspectives. Experience, player familiarity, and creative energy can all be channeled towards more constructive ends when decision-making rests of quantitative evidence.