The primary purpose of direct marketing for casinos is to increase the frequency of customer visits and subsequent play. If you’re a casino marketer, you know that some of your programs will generate more activity and buzz than others. Perhaps it’s time to shake things up a little – consider some of the promotions you can run with a promotion/bonus system that reaches out to your slot players by printing a coupon directly at the slot machine.
Free Play. What’s a direct marketing tactic proven to be fantastically successful at compelling your customers to come back and play at your casino? Free Play coupons. These Free Play coupons make the player feel like a winner, and as a result they’ll play longer in an effort to win again. What would happen if a Free Play coupon was printed from the slot and deposited into the players’ hand while they were seated at the machine? The player is now instantly interested, making them want to spend more money on the machine.
Drawing tickets. Players understand that no one wins every single time they sit down in front of a slot machine. However, they still want a little emotional boost during the time they’re engaged with the machine. Diminish player disappointment by providing another opportunity for the player to win – entry into a prize drawing. Several casinos using promotion/bonus systems have run programs where their slot players are rewarded after a predetermined amount of coin-in with an entry ticket into a drawing. These drawings occur at regularly scheduled times so slot players know that having multiple ticket entries in “the bin” before the next drawing requires that they spend a considerable amount of time on the slot machine. One casino saw a 73% increase in coin-in, from both carded and uncarded players, for a single promotion.
Bounce-back/repeat visits. Midweek is a tough time to entice players into paying a visit to their favorite casino. One casino solved that problem by developing a voucher, printed via the slot machine, that was delivered to carded players during this slow time. Players who reached a value threshold set by the casino were given a bonus that entitled them to Free Play midweek during the following week. To date, the redemption rates for the voucher are averaging at 40%.
Player loyalty. It all comes down to building loyalty through communication with your players. Loyal players result in recurring revenue. These players want to be rewarded for the time that they spend feeding a slot machine. The most direct way to promote to these players is while they’re sitting at the slots. For carded players, show your appreciation for their patronage and continued play by delivering an automated, personalized coupon that will print at the slot machine the next time that they put their players club card in. For uncarded players, deliver the instant gratification that they need to fuel more (and longer) play by printing incentive coupons to sign up for your players club.