Marketing Solutions

Reward Your Players with Rewards Information

By Nicole Barker

Count the number of loyalty programs that you’re enrolled in. It takes a Dewey Decimal system to manage the account IDs, login, and passwords. Which cards make the grade and travel with you in your wallet? Which statements do you tear open to reveal your rewards?

Players’ Club programs are billed as “reward” programs, but in essence, they exist to motivate behavior. What are you doing to compete with the other loyalty cards, not just the player cards, but the grocery store, the book club, the underwear buying point programs? Do you include point balance information in your mailings to motivate more play or an additional visit?

Surprisingly few mailings and e-mails include point balances, a reference to tier status, or mention of redeemable rewards based upon player point balance information. By incorporating point balance information regularly in your direct marketing efforts, you can win ongoing loyalty and breathe new life into your rewards program. Here a few rules and ideas to do just that.

Magic act

Rule Number One: let players know where they’re at. It’s not enough to rely on the slot multimedia display to scroll current point earnings and balances. These numbers are rarely tied to aspirational messages urging players to spend their points or achieve the next tier.

Right now. Today. Before you pick up the phone to your Webmaster to build a page for players to check point balances online, consider saving some white space within your variable print mailings to display the magic box. What’s in the magic box?

• Current point tally

• Points needed to achieve the next tier

• Date of the data pull

Smith’s, a Kroger grocery store, prints the points earned today, current earning cycle total, and expected payout at the bottom of every receipt. Immediately, customers know that’s a lot of bologna. And mustard. And bread. Kroger also prints loyalty card savings for the visit and the total for the year. Now that’s up-to-the-minute-information.

Admittedly, casino direct marketing mailings may take weeks to pull together. The data set that you first query may not be populated with the same people you should mail to when the mailhouse performs its magic. However, design your collateral to accommodate the magic box. Prepare your mailhouse to receive a last-minute addendum. Be sure to proof live samples for accuracy.

Expiration dates

Rule Number Two: communicate clearly the life cycle of your points program. There are three types of wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee mailings. The first type is one that you may be fearful of: the Points Expiration mailing. Points Expiration mailings reiterate to your players that you love them, but you won’t love them forever. There is no room for being obtuse with your loyal customers. Explain the rules of the program. Build ways to keep your relationship going. Then set some deadlines.

For United Airlines, clarity is king. Their reward program is completely forward focused. United recently announced a new miles expiration policy for its Mileage Plus program. Starting in 2008, customers will lose their accumulated miles after 18 months of inactivity. The change from 36 to 18 months of inactivity aims to reduce liability and to allow more recently loyal customers greater ability to book competitive routes than those who have banked large balances over time. Fortunately, United has multiple channels along which to drive customer reactivation. Point balances can be maintained if they:

• Fly United or one of their airline partners;

• Purchase products or services from travel or retail partners;

• Get or use the United’s credit or debit card;

• Redeem reward miles;

• Transfer miles to another member,

• Purchase additional miles to be added to the account.

The mailing I received about this policy change was not addressed specifically to me, did not include my mileage number, my last transaction, nor did it include a telephone number for customer service. However, it did drive me to reconnect with united.com. Turns out, I traveled using United last June, so the expiration policy does not apply to me…yet. Regardless, I reacted.

Sense of renewal

A second type of caffeinated mailing is that of the Tier Renewal. This requires some segmentation and some variable copy. If you’ve set a deadline for your points to expire, then let’s hope that you’ve set a deadline for your Tier Status as well. If play grows, players graduate to the next tier immediately. If play drops, onsite status should drop too. The challenge is whether your players understand how they achieved their tier status in the first place. The more transparent the program, the clearer the message.

A Tier Renewal mailing has three buckets. The first segment of players includes those who are about to gain the next level of status. By dangling the benefits of achieving the next tier in front of them, you tantalize reaction. The second segment of players are those who are about to lose their level of status. Tell them about what they are about to lose and give them a reason to earn their way back into favor. Don’t hesitate to give them a little sugar. Consider including a coupon to kick start their behavior, but don’t gift their achievement completely. For those who fall in the middle, congratulate them on their current accomplishment and invite them to tell their friends. For those who don’t have a pulse, explain the program again. The undead may not understand how a complex portable plastic device like a loyalty program card works.

Making a point

Freshly ground coffee is always the best. The final snap-to mailing motivates the player to not put his points on ice. He should spend his points while they’re hot. Your players should reap their success with tangible take-homes. The key is to illustrate what a player is able to do with their current tally and to give them something to reach for if they play just a bit more. Telling a player with little play about how to earn a cruise isn’t aspirational, it’s insulting. Bragging about a key chain to a high-end player is also a waste of time.

Perfectly timed

When and how often to communicate any of these proactive notices should be based upon your player’s frequency and your ability to handle the mailing.

The car industry uses a rolling calendar to notify lessees of their impending service needs. The minute a service checkup is required; a letter is generated and posted. A rolling calendar has the highest relevance to the customer’s situation, but a high volume is needed to justify the direct marketing expense without the aid of on-demand digital printing.

For casinos serving national markets, an annual tier renewal or point expiration mailing makes sense. Start counting down the months with point balance information and play-up incentives starting in September. Casinos serving multiple markets vary with their strategies. Harrah’s Entertainment expires points after six months of inactivity and assesses tier status annually. MGM Mirage Players Club points expire at year end.

Local and regional markets should consider quarterly account management activities where customers are considered inactive more rapidly.

By incorporating a few additional pieces in your direct mail arsenal, you can empower your players with more information, motivate them to keep their account active, and help them to aspire to new levels of reward.

Nicole Barker specializes in writing letter copy for casinos looking to optimize their segmentation and better their direct marketing returns. She is president and founder of Raving Writing powered by Barker Enterprises, Inc. For more information, contact her at nbarker@barkerenterprisesinc.com or visit her website at www.barkerenterprisesinc.com .