Key Infrastructure Building Blocks to Get You Started
What is Customer Journey Management? How does it relate to Native American casinos and gaming? How does it impact business? What can executives do so it has a positive impact on guests, team members, and return on investment?
Native American casino and gaming enterprises are investing heavily in their Wi-Fi infrastructure, POS equipment, digital signage, kiosk equipment, mobile devices used by team members, and back office software applications. They are also faced with the challenge to determine what software applications need to reside on-premise and what can be moved to cloud without jeopardizing the security concerns around customer data.
Every Native American and commercial enterprise wants to deliver best-of-breed customer journey management for their hotel, casino and gaming patrons. Yet, at the same time, they are struggling to concisely relate the investment in the areas identified above with the customer journey and the return on investment.
In this article, we have suggested a simple step-by-step approach to identify the pieces of the customer journey management puzzle and how they can be linked together to address the burning questions faced by gaming operators today.
Customer Journey Management – Unplugged
Step 1
It is a must to acquire an email address to identify and convert an unknown person to a known guest. Customer Journey Management begins with the acquisition of the email address.
Once the email address is available, it is possible to acquire the mobile number and influence the guest to download a mobile app.
When these three modes of communication are enabled, engagement with the guest can be begin across multiple channels to gathering insight. At this point, guest segmentation can begin.
Seamless, real-time engagement, communication and collection of data should be possible during the reservation process, check-in, the initial connection to Wi-Fi network, a commerce transaction, or the delivery of guest service.
Key benefits:
- Ubiquitous, digital engagement and interaction with the guest during reservation, pre-arrival, on-premise, and beyond the visit to deliver individualized guest amenities and services
- Justify the investment to modernize the guest Wi-Fi network
- Justify the investment of a guest mobile app and modernizing the back-office loyalty & marketing applications
Step 2
The next important building block is the ability to seamlessly identify the location of guests and connect them spontaneously with the backend IT applications and team members based on their proximity and availability.
Key benefits:
- Capture guest insights & casual conversations between guests and team members in real time and act promptly
- Deliver targeted marketing campaigns and superior guest service based on the guests’ needs at the convenience of the guests and when they need them
- Increase customer loyalty and revenue per guest
- Streamline and improve the operational efficiencies of team members and IT assets
- Justify the investment of mobile devices for team members and a new suite of applications to support your guests
Step 3
Utilize the fronted systems such as POS & kiosk equipment and digital signage to not only engage guests seamlessly, but to deliver a positive guest experience by offering individualized services tailor-made to each guest’s needs. At the same time, you can capture valuable guest interests and insights.
Expand the utilization of team member mobile devices beyond the typical team member functions. This can include sending team members information, notifications, and carrying out work orders.
Key benefits:
- Minimize waiting time for guests to purchase items, check-in for the hotel, and resond to a service request
- Increase revenue per guest
- Enhance guest experience and, in turn, guest loyalty
- Streamline the operations and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the team
- Minimize fraud and increase guest experience by empowering team members to expand the services they provide to guests by adding new functionality to the mobile devices used by the team members
- Justify the investment to modernize the commerce and digital signage infrastructure and applications
Step 4
Another key building block is to have a communication hub that is tailor-made to plug & play with legacy and modern guest-facing frontend systems and back office applications. The communication hub will also act as the glue and the service broker to bridge any workflow gaps in the legacy back-office applications.
Key benefits:
- Collect and infuse data from disparate frontend systems and applications
- Enrich the guest profile in the loyalty system
- Attract and retain new guests
- Protect current investments and simultaneously have the ability to deliver hospitality/ entertainment 2.0 amenities and services
If this article has you thinking about the customer journey you’re working on at your property and you have more questions than answers, that makes sense! Do you have key infrastructure, IT and technical questions? We’ll be exhibiting at Raving NEXT: Indian Gaming Analytics and Marketing Conference, January 28 – 30, 2019. We’re also just an email or a phone call away. Please contact Jon McClean at jon.mcclean@savantis.com or call 831.229.6732.
