The start of 2021 blessed us with one of the greatest iLottery marketing gifts of all time—not one supersized jackpot, but two! Big jackpots play a cost-effective role in acquiring new players and in a typical month, NPi’s network sees an average of 19% of total draw game sales made via iLottery. That ratio shot up to 23% across our network in early 2021 as a result of the sky-high jackpots. While the excitement of the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots are behind us, iLottery marketeers are still riding the jackpot high.
NPi’s premier, end-to-end Player Marketing (PM) Team, provides the spark that fuels engagement across the player funnel. This team saw its fair share of action during the peak of double jackpots as some NPi partner lotteries achieved their entire year’s first time depositor (FTD) targets in one month. New Hampshire gained over 21,000 new FTDs during the jackpot run—over 17x the average monthly FTDs for the prior six months.
In the subsequent months, the PM Team’s retention strategies kicked into gear. The activities to retain new players after the jackpot are as important as promoting the jackpot itself. The risk is that nearly 80% of new depositors could churn. Here’s how to connect with these freshly acquired iLottery players.
Target, observe and retarget. Post-purchase monitoring of player behavior allows NPi’s PM Team to create new segments and tailor offers. Knowing that the primary focus of these players was to get in on the jackpot action means having to work at delivering a new and relevant value proposition. Players who haven’t logged in since the jackpot run become ideal segments for laser-focused messaging that promotes reengagement with escalating incentives as the PM Team farms the new player base.
Nudge that natural curiosity. Login bonuses married to relevant content tap curiosity and drive action with zero friction. NPi’s Quick 6 title is often leveraged in post-jackpot recapture strategies given its draw-game style play mechanic and proven success as a nudge-tactic towards eInstant trial and conversion. New Hampshire’s Quick 6 promotion was designed to achieve exactly that! After login, players were presented with offers for free Quick 6 games. The results? 63% retention of targeted players with a 350% same-day ROI ratio!
The bar has been raised. There is no return to pre-jackpot run performance levels. Similar to retail patterns during jackpots that record higher retail instant sales, eInstant sales also rise—and stay there. Metrics tracking player orientation consistently show post-jackpot run increases in the percentage of eInstant players compared to pre-jackpot run levels.
Jackpots deliver and enable marketing activities to create lasting connections and spur long-term growth.