A well-known innovator, Steve Jobs, observed, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” IGT iLottery Services embraces this philosophy wholeheartedly. The team brings more than 10 years of iLottery expertise and 40 years of lottery experience to support customers with valuable services including eInstant portfolio management and marketing. In fact, U.S. eInstant YoY 2021 sales for IGT customers grew approximately 125% versus total U.S. eInstant YoY 2021 GGR of 56%.
Analysis & Planning
IGT eInstant customers have access to the industry’s most diverse game-mechanic library as well as portfolio analysis and strategic roadmap planning. These unique services are critical in helping customers understand which games will gain and retain player segments, enabling responsible growth via diverse play styles, mechanics, and themes that appeal to a lottery’s wide audience.
A data-driven approach to game design and portfolio management gives IGT a deep understanding of which games resonate with different player segments. In partnership with lottery customers, IGT uses these insights and game performance data to develop successful games and recommend the right game portfolios.
Specialized Support
IGT Marketing Services is a full-service in-house marketing agency that supplements lottery resources with specialized iLottery digital marketing professionals. In partnership with each customer, these dedicated experts focus on player acquisition, player-experience improvements, successful game launches, and retention programs to help lotteries grow revenues for good causes.
In Georgia and Kentucky, IGT Marketing Services helped play a role in driving the largest U.S. YoY annual gross gaming revenue growth rates for FY2021, both of which exceeded 75%. “Through our lottery partnerships we achieve successes together,” said Karri Paavilainen, IGT Senior Director, Marketing Services. “We are always looking for ways to apply leading practices and responsibly increase acquisition and retention for customers through new promotions, paid media, and segmentation strategies.”
One successful new concept that emerged from these partnerships is Keno! Winning Wednesdays, designed with the Georgia Lottery Corporation (GLC) to promote its digital keno product. The campaign ran every Wednesday in March for two hours late in the evening, outside of retail sales hours. For each purchase, players were entered into a daily raffle of cash prizes through IGT’s iLottery platform. IGT and GLC shared details of the promotion via social media, paid media, and email to all players as well as those who didn’t complete registration.
Digital keno sales increased 25% during the two-hour promotional period compared to a typical Wednesday, and overall daily sales increased 12% compared to any other Wednesday year to date. GLC also gained over 400 new players and more than 250 lapsed players who returned to play. The promotion had a halo effect on other digital draw games as well. Sales for Cash 3, Cash 4, Cash4Life and Cash Pop™ increased between 14% to 23%, depending on the game, via players who received the promotion. GLC plans to run this successful promotion again.
Segmentation Strategies
iLottery marketers know how important it is to constantly analyze marketing campaigns and to continually test and learn. Both the Kentucky Lottery Corporation (KLC) and Laura Turner, IGT Kentucky Interactive Marketing Manager, live by the philosophy that success includes learning from experience.
In January, IGT Marketing Services supported KLC’s vision to revamp their welcome campaign to further segment KLC players into targeted player journeys, and changed the offer from “free” bonus money to a bonus where a player takes an action like depositing to earn the bonus. The campaign starts at week two in a player’s lifecycle with a “Thank You” offer sent to new players after they register and play. A/B tests were run on two email offers that would require the new player to complete an action to earn Bonus Bucks. KLC moved forward with the clear player favorite, and saw 40% of players increase their spending after using the updated offer.
Players who stopped playing were segmented into lapsed and valued-lapsed players. These segments were offered similar deposit-match offers based on player value and lapsed time frame. “45% of players who took advantage of the offer increased their average weekly spend by approximately 70% since returning to the platform,” noted Turner. “Those are impressive results. Our team and KLC’s marketing teams continually learn from KLC’s players. We always have active campaigns which segment different groups of players. Currently, we are working on a strategy to encourage players who have registered for the Kentucky Lottery Fun Club but have not yet played to make a deposit, or we communicate Pick 3 to existing draw game players to increase awareness. We love helping the Kentucky Lottery fuel imagination and fund education.”
Read about this explosive growth in KLC’s FY21 annual report. For more information about IGT iLottery Services, contact your Account Manager.