BOSTON – Christopher Justice offered some advice Tuesday at ICE North America about how to continue to engage consumers – simpler mobility.
The president of gaming solutions with Global Payments, said all the gambling industry needs to look at holiday shopping from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Americans spend $8 billion on Christmas and half of that was on mobile phones.
Christopher Justice, Global Payments
“When you think about the 450 million mobile users as people here are thinking about what’s the next big trend, mobility is definitely that,” Justice said.
It could be better because more than half of the abandonments on e-commerce result because retail platform require too many clicks, Justice said. It’s a problem getting to the site.
“That problem skyrockets when you get into mobility because it’s more about mobile shopping on your computer and mobile shopping on your phone,” Justice said. “When you think about iLottery and sports betting, folks have to get in with a few clicks, through with a few clicks and out with a few clicks. The more you can eliminate, the better the retention and the better the repeat visitors and the better the loyalty. You start adding clicks and not doing things effectively to streamline a frictionless environment, folks will abandon you.”
Justice urges gaming companies to focus on every part of the user experience. In people’s non-gaming life, how easy is it to find that obscure item you want, click on it to put it your cart, and click on it to make sure it is delivered and move on with your life.
“It’s a very fast and seamless process, where when you think about other sites and there’s so much more difficulty migrating through the web,” Justice said. “Again, how does that relate to sports betting and iLottery? All of these people can narrow down the number of clicks.”
For example, instead of putting in a full Social Security number, take the last four digits and take the other data being collected to triangulate back to authenticate.
“Some of the stuff we do at Global Payments, we are using that data, and we’re hitting multiple databases to authenticate are you are who say you are and is this your account and do you have authority to use this account,” Justice said. We can then start to do a much better job of eliminating fraud and making sure there’s a safe and responsible data allowing somebody to play without having to increase the number of clicks they need to complete the process. All of those things are important, and we spend a ton of time on our regular casino app testing it.”
Not everything, however, when it comes to consumer engagement is about technology.
Adam Grossman, chief marketing officer with the Boston Red Sox, said they talk about it all the time how the technology has changed a lot over the last 20 years but the principals that are vital haven’t. It’s just tools to execute those principals, he said.
“There is still no substitute than an usher and ticket taker understanding that they can make or break an experience for a mother coming in with two children who spent $200,” Grossman said. “It is ultimately a relationship driven industry, and it’s a people-driven experience.”
Grossman said as for why they’re at the ICE show, he said when there’s 162 games in a season, sports betting can enhance that fan engagement on a game-by-game experience.
“We try to break down our 81-game home schedule and make it 81 games but unique experiences each and every night,” Grossman said. “The ability to track and understand what the sports betting landscape will allow, especially for baseball, is something we have our eyes open to when it comes for opportunities.”
