Page 26 - Public Gaming International September/October 2017

There are also countless small things that add consumer behaviors as a way to further at retail. We asked: what are the things that
up to a customer journey or a player expe- engagement. get in the way of them wanting to purchase?
rience. The world where buying decisions We heard about how waiting in lines is a
are based primarily on practical matters of Wendy Montgomery: disincentive. We heard about how consum-
functionality and material value is long gone. It all matters, every detail about the ers don’t want to take the time of the retail
Today, the calculus applied to the purchase consumer experience contributes to or clerk and the people behind them in line to
of things like clothes, or automobiles, or detracts from the overall value received by talk about lottery. We heard that the POS
watches bears little resemblance to the the customer. Digitizing the in-store player might not be easily visible. As a result, we
practical value delivered by those products. experience causes the consumer to think are looking at ways in which the terminals
Starbucks is the iconic example of how the differently about lottery, if for no other can be a part of a broader technological solu-
overall consumer experience can transform
the value of an otherwise simple commodity
like coffee. Our task in the lottery business “Much more than other products, lottery
is to provide the modern consumer with a
modern player experience—a customer jour- engages the customer in a multi-step, multi-
ney that they want to repeat. faceted relationship … that represents a

The goal of the modern business success stories perfect foundation for building a dynamic
is not ever to “meet the needs of the consumer”.
Starbucks and Apple and other successful and active CRM-based relationship with our
marketers are changing consumer behavior, customers. “
creating new demand for something that did
not even exist. Should we be focused on “meet-
ing the needs” and “creating options” for the
consumer or something more ambitious? reason than to learn a new way of looking tion that reshapes the whole in-store lottery
at the inventory of product and playing the playing experience. Play stands, ticket
Wendy Montgomery: lottery. Change for changes’ sake is in fact checkers, new kinds of tickets, new screens,
It’s not about exceeding expectations or good because it causes one to think, to be digital menu boards and play-stations all
delighting the customer or “meeting the aware. Now, having the change result in a have a role to play. We hope to introduce
needs” or “providing the consumer with better experience is also good. The OLG a whole new playing experience to the store
options”. Mobile apps are a good example. mobile app to check winning numbers is environment. Thinking about our product
We could do a mobile app because that’s much more convenient and timely than as being an entire player journey causes us
what some of our customers want. But that the alternatives. The digital menu board to think about how to optimize the entire
is missing the whole point. We want to profoundly enhances the whole process of experience.
have customers interact with us in new and playing the lottery and buying a ticket in
different ways. That is not only a measure of a check-out lane. The games may not be We can’t depend on the prospect of winning
engagement, it is a catalyst to further inter- changing at all, but the customer journey the lottery or creating the possibility for a
action and deeper engagement. is changing in a big way, the overall player life-changing event to keep attracting the
experience becomes digitized (and better) for players every time. We need to look at
Delivering a modernized player experi- the modern consumer. the countless ways we can deliver more
ence is not about “meeting the needs of the value to the player. We need to provide the
modern consumer”. The goal is to deliver What specifically is the “store of the future” opportunity to share a game-playing expe-
an experience that enhances the customers’ initiative leading you to do? rience with others; to see the OLG app in
overall lottery playing experience. That is action—ultimately, so customers can derive
what all successful companies are doing. Wendy Montgomery: enjoyment and value from things other than
Did Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, the founders of We are in the process of replacing our entire the outcome of the game itself.
Google, Facebook, Uber, Starbucks or any fleet of terminals at retail. We are analyzing
other business leader in modern times have the marketplace to see how we can reinvent The second-chance draw would seem to be a
as their goal to “meet the needs” or “provide the retail environment to create the POS and powerful tool for driving registrations and
the consumer with options”. No – the goal overall shopping experience of the future. engagement. Are we tapping into its full
is to enhance the customer journey such that Our whole focus is on creating that digital potential?
the customer enjoys benefits that they didn’t connection with the in-store shopper and
even know existed. applying technology to enable the omni- Wendy Montgomery:
channel interaction with the consumer. I don’t think so. In fact, we may be miss-
So, the whole concept of “Player Journey” ing an opportunity. In Ontario, we have
isn’t just about optimizing the player experi- We have done extensive research with second-chance draws on many instant tick-
ence from stem to stern. It’s about changing customers to understand their pain-points ets. But we are not applying a consistent
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26 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // SEPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2017