GGW Voices is an ongoing collaboration between CDC Gaming Reports and Global Gaming Women featuring commentary and insight from women in the gaming industry.
It’s hard to believe G2E is only weeks away! As we move into the prime time of the gaming industry’s trade show season, the importance of customer centricity cannot be overstated. When every exhibitor is vying for attention, those who succeed are the ones who truly prioritize the needs and desires of their target audience. This customer-centric approach not only helps to attract attention but also fosters long-term loyalty, ensuring that your brand remains top-of-mind long after the trade show ends.
What is customer centricity? The answer is simple: a business strategy and culture that prioritizes creating the best experience for customers. As an industry, we have a unique combination of operators, customers, and suppliers; each looking to create the best experience for the end user – the player. By keeping the player in mind, we can begin to harness digital solutions to drive new revenue opportunities and build brand loyalty in meaningful ways. However, to truly capitalize on this opportunity, it’s essential to adopt a customer-centric approach, which prioritizes the needs and preferences of your audience.
Customer-centricity begins with a deep understanding of who your customers are and what they need. This involves more than just basic demographics; it requires insights into player pain points and motivations, as well as business challenges. At Wondr Nation, we work closely with our customers to understand their plans to enter the iGaming or Casual gaming sector and guide them to the best solution for their current and future state needs. Strategic information gathering is done to ensure we’re capturing actionable insights to impact their bottom line. By leveraging data and insights to continuously refine your strategy, you can ensure that every interaction is meaningful, relevant, and aligned with your customers’ needs.
Digital solutions are not new to the Gaming industry. We’ve all seen the new technologies emerge from online free-to-play, casual gaming, skill-based gaming, and Real Money Gaming. Now what we need to decide is how we’re going to harness these technologies and create unique, meaningful player experiences. First, focus on what your players respond to and how they engage to define a future entry and expansion into interactive offerings. Then, leverage the data and take the time to identify player’s needs.
The results will drive revenue because you took the time to invest in what was needed vs. what you think your players might like. As an example, by simply doing what another provider is doing may fall flat because you didn’t do the research ahead of time to ensure your investment dollars were targeting the right audience to drive results. By exploring innovative and interactive solutions, you can create experiences that are both engaging and memorable, setting your brand apart from the competition.
As you explore your customer’s needs and are building out a tailored interactive player experience, you need to consider their expectations. Consumer expectations have vastly changed over the years from the introduction of the iPhone, Amazon, and more recently having experienced the impacts of COVID. Immediacy and creating frictionless experiences have become table stakes. This G2E should be showcasing how the industry is going to continue to move forward with creative and innovative solutions for interactive and on-premise experiences.
Innovation in your approach to customer engagement can also make a significant difference in achieving your overall business goals. This might include using data-driven insights to customize your omni-channel content for different audience segments, incorporating cutting-edge technologies to demonstrate your brand, or even creating a seamless blend of physical and digital experiences to keep players engaged both during and after a visit to your property.
But innovation is not limited to technology alone. It is equally important to think creatively about how to interact with your players on a personal level. This might involve rethinking the traditional approach to better align with customer expectations and behaviors. For instance, consider hosting a series of customer-centric events, or focus groups, to gather insights on how they interact with your brand or your competitor’s brand, which could offer valuable insights and actionable takeaways.
Ultimately, the goal of any tradeshow should be to create meaningful connections to drive long-term value for your operations, business, enterprise, customers and the end users – the players. By prioritizing customer-centricity, exploring innovative and interactive solutions, and leveraging data to inform and refine your strategic approach, you can ensure that your 2024 G2E attendance not only proves productive, but also provides you with actionable ideas to implement when you return from the show.
