How Casinos can use Beacons to Enhance Guest Experiences

It has been more than a year since Apple announced iBeacon, and today these devices have become the buzzword of the offline marketing world. So much so that, inspite of the recent surge of privacy and security concerns around iBeacon technology, many brands are fast realizing the fact that leveraging beacons can help them expand their loyal customer base with ease. In fact, according to a recent Placecast report, 52% of U.S. consumers agreed that they know what beacons are and find it to be a very appealing technology.

Further, with smartphone ownership reported to be drawing ever closer to ubiquity, beacons are arguably one of the most innovative customer engagement tools currently available in the market. This is one of main reasons why beacons have stimulated the appetite of marketers across verticals such as events, travel, museums and hotels.

After reading one of our earlier posts about how beacons can help hotels serve guests better, we’ve received quite a few requests from casinos about how beacons can help casinos. So, here are a few ideas we could think of. For a casino player, beacons point towards a unique experience that brings the casino to life by sending them location-driven contextual offers and promotions.

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In this post we will talk about how beacons can enhance visitors’ experience at casinos.

1. Empower casino operators

When it comes to casinos, providing a top notch customer service can be quite a daunting task. Keeping your players happy especially when they aren’t too happy about dropping $700 at the craps table in 30 minutes can be extremely challenging. However, over the years many casinos have learned that investing their precious resources into providing excellent customer service will help them achieve what every casino wants from their customers – lifetime loyalty. No one plays a bigger role in it than your casino operators.

Smart casinos could deploy beacons to read customer information such as his or her name, photo ID, profile information and personal preferences like favourite drink, favourite game, etc. Relaying such important information about your customer to your casino operators will help them greet your valued customers by name and also provide them with a better idea of how to make your customers feel comfortable and happy. For example, when a VIP customer walks in, you could send a message, alerting your staff to greet your VIP guest with his or her favourite drink.

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2. Navigation

Though, GPS has helped solve the problem of wayfinding before, it is not very effective when it comes to an ‘indoor setting’, such as a casino. This is one of the main factors aggravating the problem of indoor navigation in casinos, making it difficult to direct guests to the smoking area, or a particular roulette table in the venue. Beacons are a perfect solution to this problem.

By installing beacons at critical locations inside the casino, such as the poker room, the gaming tables, the bars and restaurants, guests could be easily guided to their gaming tables. The best part about this solution is that it does not rely on Wi-Fi or GPS (that require an internet connection). The only thing that a user needs is a bluetooth-enabled smartphone with the app of the casino they are visiting.

3. Contextual Relevancy

Well-timed, contextually relevant push notifications also have a great impact on consumer behaviour. When used along with apps that have utility, beacons are reported to drive 500% increase in interactions compared to standard push notifications with location relevancy. Casinos can easily take advantage of this by deploying beacons at different locations within the venue and using them to engage with customers based on their gaming and visitation behaviors. Therefore, it is highly crucial for casinos to understand each step in the customer journey and provide their customers with contextually relevant functionality, specific to that location.

For example, when a guest who isn’t a part of your players club walks in, you could send a notification on the benefits of joining the club and instructions on where to sign up for it. Moreover, you could also monitor the time spent by a particular guest at your casino and then send them an offer they can’t refuse to extend their stay, just about 10 minutes before the time that he or she usually leaves.

4. Enhance customer loyalty

Today, consumers’ decision to buy and interact with a casino is often based on the ability of the brand to reward them for the time and money spent. This is one of the main reasons why customer loyalty programs that reward customers for staying loyal to their casino have steadily gained popularity. Using beacons, casinos can intertwine their loyalty programs with the needs and preferences of their customers by rewarding them with loyalty points for their purchases at the retail stores and restaurants within the property. Further, it also helps them provide customers with offers and recommendations based on their previous purchase history.

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Thus, beacons provide casinos with the ability to meet each customer’s individual needs, understand their unique footprint, and use it to customize specific opportunities and experiences for each of their customers.

What have you done differently in your casino? I’d love to hear your thoughts. So, please don’t forget to add your thoughts on the post and your ideas in the comments section below.

If you are planning a beacon pilot, take a look at Beaconstac, that includes everything you need to get started. Using Beaconstac you can set up your own campaign, without a developer’s help!