Wind Creek Casino Increases Business from Loyalty Program Members - PODi Case Study

Vertical Market: Travel & Entertainment
Business Application: Direct Marketing/Traffic Generation/Loyalty

Business Objectives
Wind Creek Casino, located in Alabama, has a loyalty program—“Players Club”—that offers members special offers, access and privileges. To generate business and foster stronger customer relationships, Wind Creek needed a direct marketing campaign that would:

• Increase casino traffic on specific dates
• Collect customer information
• Solicit email and phone opt-ins for future marketing

Results
Wind Creek Casino partnered with Visions to create a cross-media campaign that drove recipients to a personalized URL.

• List Count – 48,605
• 31.3% visit rate – recipient went to Personalized URL
• 30.8% response rate – Recipient completed online form
• Opt-ins for future communications
  * 14,985 email
  * 8,264 home phone
  * 3,412 cell phone
• 2,217 coupon redemptions for a redemption rate of 14.8%
• 552% ROI

Campaign Architecture
A personalized postcard was sent to recipients directing them to a Personalized URL for their gaming offer. The Personalized URL provided users a secure landing page with login. Users gained access to their customized site and supplied the information necessary to enter the sweepstakes. At the same time, each site captured additional opt-in contact information for future marketing promotions.

As the final step in the campaign, respondents received a follow-up email with guaranteed winnings details and information on a second chance drawing. Subsequent personalized emails were sent prior to drawing dates to serve as reminders.

Offer
The promotion encouraged recipients to visit their Personalized URL for guaranteed free play winnings and a chance to win a $10,000 prize sweepstakes. To encourage business on the casino’s slow days, Mondays and Tuesdays, special offers were made for those days of the week.

Target Audience & Messaging
The target audience for this campaign was Players Club members for the Wind Creek Casino & Hotel. The campaign encouraged Players Club members to “Log In & Cash Out.” The dollar amount of the member’s free play award was based on the amount of play that individual had done in the casino.

Creative
Key elements of the design:

• Personalized URL highlighted on front and back of postcard
• Gender- and age-specific photos
• Messaging that featured the recipient's name

Reasons for Success
With the opt-ins that Wind Creek Casino received as part of this campaign they were able to launch an on-going email and mobile marketing campaign to stay in touch with their valued customers.

Best practices learned from this campaign:

• Use an appealing offer. Words like “guaranteed winner” and “free” always grab attention and make an offer more likely to pull a strong response.
• Personalized URLs are easy response mechanism. In addition to grabbing attention with the recipient’s name, Personalized URLs provide an easy way for recipients to respond. They also offer marketers the immediate tracking of results, essential in evaluating the effectiveness of any marketing campaign.

Client: Wind Creek Casino http://www.windcreekcasino.com
Wind Creek Casino & Hotel is a 225,000 square foot facility, with 57,000 square feet of gaming floor and over 1,600 electronic gaming machines. The 160,000 square foot, 17-story, 236-room luxury hotel offers the finest in resort amenities, with spacious rooms and 24-hour-a-day room service.

Service Provider: Visions Inc. http://www.visionsfirst.com
Visions is a Native American-owned integrated marketing service provider specializing in full service commercial printing, graphic design, and interactive/Waceb solutions.

Hardware: Xerox iGen3
Software: EasyPURL (personalized URLs); XMPie (variable-data composition)

Target Audience: Wind Creek Casino & Hotel Players Card members
Distribution: 48,605
Date: February – March 2010