Starting Oct. 24, Powerball players will be able to win more exciting prizes through a new customer engagement vehicle: A web and mobile-based promotion called Powercode. Shoutz, Inc., operator of the Powerball and Mega Millions LotteryHUB app, manages the promotion.
Entering is simple. Players can use their smartphones, computers or other connected devices to navigate to www.powercode.grandrewards.com and register. Players who enter the correct Powerball number (the red ball number drawn in each Powerball drawing) during the promotion will be eligible to play an Instant Win game for a chance to win digital gift cards from well-known national retailers.
The Powercode will change with each drawing, so there will be two different codes each week. Players can enter once per day, with each entry providing players three chances to instantly win. Each entry automatically registers players for the chance to win exciting grand prize drawings.
Loyalty360 caught up with Diego Gutierrez, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Shoutz, to find out more about this new promotion.
What factors prompted the creation of the Powercode promotion and what are your goals for it from a customer engagement/customer experience perspective?
Powercode was developed as we saw the opportunities and new ways to engage Powerball players on the devices they use every day. Television and digital are being consumed simultaneously every day, so driving users from one to the other and increasing engagement for both is something that made sense. The first promotion period begins Saturday, Oct. 24, and will run through Saturday, Nov. 21. We will then have other promotions which will run through Feb. 20, 2016.
Building on a successful relationship with MUSL (Multi-State Lottery Association), our goals are to leverage an existing base of online and digital users, while also increasing that digital engagement with the Powerball brand. We’ve already done this with our LotteryHUB mobile application (which has live-streamed drawings, ticket tracking tools, etc.), and wanted to build on LotteryHUB’s success by offering a sweepstakes prize. We want to add value to the Powerball playing experience as well as the viewership, and we hope the instant-win games, hundreds of prizes and the chance to win $5,500 vacations will do that for players.
Did customer feedback play a role in the launch of Powercode?
We do gather and evaluate feedback from players, and we continuously try to provide better and more engaging ways to grow our relationship with the players. Simply put, the way players have embraced digital engagement with Powerball on LotteryHUB showed us that a promotion like this would be valuable to them. We’ve sent more than 107 million messages to LotteryHUB users who want to track their tickets or find out when they’ve matched a number. Digital engagement is something players want, but until now, it was missing on a national scale.
Where does customer loyalty fit in the whole scheme of Powerball and has it changed at all in recent years?
Introducing digital programs into a very traditional industry like lottery has created change, but we always want to remain responsible while supporting MUSL and state lottery goals. MUSL and Powerball support important programs in each member state, so customer loyalty is important to the brand. On our end, we add value to the customers’ Powerball experience, keeping customers coming back, which, in turn, allows MUSL to market smarter, reach more people, and make a bigger difference with the programs they support. Additionally, since there is no purchase necessary for Powercode, we anticipate even higher levels of affinity towards the promotion and the brand.
What customer engagement trends to you see when it comes to Powerball?
We’ve had a lot of success with the LotteryHUB app. We have learned that Powerball players love being able to watch drawings on mobile, and they enjoy being more connected to the Powerball brand, as demonstrated by the success of our messaging programs. As we continue to provide interesting and creative content to go along with information of interest to players, we hope to see the overall trend of increased engagement with players continue as we roll out this new digital and mobile experience.