The key to secure and accurate machine revenue management. Now with Quantum TITO inside.
The key to secure and accurate machine revenue management. Now with Quantum TITO inside.
The Thomas PayStation range are market leaders across many sectors. Coins and bank notes, Chip and Pin, contactless and mobile payments, our machines will process your customers’ preferred choice of payments reliably and efficiently.
Promo Lite is an innovative direct marketing system designed specifically for arcades and available from Playsafe Systems. Steph Norbury caught up with William Bollom, Managing Director of the Bollom Organisation, to find out how he is putting it to good use at the Olympia Arcade in Weston-super-Mare.
An arcade owner or manager has to wear many hats as William Bollom knows only too well. He has been busy for the past week putting up ‘miles’ of bunting ahead of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. Which is why a system that helps him keep in touch with his customers – even when they are not in the arcade – is such a welcome help.
Promo Lite uses SMS text messages to allow operators to communicate directly with their customers. Texts are fast and dynamic and have a higher open rate than other forms of communication. In fact, 99% of text messages are opened compared with only 33% of emails. The Promo Lite system allows sites to offer fully customisable, targeted promotions, which can be scheduled for ease. Clever algorithms ensure that duplicate members in the database are identified and the whole system is fully GDPR compliant. So nobody gets bombarded with multiple texts and anyone who doesn’t want to receive them can easily opt out.
“We have been using the Promo Lite system for over two and a half years,” says William. “Initially we started using it to send direct offers to our signed-up customers, but this advanced as we started using digital scratch cards and birthday offers to in a medium that was discreet and professional.
“During the pandemic it was great to be able to let our customers know when we would be reopening and target our promotional spend directly to the customers who we value the most,” he adds.
William has found that his customers have taken to the system seamlessly. “A direct text has allowed us to aim at the people who enjoy visiting us. From 18 to 80, all our customers have a phone and being offered a discreet text gives them a greater degree of privacy than any other medium. It also allows us to see when customers visit and what times, making sure promos are run on the right days at the right time to the right people! A BAR X promo list will be very different to a B3 promo list but we can easily aim to who and when we want!”
Being able to profile the customer and target their promotions is what appeals to William most. “The direct contact is undoubtedly what I value the highest!” he says. “Instead of a scattergun promo campaign, being able to offer the right promo to the right people is a fantastic tool. Customers like using it too! The digital scratchcards and win wheels add a sense of fun and allows some great staff interaction with the customers.”
Full automation and customer workflow, based on member actions and events makes life even easier and ensures that the site is aware of customer behaviour and can act on it. In addition, automated reporting is available. This includes automated collection reporting to demonstrate the trends in a venue, as well as detailed reports on all aspects of promotional activity.
Despite all of these features, William has not found the system complex in any way. “As a standard setup it was extremely easy to use. The accountancy side makes sure that all the figures tie up with my Playsafe (Quantum) system too. Staff have enjoyed the interaction side of the system and it has allowed me to focus on the customers that concentrate on various genres of machines,” he says.
“Playsafe has been really helpful all the way through from the initial setup to focusing the system on the requirements I have as an operator. I can only thank them for bearing with me!” he adds. “I cannot think of a business that would not benefit from Promo Lite! I did not have the time or skills needed to create such a package. Finding it all in one location allowed us to bring ourselves to marketing in an extremely professional way whilst gaining all the information that we needed and more!”