Beneath the flashing lights and free cocktails, casinos are built on a bedrock of mathematics that ensures they will lose money over time. They are engineered to keep people coming back by promoting feelings of joy, wonder and excitement, even though they know that the house always wins.
Casinos use many tactics to lure people into their games, from scented oils that waft through the ventilation system to make players feel calm and happy, to glitzy decor that creates an otherworldly experience. Some casinos also employ psychology tricks to keep people gambling longer, such as using “near-misses” on slot machines to encourage more spins and a sense of urgency to play.
Most of the time, casinos only know demographic information about their customers. They might know that they are women in their 30s with college educations who earn high salaries, for example. But they don’t know why those women came to the casino, or what their goals and pain points were. They could be on a business trip with an hour to kill, or they might be celebrating a friend’s bachelorette party.
This is why it’s important to understand your audience and what job they’re “hiring” you to do in order to optimize your marketing, customer service and product offering. The best way to do this is by conducting in-depth customer research, ideally through interviews and surveys, to uncover the underlying reasons that customers come to your casino. This will give you a clear idea of the type of casino that your customers are looking for.