Making Cents of Cashless: The 7 key points.
It was a great turn out for the joint webinar hosted by Tappit and Sports Business Journal. The level of interest in cashless technologies has grown exponentially with the arrival of COVID-19. Sports and entertainment organisations across the globe are looking at ways to reassure fans and keep people safe, whilst ensuring the sustainability of their business.
For those who missed it, these are the top 7 take homes from the webinar, which was hosted by Jason Thomas, Global CEO, Tappit, Meka Morris, CRO, Tappit and Eileen Silvergleid, CRO Sports Business Journal.
1. Cashless takes many forms
“There is always a solution – the two major elements you need to look at are infrastructure and demographic of your fan.” says Jason Thomas, Global CEO, Tappit.
When you’re deciding how best to go cashless, think carefully. Most importantly, as Thomas mentions “the organisation has got to see the benefits of going cashless”.
Meka Morris, CRO, Tappit comments one of the key factors that should impact the decision is “how do we make it as seamless or as frictionless for a fan as possible?.”
Take a look at the benefits, opportunities and weaknesses of each option. Have a think about the future potential that each solution gives you. Here is more info on RFID and Mobile Pay.
2. The future is mobile pay
Mobile pay technology is gaining popularity at a rapid rate and COVID is accelerating this demand. In North America, teams and organisations are understanding the need to build their own data ecosystem, which is why white label mobile pay solutions are seeing a huge increase in demand. “Any venue or organisation that isn’t exploring a mobile solution is really behind the game” states Morris. Starbucks, Walmart and Chick-fil-A have demonstrated the power of in-app payment solutions, it’s time for sports and entertainment to catch up.
3. Safety matters more than ever.
As Meka Morris, CRO surmised, “In a post-COVID world, there isn’t a venue or environment that isn’t really looking at how they can deploy a mobile solution. I don’t think you can open your doors and force people to use cash and cards when we know they can spread communicable diseases”.
4. Secrets of successful adoption.
Successful adoption starts internally. Jason Thomas states “Adoption by the organisation comes before adoption of the fans. The organisation has got to see the benefits to going cashless. The staff need to see the benefits”.
Thomas continues, “the education piece for the fans needs to start early. You need to show the fans very quickly why you are making the changes and what the benefits will be for the fan.” “No matter how beneficial [going cashless] is for the organisation, it has to work for the fan”.
Morris adds, organisations need to address “How do we bring fans into the fold and incentivise them? People want the good stuff when you use an app – people want to use things that provide real value to them. We encourage our partners to think about what these things are and use them to drive adoption.”
5. What about the data?
“Everyone on this call will know they need data. Not everyone has actionable data that brings benefits to the fan or to the organisation”, comments Thomas.
“The beauty of a white-label cashless solution is that you can integrate with any endpoint. We look at integrating with everyone – ticketing, parking, CRM, loyalty – allowing a team to fully understand every fan.” By doing this, “you can make your venue more efficient and drive incremental revenue.” explains Morris. A full outline of how you can use this data to the max is here.
On the question about data ownership and privacy – Meka states “A cashless solution plays no different for the team than any other data [that they use for marketing]”. “Every bit of data should be owned by the team and they should be empowered to drive opportunities that the fans want and the sponsors want.” “The importance around data is to use it to give something back that matters to the fan”, says Meka Morris.
6. Return on investment
Morris sums it up as “Firstly we all have a responsibility to keep people safe and this is the best way to execute that”, states Morris. “The next piece is savings, cash management and reduction of theft and fraud. There are savings to be made and an increase in total revenue from faster and easier transactions. Then it is about sponsorship information – which can inform existing partners and drive incremental opportunities. The data piece is so rich that when you understand the fans you can incentivise them to behave in ways that you want them to.”
Additionally, the cost savings can be found around reductions in cash handling (security, counting cash and minimising theft and fraud).
If you’re interested in understanding the potential savings you can make from going cashless, try our ROI calculator here.
7. The fan should be your focus.
“If you can’t improve fan experience, the rest is a waste of time”, Jason Thomas, Global CEO, Tappit. COVID-19 has forced entertainment and sporting organisations to rethink their whole approach to the fans. New ways of watching games, engaging with teams and brands have gained ground over the last few months. Fan loyalty and attendance at games was a given. Now you need to give them reasons to come back.
As Meka states, ‘As a fan, I want to go to a live event again, and as an industry we need to do whatever needs to be done to make people feel safe again to return to live events’.
If you’re interested in hearing more – check out the full webinar here. Huge thanks to the team at Sports Business Journal for working with us on the event. If you would like to find out more about cashless or for us to answer any questions that you have – please fill in this form.
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