by Bob Carson

Editor’s Note: The USTA website is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.

We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better. — Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Bob Carson

Many of us shopped on our I-pads or phones this Christmas. We compared prices, looked for sales and discounts, read product reviews and even had gifts wrapped and delivered from our blinking blue screens. Gifts arrived at warp speed. We typed (or spoke) to a device about the product we were considering.

After we made our choice, we clicked “Order.” The deal was sealed. Our information was on file. Our preferences and purchase histories were updated into the database. One purchase of mine took about 20 seconds to search, select and send.

Good? Bad? In business, moral judgments are less relevant than sales numbers.

The purpose of any business is to create customers and to keep customers. In our sport, creating customers is very, very difficult. Our demographics make keeping our loyal band of existing customers problematic. To simplify a complex problem, our customer, the person betting on our races, is our lifeblood. Each gambler of harness racing is a precious jewel, a guest at our party.

Shopping for horses has changed. Fifteen years ago, when it was time to buy yearlings, we had our desks and offices littered with sales catalogues, post-it notes were everywhere, pages were folded so we could refer to them and a clunky computer supplemented our search for a diamond in the rough.

Today, our search for those diamonds is much easier. We can use computer programs that filter, and filter, and filter. These programs link, and link, and link.

Should you want a pacer — click to filter, Ohio eligible — click to filter, colt — click to filter, consigned by Midland Acres — click to filter. When you get a filtered list of possible yearlings that fit your criteria, with a few more clicks you can watch videos and investigate pedigrees. You can use a free app that lets you create lists and make notes right on the screen. You do not even need to attend the sales in person. You can bid online during the live-streamed auction. These innovations for yearling shopping are amazing.

Our other customers, our most important customers, are gamblers. Our gamblers also find an improved landscape, but we must continue to improve our wagering product. We need to send races off on time, improve graphics, and provide better wagering value and integrity.

Implementing improved tools for our gambling customer must be a continuing process. At the top of our “to do” list should be more links, more filters and more tools for our wagering customers.

For example, some of us are selective on our harness race wagers. Different people have different preferences and different criteria for gambling on horses. Some may only wager on stakes races, certain trainers, particular drivers, particular racetracks, certain claiming classifications and any other number of red flags and green flags as they decide to spend their handicapping money.

In my case (and you may find this ridiculous), I only wager on trotting races, only wager on races from five racetracks, and I do not wager on claiming races.

My reasons for this quirky stance are not important.

Customers, of whom I am one, are important.

Recently, a flash of frustration at fumbling around looking for my races caused me to close down the racing site and turn to one of the billion other distractions available. We do not want a single customer to click off our races. Technical improvements to our product may slow attrition and lure a few of those precious new customers.

Without a doubt, it is possible that someone with enhanced technological chops could jump through some hoops and find a menu of races that fit my wagering tastes. However, for luddites of my ilk, the ability to easily filter or preset my racing peccadillos would be of great use.

Imagine that when I log into my ADW site, I push a button and my races, the product that I want, is what I receive. Displayed are ready-made menus of racing that I crave. If I do not bet pacers they are gone. If I do not bet a particular racetrack, I will not see it.

Once I have the product I want, this is just the beginning. From this point, my wagering experience could be richer and easier. Here are a few thoughts:

• A link to the race program pages of my races and only my races. You can ask me to pay a small fee for the detailed race page information that I may play, but do not make me pay for all the other races in a program that are of no interest or value to me.
• Direct links to replays of the horses in my races would be helpful.
• Links to professional handicappers with opinions on my races would be helpful.
• Send created menus of my filtered races as soon as they are available so I could do some homework.
• Send me alerts on my phone just prior to post time to remind me to watch.
• An additional customer experience that needs attention is the physical act of placing a bet with our existing gambling sites. The wagering process needs improvement. It should be less cumbersome. We are approaching the point where the customer should just speak, “Wager… $20 exacta, horses four and eight.” The screen displays your ticket, your new balance and you tap the send button.

All of this may be out there somewhere, but do not make me dig around and do the work. Make my gambling experience seamless.

A better experience is helpful not just for the buyer but for the seller. When businesses (racetracks and ADWs) know my gambling preferences, they can design other products. They can inspire loyalty, and they can incorporate my data into their business practices.

Ask yourself this question. If Jeff Bezos took over the sport of harness racing, or even a single racetrack, and employed the practices, the enthusiasm, the foresight and the focus that have propelled Amazon to the heights of business, where would we be?

The wheel turns. It can crush and it can propel. For our gambling customers, let us not be a horse and buggy in a ride-sharing economy.