3 keys to more engagement
The online betting (or “iGaming”) sector has expanded rapidly over the last decade, but its market dynamics are an ever-moving target. With more and more platforms continually entering the market, it can be difficult enough for betting operators to establish a player base – let alone keep players loyal to their sites.
As in all businesses, betting operators understand that it’s more cost-effective to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. Yet across the industry, most wagering sites focus far more of their energy (and larger portions of their budgets) on marketing to new players than on driving loyalty in their existing base. Even worse, some sites are neglecting what is arguably their most effective avenue for engaging customers and driving conversions: digital messaging.
Using digital messaging to do little more than announce new features or welcome new users is a disservice to any betting company. By utilising new technology tools and marketing tactics, online wagering companies can drive revenue results. One of the UK’s leading gaming platforms earned a 4.5% uplift in deposits over a four-month period, saw a 75% increase in activity among active players, and seized a 300% increase in revenue per 1,000 push messages sent through an upgraded digital messaging strategy.
The key to the company’s success: using comprehensive customer profiling to drive highly impactful, real-time engagement. To earn similar outcomes in your organization, revisit your digital messaging strategy and seek out vendor partners who can help you drive stronger loyalty in each key area of the overall player experience.
Habit
Research has shown that players’ use of an online betting site as a habit can be a stronger driver of retention than their overall satisfaction with the site. As we’ll discuss below, that’s not an excuse to slack on satisfaction-related efforts. Rather, it’s an opportunity to use digital messaging to make your site – not your competitors’ – a stronger part of your players’ routines. One way to do that: targeting players with incentives, offers, and customised content at exactly the time they like to play.
Timeliness is an under appreciated key to marketing effectiveness. In our mobileenabled, always-on environment, the difference between a redeemed offer and an ignored one can be determined by seconds – making it vital for betting operators to cultivate and utilise comprehensive data on customers’ engagement habits related to timing. With the right vendor partner, companies can use customer profile information to deliver messages at the optimal moment automatically, without manual effort.
Satisfaction
Of course, habits get broken if (or when) customers become disappointed with the experience delivered by the company they engage with. In iGaming – where all entrants to the market are clamouring for interest from the same base of consumers – the need to consistently satisfy players is paramount to maintaining revenue growth. Mindful of that, many operators utilise customer data for improvement in areas like product development, functionality, and performance.
But applying customer data in such limited scope neglects the power of digital messaging to keep operators engaged and connected to players’ satisfaction levels. Working with a sophisticated digital messaging solution can help you deploy customized satisfaction assessments and targeted offers to motivate players on the brink of churn – helping you apply data for more than just product development and testing but also for marketing, engagement, retention, and loyalty initiatives.
Value
Customisation, personalisation, and individualisation are among the most important marketing concepts of 2016 – and for good reason. Across every industry, consumers increasingly expect offers and promotions targeted directly to their unique preferences, interests, and buying behaviour. Many wagering marketers are already responding to the trends by deploying personalised offers based on players’ past activity. But those offers can only be successful in driving revenue if customers see and engage with them; and relying on email alone can lead to a lot of unopened messages.
Personalisation can be a huge boon to marketing performance, but if executed without a mind for the effectiveness of the engagement channel, its value is nil. Acquiring data to improve personalisation is also a cyclical process: the more consumers engage, the more intel you can cultivate and the more customised offers you can send. Driving value for consumers requires reaching them where they live. The right vendor partner can help betting brands reach 100% of their customer base by deciding in real time which channel the recipient is most likely to engage with – email, SMS, pop-up, or otherwise.