According to the Conversion portal, the gambling market increased by €4.3 billion in 2018, and its volume would grow by €3.9 billion in 2019. It means that the industry competition will become even higher. Therefore, it is quite important for online casino owners not only to attract new gambler, but also to retain the current ones. Well, what methods are the most efficient in this regard?
Tools for Retaining Online Casino Clients
The
high-return gambling industry allures new companies interested in the
expansion of their audience to the market. To attract and retain
customers, online casino owners develop comprehensive marketing
strategies allowing to fulfill players’ demands. One widens a range of
casino offers, provides maximum transparency of transactions and access
security, as well as adds new ways of withdrawals and major loyalty
programs.
There are several efficient and, most significantly,
legal tools that help to engage clients and encourage them to return to
the resource again and again.
Christina Thakor-Rankin, a
Leading Gaming Advisor at 1710 Gaming Ltd. and expert in betting,
gaming, and gambling industries with 25 years of experience, has shared
her opinion of how gambling online resources can retain steady clients.
Christina Thakor-Rankin will become a speaker at the Prague iGaming Affiliate Conference
– event about affiliate marketing in online gambling by the company
Smile-Expo, which will take place in the Czech Republic on April 18. The
conference will gather top marketers, gambling sphere experts, affiite
programs representatives and online casinos operators.
Special Offers, bonuses and loyalty programs
Appealing
special offers include non-deposit games, registration bonuses, and
cashback in case of losing. Such prizes and bonuses should be optimized
for both new clients and regular visitors. Also, it is important to
remember about loyalty programs with well-defined rules.
Christina
Thakor-Rankin believes that exclusive customer specific deals and
offers, and loyalty programs that offer a proper reward are the most
efficient tools to retain online casino customers.
“We now
live in a world where customers are always looking for the next thing.
Being aware of this means we can stay a step ahead by making sure that
we keep developing what we do.”
The reason for exclusive
customer specific deals and offers is simply to mirror what customers
get from other digital service and product providers, believes
Christina. According to the expert, it refers to recommendations based
upon historic activity, and it works for casinos and gambling sites.
Loyalty
programs which really do reward regular customers with something
meaningful are also important. Christina explains that it could be
points which can be converted to cash or rewards in the form of gifts.
“For
example, one of the casinos I use sends a small box of chocolates or a
voucher on St Valentines’ Day or my birthday. Another one rewards
regular logins with random free cash, spins or gift drops.”
However,
expert shares that she probably wouldn’t advocate traditional deposit
bonuses, as regulators are starting to take action on this and it’s a
little bit boring.
Constant Product Expansion
The more diverse and high-quality games the platform provides, the more players the resource will get.
The
specialist is sure that the first thing to attract players is always
product, as if a product is no good, clients won’t stay.
“As
an industry we’ve struggled with the next generation of players (the
Millennials), and logic says that if we miss them, we will probably miss
the next generation as well unless we start doing something about it
now.”
Christina says that the problem seems to be that the
new generation which has grown up in a fully interactive world does not
seem to be so interested in a two-dimensional casino game. So, there has
been some experimentation with VR and skill-based gambling to look at
how we bridge the gap, but it should still be better developed.
“Until
we get there, I think that more successful casinos will provide as much
as possible to offer something for everyone and tailor products
accordingly.”
Here the expert explains that some types of
slots work better in different parts of the world, for example, fairy
tale games work well in Europe but mean nothing to customers in emerging
markets. At the same time, virtual sports are taking off in West
Africa, but connectivity and cost of data mean it hasn’t gone online
yet.
Push Notifications, Spam and Black SEO
Push notifications, special emails for registered clients, can inspire players for action and offer to place a bet.
Here,
Christina believes that spam and black SEO are not as efficient as they
used to be. She explains that customers are now far more aware of the
tactics used by digital companies to push themselves up the rankings or
get their products and services in front of them.
“It is not
important if it is white hat or black hat, and improved spam filters
help to ensure that even legitimate emails end up being blocked.”
The
specialist says, it is only a matter of time before regulators step in,
further reducing the effectiveness of traditional affiliate tactics.
“We
also need to be aware that traditional SEO is now slowly but surely
being superseded by voice – what used to be Google is fast becoming
Alexa or Siri and this poses some interesting challenges but also some
very interesting opportunities for new forms of affiliate activity.”
Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics in Online Casinos
Talking about AI and big data, Christina mentions that knowledge is power.
“The
more we know about our customers, the better we understand their
behavior, their motivation, their preferences, so, the better we can
serve them.”
AI and data science have already started to take
on the role of an “affiliate” on some websites, explains the expert,
talking about recommendations for purchases, products or content based
upon customers’ activity.
Christina believes data science and
machine learning are just taking the principles of customer segmentation
and CRM and automating them on a bigger scale. “What will be key is how applications interface and interact with customers,” says Christina.
Role of Affiliate Marketing
“Affiliates as we think of them in the world of gambling are really a child of the internet,” explains Christina.
According
to the expert, currently, we’ve gone from internet to mobile, voice and
virtual and projected reality. There was also a huge shift in
regulation: an open internet market has become more restricted.
Christina says that keeping in mind the need to limit exposure to gaming
content until age has been verified and a new generation whose interest
in casino is lower than previous generations, we see that life for
online casino affiliates gets much harder.
“That does not mean
they don’t have a role to play – the question will be whether the role
is that of an affiliate or of an advocate and influencer.”
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