Acting wisely for retention and acquisition of players: Focus on engagement

 

Acting wisely for retention and acquisition of players: Focus on engagement

 

When you look at the past few years, or maybe even longer, it is clear that the online gambling sector desperately needs both operators and suppliers rethink how they acquire and retain customers.

 

As competition and regulations are becoming fiercer, and players are feeling even more connected to the operators, a more detailed approach to their retention is becoming more important than ever before. In recent history, online casino operators have been quite successful when it comes to the acquisition of players. The past few years were the years when a new generation of players was flowing into online and mobile casinos, which can be seen as the golden age for iGaming marketing because operators have been allowed to freely and openly advertise almost anywhere in the world without much regulation.

 

Focus on player retention for brand growth

 

If a player acquisition is crippled, operators will have to rely on different methods in order to drive growth. That, of course, is player retention and finding new innovative ways to hold on to their existing customers by creating greater value for them. This is not as easy as it seems to be because many operators just don’t seem to do much for player retention at the moment and they will soon have to change their core values and shift towards new ideas that will help them bring more value to their players and keep them loyal.

 

Gamification can be taken as an example because regardless of how effective and popular it has been for operators, there are still plenty who doubt its ability as a retention tool. However, there are plenty of operators who have great material benefits and who are actually showing great and fast growth as a result of gamification.

 

It is crystal clear that operators can’t rely just on their brand name power any longer. Players want to be rewarded for returning and being loyal. Consumer power is growing greatly, they have greater choice and are just a few clicks away from shifting operators, so taking these empowered players for granted is a mistake many operators will not survive. Customer retention plans must be put into place and they have to be implemented in order to ensure the success of the operators.

 

Rewarding loyalty – retaining happy players

 

Operators need to look at new retention methods as well as adapt tested methods that may work, even methods from other industries such as airline loyalty cards etc.

 

One way to do it is giving free spins, or any other bonuses, on a regular basis, tracking the customers and rewarding them depending on how valuable they really are. This is a great retention tool as customers are rewarded based on merit making the special ones feel really special. This alongside the recommendation engine can be a great way to introduce new games that might be of interest to customers who have not played them and help operators generate even greater profits and enhance loyalty even further. It will soon be important to reward players not simply to boost loyalty, but to reward players for their loyalty and gain retention as a result.

 

This, of course, will have to complemented by the game quality and diversification. No one can predict the regulations that may soon come, however, the quality of the content supplied can’t be taken away and are the most obvious way to impress players. Games will have to be seamlessly integrated and the user can’t be inconvenienced by the operator/supplier divide. Especially design needs to be complementary with the user experience of a specific operator. Everything needs to be customized in order to keep the players coming back for more.

 

Recommendation engines are what will define the winners in the developing app ecosystem and that applies as much in gambling and betting as it does in the wider universe of consumer-facing mobile offerings. The ability to offer the right product at the right time is true customization, and given the correct rewards – and without having to rely on possibly intrusive blind bonusing and push notifications – it will see players coming back time and again to your offering.

 

We have analyzed the subject of how recommendation engine assists the Player retention strategies of the companies in another blog post Taking the recommendation engine route up hamburger hill.

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