Inside Asian Gaming

December 2016 inside asian gaming 23 iGaming in Depth iGaming Blue Pages Intelligence team within 20 feet of me at all times. Those are the guys that look into the back-end data, look into player behaviours and then we fold that out into the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) strategy and into customer segmentation so that players get the right message at the right time on the right device. “This process is led by data and no, it’s not good enough to just have the data, you need someone with the ability to delve into it.” One reason for this, says Senyard, is that the players themselves are becoming smarter. Ironically, the very same phones and tablets that have spawned the iGaming boom have also provided the tools for players to search for the sites and products that best suit their needs. “They are becoming a lot more savvy in their education and where they spend their time and their money,” Senyard offers. “That means we up our ante because players now demand more from the brands they work with in terms of what they want – not only in terms of what we give them but how we retain them.” If anything, data has become even more critical to the retention of players than the acquisition of them in the first place. After all, is the repeat customer that will ultimately determine a company’s fate. “Technology is transforming the way that we operate,” explains Woods of Tropicana’s retention strategy. “We are seeing massive processing power brought to bear in our retention programs and we’re getting incredibly sophisticated with our segmentation and targeting. “The other thing it allows us to do is to start building predictive models where in a matter of 24 hours we can identify what kind of customer a player is going to be and start incentivizing them and offering them bonuses based on predictive behaviours. We have that opportunity to really snag potential VIPs as soon as they walk in the door instead of letting them waltz out and only realizing weeks later.” Data, though, can’t provide all of the answers. Not all marketing strategies will work. And it is for this reason that today’s most successful iGaming companies are the ones where every department – from web development to acquisition to retention – all work closely together. “They (each department) are distinct but inherently related,” argues Lang. “From my perspective, acquisition and retention have to be speaking to one another and sitting together, or at least within shouting distance of one another, at all times. The skill sets are very different but you’re dealing with the same customer so understanding that user journey – it isn’t just a matter of handing over from acquisition to retention because then you get lax customer and have to start again from scratch.” This is a problem often experienced by “Players now demand more from the brands they work with in terms of what they want – not only in terms of what we give them but how we retain them.” start-ups, whose over-eagerness to hit the ground running can see too much focus placed on simply bringing players in. While doing so can result in some boosted early numbers, the long-term danger is that the quality of these players tends to suffer and ultimately far fewer are retained. “So it’s a dialogue process,” Lang continues, “and that’s how the most successful companies now work. If you do that right, you remove all the obstacles that stop people from placing a bet or having a spin or playing a hand of cards with you because you are giving them everything they want.” More than anything, however, the key to implementing a successful acquisition and retention strategy in the modern iGaming world is innovation. Over the next 12 months, marketing avenues such as App Store optimization and targeting Apple TV boxes are likely to become areas of greater focus. Beyond that, who knows? What the future will bring is anyone’s guess. But no matter the means, the message is clear – innovate, innovate, innovate. “It’s going to be fascinating because the battlefield is changing at such a fast rate,” says Lang. “That’s why you have to innovate, take risks, have the necessary failures and keep trying to find that golden moment.”