How to Increase Your Retention Rate in Your Online Casino or Sports Betting Site
In this article
We will discuss the role of habitual behavior in customer retention and provide five online gambling strategies to help you improve retention rates in your online casino or sports betting site.
Customer retention is a critical factor in the success of any online gaming business. Retaining customers usually means increased revenue, improved customer loyalty, and a more robust customer base.
Your customer list is your company’s greatest asset
A high quality, responsive customer base is your business’ greatest asset. This is essentially what customer casino retention rate means. The more responsive your list is, the less money you will have to spend on attracting new customers who are habitual behavior at online casinos.
And the more money you will make over a long period of time.
We live in a century where everyone knows what an online casino is. Most people who come to your online casino have already played somewhere else.
Something made them reconsider their choice, visit your site and register! Now it’s time to keep them and not give your competition a chance to steal them away from you.
The Role of Habitual Behavior in Customer Retention
You’re probably wondering what Habitual Behavior is?
Habitual behavior refers to actions that people perform unconsciously and automatically, often due to repetition. Habitual behavior can play a significant role in customer retention.
And the more money you will make over a long period of time.
A study conducted by Jolley, Mizerski, and Olaru in 2006 found that habitual behavior is positively related to customer loyalty.
The study found that customers who frequently visited online websites and engaged in habitual behavior such as playing the same games repeatedly were more likely to be loyal customers.
All online gaming businesses can benefit from understanding and leveraging habitual behavior to improve retention. Including your business!
Customers who have played a game at least once are more likely to come back
Even when other enticing options with flashy graphics, monetary rewards, and merchandise points are available.
In other words, people will keep coming to your website not because of the loyalty programs, but because of the habit strength that you must build over a period of time.
If you get your customers to pay you a second time, they’re more likely to become your repeat customers.
This is how the habitual journey starts.
The most important factor that determines whether a player would return to the same website is whether he or she has played it before
If you build trust and a positive attitude towards your brand, people will be drawn to enter your online casino’s URL.
“SKIM” decision behavior experts explain that habitual behavior can be easily disrupted if the cost of change is low.
So, the most important question to ask is: “How can you reinforce the habitual behavior of your customers?” So that they come to your online casino (sportsbook) instead of falling for a new eye-catching advertisement from your competitors?
We will share several proven strategies so you can achieve this!
Source: Invesp
Do you have a proven system to attract new customers?
If your answer is “yes,” then you’re on the right track. The more new customers you can attract the better.
Your business can’t rely on new customers only. What if your marketing online casino strategies no longer work or become too expensive?
Everyone knows that it’s more expensive to get a new customer than it’s to get an existing customer to buy from you a second time.
Every successful company has a customer retention casino online strategy and knows exactly the lifetime value of its customers.
New customers aren’t just a source of revenue. They’re a great source of data!
Every new customer needs to be added directly to your CRM. But that CRM needs to track their every move: how much money did they spend? what games did they play? what were their stakes? how long was the session?
This information, which you collect and sort properly, will help you create player profiles.
All online gaming businesses can benefit from understanding and leveraging habitual behavior to improve retention. Including your business!
Customers who have played a game at least once are more likely to come back
This is how the habitual journey starts.
Profiling of Players for Enhanced Insights and Customer Retention Strategies.
Understanding customer preferences, behaviors, and habits is crucial for customer retention. Player profiles will allow you to offer tailored experiences that meet the needs and interests of your customers.
Let’s take three different customers and create a profile for each of them.
Customer 1: High Roller
Customer 2: Casual Gamer
Customer 3: Social Gambler
Examples of How Other Brands Use Player Profiling
888 Casino uses advanced data analytics to gain insight into player preferences, behavior, and gaming habits.
By analyzing this information, they can offer personalized recommendations and tailored promotions to their players.
For example, they can offer exclusive bonuses for a player’s favorite game or send targeted offers based on their betting behavior to ensure a personalized and engaging experience.
Source: Epsilon Marketing
Bet365 Casino team determines player preferences, such as preferred game categories and specific titles, through comprehensive data analysis.
Based on this profiling, they offer personalized bonuses and rewards to incentivize continued play.
They can offer free spins on popular slots or exclusive cashback offers on a player’s favorite table games, ensuring that players feel valued and motivated to stay with the brand.
They also offer a Bet builder that allows customers to create the bet they want on any Soccer match.
This is exactly how you build trust and a positive attitude!
You have to make sure that your customers communicate with you on their terms.
Bombarding your database with similar “free play” offers can be a bad move when your VIPs want higher limits and faster payouts!
Implementing Five Proven Online Gambling Strategies for Customer Retention Success
1. Exclusive online games and experiences
Offering exclusive online games and experiences can help attract and retain customers. Unique and diverse gaming experiences can help online gambling providers stand out from their competitors and keep customers engaged.
Casumo Casino, for example, offers an exclusive and interactive journey that takes players on an exciting journey where they can earn rewards and progress through levels.
Source: Casumo
The availability of exclusive games combined with innovative gamification elements keeps players engaged and motivated to keep playing.
This unique gaming experience sets Casumo apart from other 98% online casinos and fosters loyalty among players who enjoy the adventure and progress on the platform.
Imagine how different people will feel when they play at a casino like this! Your product should create a positive attitude towards your brand!
2. Fast, secure, and convenient payment transactions
Offering fast, secure, and convenient payment transactions is essential for customer retention in the gambling industry. Players want to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and easily without worrying about security issues.
Your payments have to be localized. You can’t be offering the same payment methods in Brazil and Malaysia.
Ensure that when your players want to withdraw their winnings you offer them the best ways to do that. No exceptions. This is key to customer satisfaction.
3. How Loyalty Programs Open Doors to New Opportunities
One effective way to improve customer retention in the online gambling industry is to offer a loyalty program.
Your loyalty program should reward customers and encourage them to continue playing and spending money on the platform.
This program could include reward points for playing games, exclusive offers and bonuses, and personalized rewards for loyal customers.
A good customer loyalty program not only encourages people to buy. It also creates a sense of the “cost of disconnect”. These are the potential costs associated with disconnecting from your online casino.
If your players decide to switch casinos, they have to start their journey all over again, leaving all the personal bonuses behind. Leaving their personal manager and all the corks and features they can offer.
Here is a good example of what Stake.com offers as part of its loyalty program
Bronze Level: the Bronze level is the starting point for all players who join Stake.com. As a Bronze member, you enjoy basic benefits such as access to exclusive promotions, daily challenges, weekly and monthly bonuses. Players can advance to higher levels by earning loyalty points through their wagers on eligible games.
Silver Level: Once players have accumulated a certain number of loyalty points, they can advance to the silver level where they receive enhanced benefits, such as higher weekly bonuses, access to VIP events, and faster payouts.
They can also receive personalized support from the Stake VIP team to address their specific needs and questions.
Gold Level: At this level, Gold members enjoy even more exclusive benefits, such as higher weekly bonuses, preferred payouts, rakeback, and invitations to exclusive VIP tournaments.
Gold members can also receive personalized cashback offers and tailored promotions based on their gaming preferences.
Platinum Level: A prestigious level for dedicated players who accumulate $2.5 million in wagers.
Platinum members receive premium benefits such as larger weekly bonuses, priority access to new games and features, personalized cashback rewards, and dedicated 24/7 support VIP.
They also have the opportunity to participate in exclusive events and enjoy personalized gifts and experiences.
How important is the VIP service? Here is a Financial Times article explaining that a large part of Stake.com’s staff is focused on serving VIP.
Everyone likes personalized gifts and tailored services. Whether you’re in e-commerce or run a beauty salon, you need to make sure that the top 20% of your customers get more than everyone else.
Diamond Level: The highest level of the Stake VIP loyalty program. Diamond members are rewarded with the most exclusive benefits and personalized perks.
These include higher betting limits, unlimited weekly bonuses, access to Stake VIP private chat, dedicated VIP hosts and invitations to luxurious VIP events around the world.
Diamond members receive the best support and enjoy the most personalized experiences available on the platform.
4. Get Feedback and Use Personal Touch
To increase customer retention rates, it’s important to actively solicit feedback from customers and make communication personal. This will increase your company’s ability to understand what your customers want and make the necessary improvements to satisfy them.
Have you ever checked your inbox and found it’s full of unwanted emails?
That’s what people get from online casinos these days: Promotions, bonuses, special offers, free spins.
That’s about it. Every single online casino does the same thing.
Do you know what’s wrong with that? There is no personal touch! You don’t get feedback that way!
Some of my clients pick up the phone and call their customers. Every repeat customer they have!
They start the conversation by asking, “How can we improve our online casino? What do we have to do to make it worth recommending to your friends?”
At the end of the conversation, they build a rapport with the customer, learn valuable insights, and offer the customer another twenty free spins (or other incentives) to leave a positive impression.
They also send valuable gifts to their VIP customers. Real merchandise that they can put on their desk or use every day.
The most important factor that determines whether a player will return to the same casino is whether he or she has played there before.
With a personal touch, you get into their minds! Your casino will be the first online casino they’ll visit when they’re ready to play.
5. Using a CRM designed specifically for the gaming industry
Customer relationship management (CRM) software can help online gaming companies increase customer retention rates by tracking customer behavior and preferences and providing tailored offers.
Enhanced player segmentation: a specialized CRM system for online gambling offers advanced player segmentation capabilities that allow operators to categorize players based on various characteristics.
For example, an operator can segment players who frequently play slot machines but haven’t played in the last 30 days.
With this segmentation, the operator can target these players with personalized offers, such as free spins or reload bonuses for popular slot games. By tailoring promotions to specific player segments, operators can increase player engagement and retention.
Real-time player insights: CRM systems designed specifically for online gambling, provide real-time player insights through integration with the gambling platform.
You can get access to real-time player data and monitor player activity, behavior, and transaction history. You can then identify which players are at risk of churn or are showing high engagement.
For example, if a player has suffered a large loss, the operator can proactively approach the player with a personalized bonus offer to re-engage them.
Responsible Gaming Measures: A specialized CRM system will include responsible gambling tools that allow operators to set player limits, monitor gambling behavior, and intervene when necessary.
For example, if a player exceeds a predefined deposit limit, the operator can send a personalized message encouraging responsible gaming behavior or take temporary self-exclusion measures.
Seamless integration with gambling platforms: This is important because it enables operators to collect and centralize player data from multiple touchpoints, such as gaming platforms, loyalty programs, and customer support interactions.
This integration provides a comprehensive view of gameplay and enables operators to deliver personalized experiences and targeted marketing campaigns.
For example, when a player interacts with customer support for a technical issue, the CRM system captures this information and ensures that the player receives relevant follow-up communications and offers.
Prevent dissatisfaction from occurring among already habitually bound customers
Your customer service is critical to customer retention.
It doesn’t matter how well you implement the five strategies. If you fail to deliver once, your customer will change their mind about your business.
Customers want to feel supported and valued, and timely customer support can mean the difference between a lost customer and a customer spending thousands of dollars at your online casino.
You should offer 24/7 customer service where a real human answers questions!
Your customer support must serve two main purposes:
- It should help your customers solve their problems immediately.
- It should prevent your customers from being dissatisfied because they have already become accustomed to it. It serves as a last line of defense, protecting the work you’ve done to build relationships with your customers.
Customer retention metrics and how to make data-driven decisions to improve your results
Online gaming customer retention has to be tracked. You have to know your numbers and make decisions that will drive long-term growth to your business.
We have created this post about “11 Online Casino KPIs You Should Be Monitoring Right Now”. Go check it out.
Conclusion
- Customers who have played a game at least once are more likely to come back, even when other enticing options with flashy graphics, monetary rewards, and merchandise points are available. Today every online casino offers flashy bonuses and promotions. Even though this is an essential element to attract new customers, a loyalty program alone is not enough to keep your players with you.
- You have to attract new players and implement tangible strategies to help you to reinforce new habits in your customers. We’ve discussed five strategies:
- Exclusive online games and extensive gaming options.
- Fast, secure, and convenient payment transactions.
- How Loyalty Programs Open Doors to New Opportunities.
- Get Feedback and Use Personal Touch.
- Using a CRM designed specifically for the gaming industry.
The last thing you want to do after developing new habits for your existing customers is lose them. Make one mistake and they’ll leave you.
That’s why it’s important to avoid creating dissatisfaction among customers who are already habitual.
Your customer support will play a big role in this, serving as the last line of defense to protect the work you’ve done to build relationships with your customers.
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