How to improve user retention in the gambling industry
Player acquisition and retention is quite a neverending story for iGaming. The law was never permissive to this part of the business and has made the whole act of attracting new players a tough challenge for bookmakers. To this day, companies struggle to build and maintain the client base, thinking about improving user retention and making the players more engaged in gaming. Since the players are the foundation of this business, the strategy to make them stay, and not just attract them, is key.
As players always seek new exciting experiences, the gambling industry needs to adapt to changing expectations quickly. Considering all the obstacles on the way, the companies do it pretty well. For example, they manage to promote their services in regions with legal grey areas and countries where the law regulations of iGaming are less strict. However, we all know that it’s just a temporary solution, and to build a prospering business, bookmakers need a better strategy.
Where lays the problem
Online gambling and betting companies lose revenue due to inactive players and abandoned deposits. Bookmakers struggle to find an effective solution that would help them to maintain a regular flow of payments. They invest between 400-1000 euros to attract a single online registration, but of these registered customers, only 2 in 5 make their first deposit. Then in 6-12 months, 70% of them abandon paying anyway.
Companies attempt to improve user retention and activate players using bonus offer emails. However, emails usually remain unopened (only 20% of marketing emails are opened), and the ROI of these actions is barely visible. Adding the countries’ regulations on gambling marketing and the saturated market, it’s getting tough to find offbeat tactics that create a sense of urgency in users and trigger actions.
How to improve user retention in gambling
For a long time, there was no practical solution that would guarantee companies a high retention rate. Today it is possible with Apifonica technology.
Apifonica’s automated calling campaign is a technology that dials a list of phone numbers from the customer base, plays a pre-recorded promo message, and, if a callee is interested, sends offer details via SMS.
The technology converts newly registered customers into active players, using a mix of voice and messaging channels. Based on your CRM data, it identifies when, what, and how to communicate with each player. It automatically delivers a personalized message to customers and successfully drives conversion.
The solution reaches out to your new customers and those who became passive, and it drives actions offering tempting promotions over a phone call. All you need to do is record a message or create a scenario converted from SMS to an automated phone call campaign. Multiple gambling companies have already adopted the technology across several countries.
Launching engagement campaigns for a gambling operator
Mondobets was facing the problem of poor retention rates. After the pandemic, only the regular betters returned to the game, but those who were less engaged became inactive. Trying to fight the consequences of a major crisis, the company decided to try out the Apifonica solution to accelerate conversion.
The pilot campaign for Mondobets included calling over 10,000 customers and sending SMS to those who agreed to receive it. The campaign was promoting a sports event and had to be launched in less than 24 hours. The solution was designed to automatically make and answer phone calls, process customer responses, and send SMS messages with trackable URLs.
The results went beyond expectations. The Spanish sportsbook operator reached 90% of their target audience at a 15-20% conversion rate. Apifonica successfully delivered promo offers to players and helped the company to increase revenues within a short timeframe.
Another international operator - Soft2Bet - also used Apifonica’s solution in their engagement campaign.
Secure your online gambling business
With all the technological advancements entering the gambling industry, companies need to start innovating their strategies. The good old emails have no chance compared to the results generated with automated calling campaigns and will soon (if not already) become inefficient.
Secure your revenues and integrate Apifonica into your business.