5 proven strategies to increase revenue using existing player data
The online gaming industry is tipped to grow more than 9% in 2023, nearing $90b (£72b). But as the market grows, so does the number of companies rolling the dice on online gaming products.
iGaming is a competitive business. By nature, it’s on the leading edge of technology adoption and subject to a myriad legal constraints that vary by region.
So how do brands grow despite these conditions? By focusing on customer experience management (CXM) and personalised player experiences. In particular, increasing revenue per player is an effective way to grow profits in a competitive market.
By analysing usage data, iGaming brands can understand their players on a deeper level. This enables offer personalisation with a higher likelihood of relevance.
We’ve helped a number of clients carry out database hygiene and data processing projects. Each case has been unique, but there’s a common complaint in CXM consulting: lack of visibility into customer data.
In our experience, the requisite information is almost always in a data warehouse. It’s not a lack of data that frustrates marketers but rather the inability to access meaningful insights.
Part of the solution is to invest in a martech platform capable of automating and optimising the processes that centralise first-party data and enrich CRM profiles.
Struggling to track, measure and optimise cross-channel customer journeys? TAP CXM will clarify things.
Use predictive models to identify next-best-actions
Predictive models use advanced algorithms to predict what a player is likely to do based on past interactions. For example, if a player has a history of purchasing in-game items, the model may predict when they’re likely to make another purchase and how much they’ll spend.
This is useful for high-level KPI forecasting, but most linear regression predictive models fail to account for human changeability.
“Adobe’s AI-powered predictive analytics combines advanced contribution analysis, contextualised anomaly detection and cross-channel data analysis. Together, these tools help marketers predict user behaviour and proactively engage.”
2. Increase product width
How: Personalise content to drive cross-sell conversions
It’s been our experience working with Gamesys and QiH Group that iGaming industry leaders can have dozens of brands under one umbrella. That presents a lot of cross-sell opportunities.
Multi-brand businesses need a martech stack that seamlessly integrates analytics, CRM, digital marketing and email data. Otherwise, there’s a risk that complementary offers become fatiguing or repetitive.
For example, players subscribed to 3 different games under one umbrella could receive 3 similar emails. But if the marketing team has a 360° view of the player’s interests and activity, they can tamper the frequency of communication.
They can also identify which products and offers are most likely to appeal to the individual and personalise offers accordingly.
3. Deepen existing player relationships
How: Enhance user profiles based on transactional data and product usage
Going wide with cross-sell opportunities is one strategy. Another is going deep with upsell offers.
By analysing player behaviour, iGaming brands can pinpoint the people who are most likely to show interest in upsell opportunities like:
Early access to new products
Priority odds
Exclusive promotions
This requires a clear customer experience strategy. Personalisation at scale isn’t possible without enhanced player profiles, defined offer-ready signals and good database hygiene.
“Good customer experiences anticipate the player’s needs and wants. You likely have enough data to unearth this insight already, but it’s bogged down by poor hygiene or blocked in siloed data.”
It’s easier than it sounds.
Our Adobe Campaign consultants worked with Gamesys to generate actionable insight from CDP data. In turn, this enabled data automations that automatically segment users, send offers, or hold off until the time is right, all based on a player’s historical data and real-time behaviour.
4. Reduce churn
How: Use predictive analytics to identify players at risk of becoming dormant, then proactively engage
Churn – customers leaving or prospects failing to become customers – happens for any number of reasons. Analytics can’t give you all the answers, but it can identify:
Players who have gone quiet
Segments or products where average spend is declining
Under-performing channels, creative or emails
Problem web pages where conversion is unusually low
Predictive analytics raises the alarm so you can take a closer look at what might be contributing to churn. In the case of Adobe’s predictive analytics, the AI looks at users who could be at risk of churning based on actions that indicate waning interest.
It’s not an out-of-the-box feature, but it’s not out of reach. As Adobe development partners, we work with marketing teams to:
Identify churn signals
Fix churn factors
Establish alerts and automations
Create strategies to reduce churn
“Trying to upsell players who haven’t engaged in a while tends to be counterproductive. Instead, we recommend sending personalised incentives, such as bonus points or exclusive content, to give players a reason to re-engage on their terms.”
Is your martech stack optimised for ROI? Request an Adobe platform audit to identify hidden issues and get tailored recommendations.
Creating tailored, targeted promotions can be tricky. Act too slowly and you’ll miss the window of interest, but engage prematurely and you risk scaring the player away.
In our experience, setting a goal to personalise offers helps to guide the earlier steps in the right direction. It’s a kind of de-facto customer-centricity system.
For example, make relevance a key dividing line when designing cross-sell or upsell campaigns. The offer only sends to players who display clear interest signals and meet well-defined criteria.
Similarly, create small segments of players who show a high churn likelihood. Get specific. Look into the factors contributing to churn and use these to create micro-segments that receive re-engagement offers tailored to their needs.
iGaming industry leaders don’t gamble with growth
Like the gaming industry, martech has come a long way in the last decade. We can now automate much of the heavy lifting so marketers can focus on strategy and optimisation.
Most of the work is in designing, implementing and configuring martech stacks that support revenue growth. Once the system is in place, the focus shifts to customer-centric offers, data management and system maintenance.
At every turn, TAP CXM is here to help. We’re trusted martech partners for betting brands like Gamesys, QiH Group and William Hill. We’re also end-to-end CXM partners.
If you’re struggling to understand you audience, communicate 1:1, generate meaningful customer engagement or provide meaningful customer experiences, we’ll guide you to growth.
