How to boost customer loyalty for online casino: 100% successful strategy from OptiKPI

Online gaming is available to players 365 days a year, 24 x 7. According to (MacKay,2011), the first Internet gambling sites opened in 1995. During 2011, 650 companies operated an estimated 2400 online gaming sites. And today, the number has risen astronomically, leading to unimaginable competition. Gaming operators spend countless hours building a perfect online casino, sports betting site, or any online gaming platform. So what is the next step? How will you ensure your investment pays off? There's no doubt that online game expectations have increased dramatically in recent years. However, your business depends on how well your games retain players for the long haul. The secret to building a gaming brand is creating a loyal following. Loyalty is one of the essential elements of successful gaming business.

What is customer loyalty in the gaming industry?

Customer loyalty is generally defined as an ongoing emotional bond between you and your customer, manifested by a customer's willingness to repeatedly engage with and purchase from you. In the gaming industry, customer loyalty is the willingness of your players to stay with you and not leave you anytime near to join your competitors. For example, once a player makes his 4th consecutive deposit on a gaming site, he is considered a loyal customer.

We now know what is customer loyalty. Let’s look at why it is crucial.

Why is player loyalty important?

From a business aspect, establishing and maintaining customer loyalty has been proven to have several benefits. First, loyal customers significantly influence both profitability and growth. Reichheld & Schefter, in a widely recognized research, claimed raising the percentage of loyal customers by as low as 5% can enhance profitability by as much as 30% to 85%. It might be even higher for online businesses. Since attracting new players costs 20% to 40% more for online gaming firms than other businesses, retaining players is the best solution - just imagine this number!

Following are some of the perks of increased player loyalty:

• Reducing market expenses
• Trade leverage
• Attracting new players
• Time to respond to competition challenges

Brand loyalty is one of the most important goals for any company or brand owner. It means that the brand has a favorable appeal to its customers. Hence, customer loyalty in the gaming industry is essential for continued success.

How to boost customer loyalty?

Without a doubt, online casinos and sports betting platforms are attractive and highly engaging establishments. However, gaming operators must sharpen their marketing strategies to succeed in this highly competitive industry. Providing value to your players and engaging them with highly relevant content is the guaranteed path to achieving maximum loyalty. On top of that, a loyalty program is essential for motivating players. Such programs provide an incentive to persuade players to come back and interact with your gaming brand. So what is the best software solution for boosting customer loyalty in the gaming industry? OptiKPI.

OptiKPI is a marketing automation software that is sensible enough to understand the requirements of your players in an instant and keeps them engaged round the clock. We provide our expertise and assistance in the marketing field to all our clients. As a result, our marketing strategies are 100% effective and sustainable in the long run. Boosting player loyalty is one of our strong zones! Our methods have yielded tremendous results for our clients. They have seen an unprecedented increase in customer retention and steady growth in their business performance.

How does OptiKPI help you build customer loyalty?

OptiKPI follows a sustainable marketing approach to build customer loyalty; we use your very own data to help you raise a gaming brand. Here is the overview of the marketing success we created for one of our leading clients (a very new brand on the Indian market). They are an online casino and sports betting platform that acquired 200k active players within one year!

Their business numbers before using OptiKPI’s retention strategies:

• Number of registered users 200k
• Number of non-depositors 120k

They had a 62% non-depositors rate, which is quite high for a growing gaming brand. However, they desperately needed to increase their First-time depositors (FTD); their conversion rate was very low. This is where OptiKPI stepped in. To improve FTD’s read more here : First Time Deposit.

How did we help our client solve the challenge?

With the power and intelligence of OptiKPI, we created a customized marketing strategy focusing on conversion and retention for the client. The aim was to increase player loyalty. (All of OptiKPI’s marketing campaigns are automated, i.e., when you deploy, it will run 24/7 without the need for any kind of manual aid).

Following are some of the personalized marketing strategies that we used:

Step 1. Registered but never deposited journeys:

We deployed a marketing campaign that was exclusively designed to boost conversion rates. What did we do? Attract registered players with automated personalized promos at periodic intervals.

• Welcome bonus right after signup (please read here to know more about this topic)
• If not deposited, We send a personalized first-time deposit offer,
  >  4 hours after registration – we will check whether the player has deposited or not? If not - we send a follow-up message,
   >  12 hours later – we will check whether the deposit transaction happened? We are sending a deposit offer now.
   > 24 hours later – and still, if the player has not made a deposit, we reach them with a personal message;
• and so on up to 30 days after registration.
• And when the player deposits, he is automatically enrolled in a different journey.

Refer to this article for more ideas - Use Case: how to double your FTD conversion rates?

Step 2. Rewards for deposits

As a gesture of appreciation for depositing, we follow a reward system to encourage players. With the below journey, we boost retention rates quite effectively.

• We send a “Thanks” greeting after the second deposit – the email is sent immediately after the transaction (in real-time) to grab the player's attention. We simply would like to be polite!
• Four hours after a 2nd-time deposit - a special deposit bonus is deployed. For example: Hi Mr.Tim, here is an exclusive bonus code just for you! “deposit10” to get a 50% bonus on your next deposit.
• If the player has yet to make the next deposit, we send him one more special deposit bonus 12 hours after depositing.
• The journey continues up to 5 days after the second deposit transaction.
• And when the player deposits, he is automatically enrolled in a different journey.

Step 3. Exclusive automated offers reserved only for the loyal players:

When we achieve the 4th-time deposit from a unique player, he is considered a loyal player. Therefore, OptiKPI will automatically target these players with special promos and offers to make them feel valued. As a result, it promotes retention, reduces churn, and boosts business performance. Here are a few ideas for Loyalty Club members - your loyal players:

• Daily leaderboard – Use it to attract high-spending customers and maintain them for as long as possible.
• Deposit giveaway – When a player has made a big deposit, shower them with Free Spin rewards.
• Birthday gift – Send unique gifts for birthday celebrants so they will remember games on your platform! Please check this article to know more - Automated birthday greetings to your players

We have successfully created a loyal following, but how to ensure they never get bored? Read our churn prevention strategies to tackle churn like a pro: 9 highly effective churn rate prevention strategies

Result

The above strategies are ongoing, and we hope to publish results later this year, so stay tuned!

In the past, our marketing strategies have significantly boosted customer loyalty and retention while reducing churn to a bare minimum for online gaming businesses.

Our clients have experienced,

• Revenue uplifts of more than 30%
• Increased productivity by 60%

OptiKPI is a one-stop solution for all your marketing needs!