Participants:
Christoffer Grönlund, Co-founder & Head of Affiliates at Winlandia
Araminta Hannah, Director at Comparasino.com
Pierre Mifsud, Chief Commercial Officer at VentureMax Group
Allan Stone, CEO, Intelitics
In your view, why do you think player acquisition costs are reaching record-high
levels?
Christoffer Grönlund: Player acquisition costs are climbing due to intense market competition and rising media prices. The sheer competition for attention and share of voice pushes companies to spend more on sophisticated marketing strategies and high- quality advertising.
Additionally, higher player expectations mean that gaming companies are having to invest much more in game development and user experience. With more brands bidding for the same space on platforms like Google, Facebook and on Affiliate sites, costs naturally rise, making it much more expensive to attract new players.
Allan Stone: We’re starting to see the impact of many of the privacy standards implemented. There is the Cookie deprecation that's happened across both Google and iOS, as well as a lot of the ad identifiers being blocked by default, as opposed to as a setting that users can turn on.
As a result, operators must spend more to achieve the same level of performance, simply because they don’t have a good understanding of the systems in place to understand where they are spending money to acquire players, many of whom are lower quality and end up churning.
Araminta Hannah: The competition for players is so fierce. For online casino comparison sites like Comparasino, you need to rank in the top five spots in the search engine results pages to attract the volume of players required to convert at scale.
To rank in those top five spots, you need to invest significant resources, from technology and development to design, UX, content, marketing and CRM. In markets such as the UK, the demand for online casinos is still high, but the investment required to get your site in front of that demand is also high – higher than it has ever been, in fact.
Pierre Mifsud: First is high competition and expensive adverts; the iGaming industry is very competitive, with operators all targeting the same players. Brands are having to spend much more on marketing to stand out from the crowd.
The costs of adverts on platforms such as Google are also rising as they use an auction system – the more bids, the higher the price. Secondly, compliance costs. Regulations such as GDPR are making it much harder to target ads to potential players. Companies also need to be more creative and cautious in their marketing efforts to ensure they don't breach any laws.
What’s the secret to keeping players coming back in the long term?
Allan Stone: In a word, personalisation. It’s plain and simple. The more that brands can understand player behaviours and continue to create personalised experiences, the more they will keep players coming back in the long term.
Operators can also create a much more holistic experience by creating multiple touch points through their land- based and online offerings. This will help differentiate you from the competition. To keep players coming back, brands should be going beyond the standard, core betting experience and instead delivering something much more holistic, and much more personalised to each customer.
Christoffer Grönlund: Long-term player retention relies on personalisation, community building, regular updates, rewarding systems and excellent customer support. Tailoring the game experience to individual preferences and encouraging social interactions can create a loyal player base.
Regular content updates and special events can help to keep the game fresh, while robust reward systems incentivise players to stick around in the long-term. Great customer support makes players feel valued and supported, turning potential frustrations into positive experiences. By combining these elements, brands can keep players engaged and committed.
Pierre Mifsud: It’s all about personalised experiences. Gaming companies should tailor their offerings and game recommendations based on player preferences to make their audience feel valued and understood.
Operators should also regularly update their game library and introduce features such as tournaments and leaderboards to build a competitive, engaging experience. By also adding tiered loyalty programmes and rewards, brands can motivate their players to continue playing, which helps to build long-term player loyalty.
Araminta Hannah: In the past, online gambling companies have tried different tactics – newsletters, loyalty clubs, etc – but very few have succeeded. This is something Comparasino is focused on, and we are doing this via our Comparasino Member Account which matches players with online casino brands that we believe they will enjoy.
Players spend a lot of time searching for new online casinos and bonuses, but this could be time spent playing. Ultimately, player loyalty comes down to providing an experience that is so good players won’t want to leave for a rival brand.
How do these approaches balance the need for immediate engagement with long-
term loyalty?
Pierre Mifsud: Personalised game recommendations help provide instant gratification by aligning with the player’s interests and preferences. Over time, consistently delivering personalised experiences builds a deeper connection with players, making them feel understood and appreciated, increasing their likelihood of returning and remaining loyal.
Diverse content also keeps the experience feeling new, ensuring players always have something to look forward to. Meanwhile, loyalty programmes provide instant incentives for new players to sign up for an account; as they earn rewards, their sense of achievement and value deepens, motivating them to return over time.
Christoffer Grönlund: To balance immediate engagement with long-term loyalty, you need to be able to make a strong first impression with smooth onboarding and exciting initial game experience.
Capture players' interest quickly with instant rewards and engaging content. Deliver continuous value through regular updates and personalised content to maintain engagement. Create a feedback loop where player input is allowed, making them feel valued. Offer both short-term and long-term rewards to keep players motivated. Foster a strong community through social features and events, providing instant interaction and long-term bonds.
If you can balance these approaches, you will ultimately keep players engaged and loyal.
Allan Stone: A lot of the data and technologies that exist to support operators from an AdTech and MarTech perspective, at least from an acquisition side, has not been great. But we are starting to see that change. Operators can no longer leverage 20-year-old technology to solve a modern-day problem.
They need to get granular with the data at their disposal to understand where they can optimise their campaigns and create a more streamlined engagement strategy. If you can create those efficiencies, you can theoretically reduce your costs by 20-30% which is a huge saving.
Araminta Hannah: For me, the two go hand in hand. Loyalty derives from not only meeting but exceeding customer expectations and doing so consistently. But this is also what’s required for engagement in the first instance.
Acquisition and retention should not be siloed – they should be considered as an entire customer journey and, if anything, greater emphasis placed on keeping the customer happy and loyal once they have been onboarded, especially considering the high cost of acquisition.
By taking this approach, it’s possible to acquire players at scale and then ensure they remain loyal thus driving the highest LTV.
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