As an affiliate, you are used to send traffic to operators, which work out to be a pretty good business for you – I mean, hey, in some cases they even pay! But the question is, what do they pay for? What is it that they do with your players that spark so much generosity in their wallets, as well willingness to share unconditional love with you?
Well, surprisingly as it may sounds, it’s money that they care the most about, and here are the steps they take in order to get the most out of the click stream that started on your website:
- Automated conversion cycles: there are not too many operators who still don’t employ at least some kind of a series of communication messages that are sent in fixed intervals to newly registered accounts that have dared to pick the forbidden course and chose not to deposit yet.
- Dealing with deposit declines: this is what separate men from boys – the ability to quickly identify and resolve any issues with failed depositing attempts. After all, when players are already in a position in which they would like to pay, any half-smart operator should do his best in order to see that this transaction goes through.
- Improve continuity: one of the main causes for headaches within the operators’ teams is the drop between 1st and 2nd deposit, and retention following this point (3rd deposit, 2nd month, etc.). There are no simple solutions to this problem – operators try hard all the time to try and come with new ways to make their offering more and more attractive in order to improve those (usually dreadful) statistics. That’s in contrary to the main reason for headaches within the affiliates community, which as we all know, are mostly caused by tequila.
- Segmented promotions: the average profile of an online gambler simply doesn’t exist. As such, the fine people of iGaming CRM everywhere are busy with dissecting their databases in a constant hunt for the next best offer that could bring back these players again and again.
- Loyalty clubs: as part of segmenting players, operators have realized that high profile players deserve by far more than their relative part of the population. In order to match between rewards and activity iGaming companies begun to copy the trend from the credit card and air travel industries, introducing their version of “frequent miles” programs.
- VIP hosts: with VIP tiers, comes VIP account management, and for a reason still unknown to the sensible observer, in most cases accounts are mostly being managed by lovely females. Is there a hidden connection between propensity to overspend within a predominantly male based population if the counterpart of the discussion is an attractive lady? Now how on earth you, as affiliates, could tell?
- Predictive analytics: as demonstrated so far, operators don’t really give chance much of a place in their line of work (the common saying is that “Gambling is not for Gamblers”). Therefore, the latest buzz is to try and foresee what players are about to do, before they even know they want to do that. If it’s early VIP monitoring of if it’s defection detection, when combining between huge customer values and massive statistical abilities, you have got yourself a fairly big brother. Read more about this here at my blog.
- Social: how can we discuss engagement without mentioning social? It’s very simple actually – us non-affiliates are so boring that just thinking about social interactions makes us want to get in bed with a nice KPIs report. But as said, operators will not leave a stone unturned, and as such active presence on all networks is an important part of the operators’ daily routine. The tools vary according to need (bingo is facebook, poker is forums, etc.), but the main goal is the same: Maximize Player Lifetime Value.
About the Author
Shahar Attias is a globally recognized iGaming expert, with 12+ years of industry experience, a frequent speaker at events (G2E, iCE, iGamingAsia, Russian Gaming Expo), and the founder and CEO of Hybrid Interaction Ltd., the premier online gaming consulting firm.
Mr. Attias has been immersed in gaming operations and marketing since 2001, when he created the world’s first iGaming promotions department for 888. He served as VP of Casino Operations for EuroPartners and was one of the founders of the leading Playtech licensee from 2003-2005.
Mr. Attias became Director of Player Relationship Marketing for PokerStars in 2006, where he established and oversaw the CRM department. Since 2008 he has headed his own consulting business, providing customized solutions for such organizations as bwin.party, BetClic-Everest, GVC-Plc (Casino-Club & Sportingbet), Virgin Gaming, Viaden, EZtrader and Pariplay. He is also well known for his projects with state-owned operators, such as the Austrian Lotteries and the Israeli Sports Betting Council – as well as within regulated markets, such as with the Italian Gioco Digitale and within the Danish market with SkillOnNet’s B2B platform.