As the iGaming industry is constantly evolving, its marketing landscape has changed significantly in recent years.
Considering this, GBC Time decided to contact Valentina Diaco, Director of Marketing at WKND., and ask her a few questions about acquiring and retaining customers in the gambling market.
With over 15 years of experience in growth marketing, social media, customer journey, and product-brand building, Valentina has provided a lot of insightful information on the topic. And today, we are happy to share it with you. The text below is in Valentina’s own words.
Marketing adoption & strategy within the gambling industry is changing. The way we acquire, retain, and engage with our customers is not the same as it was 10 years ago.
Why? Because consumers and players are getting more power in the digital space, they are more aware of cookies and advertising. They consume media quickly: on multi screens and across several media touchpoints.
I remember when I started my professional career, I was a media planner, evaluating the best time to target the right audience with the most effective and creative message. But at that time, we were managing the channels/media in siloed ways.
- TV was the media to create Awareness;
- Radio was planned to hit the niche young people reach;
- Emails were planned to retain the customers;
- Affiliate marketing and PPC were used to acquire customers.
And when video streaming media such as YouTube, VIMEO, and social media came into the mix, a new paradigm was shaped.
Today, the functions of each media have changed and evolved even further. We are experiencing a Big Marketing shift in the age of social streaming, Metaverse, NFTs, VR, and all these media spaces, converging!
In your opinion, will we keep talking about Path to Acquisition or how should we be planning our acquisition strategy?
Nowadays, we cannot talk about a Path to Acquisition but we need to strategize a Path to Loyalty. This is the new way to strategize and plan. When acquiring a good player, 70% of our retention is already done! The way we communicate the brand, the selected media, the journey offered on the site, and the product are what hooks the player from the very beginning. This is a reason why internal teams need to work collaboratively and make the player journey from acquisition to loyalty a smooth one.
In your experience, how many acquired users return to iGaming sites after the first month on average?
I saw different stats according to the vertical (casino or sportsbook), multiple markets, and regulations, so I would say we can classify the brands in a tiering benchmark model:
- High-Tier: Brands between 30%-35% retention rate – Month 2
- Mid-Tier: Brands between 25-29% retention rate – Month 2
- Low-Tier: Brands below 24% retention rate – Month 2
What marketing assets and tools do iGaming companies use to acquire and retain users and build their online branding?
There is a big difference between the tools and assets that iGaming companies are using currently, and what are the potentially better tools out there that can potentiate both the acquisition and retention strategy. Furthermore, I think there are several other assets (from a creative point of view) that brands can potentially use and take advantage of.
The most common assets to acquire players are landing pages, free-to-play sites, apps, SEO blogs, and remarketing strategies. They are all very important and vital to enhance an integrated media mix.
Amongst the tools that can help acquire players, having a real-time affiliate platform helps to have control of all KPIs, whilst being completely transparent with each partner and having a server-to-server tracking implementation.
Flows is another tool that I recommend. It’s an innovative, no-code platform that securely ingests data from any feed, learns it, and then translates the payload into the no-code flows builder. From there on, you can innovate and empower your organization to connect systems, build features, and drive digital automation and workflows.
Last but not least, having a good CRM platform with multi-channel integration helps marketers orchestrate better communications with hundreds of segments across all channels by enhancing consisted communication throughout the path to loyalty mentioned earlier
What types of content help retain users in the iGaming industry the best? Why?
One of the best-performing communication themes to increase the Brand Top-of-Mind amongst existing players is a winning story. It appeals directly to the emotional state of the players.
What are the key media trends that iGaming companies should follow to innovate, and where are we going in terms of new ways to acquire and retain players?
- Social gaming, streaming & community;
- Passion economy: Creators are helping to shape the brands, and products and build experiences. Who knows if one day the players will help and create the games themselves!
- We are passing from classical sponsorship to influencers or robotic and virtual key opinion leaders;
- Online or offline? This dilemma is now replaced by physigital marketing techniques;
- Web2 and Web3 are merging into some beautiful ecosystems led by design, UX, games, and opportunities with real tangible utilities in IRL;
- Brands are moving from targeting the right audience to give the right ownership;
- Gamification will be a part of our day-by-day routine.
Which social media platforms are the best for user acquisition and retention in the iGaming industry in 2024?
Facebook and Instagram are still very strong channels to acquire players, especially sports players with low CPAs. It offers big opportunities to be converted into live casino players.
We have some emerging social media channels that are worth trying such as Snapchat and TikTok. Social media can have different goals: acquiring, re-marketing, and retaining players. They are all very powerful channels.
What are the biggest challenges iGaming companies face in terms of user retention? And what strategies lead them to poor results most often?
I think the biggest challenge is technology. A lot of companies have little technical capabilities to automate flows, personalize journeys, integrate other platforms, and customized communication.
What role do social media influencers play in promoting an iGaming business today?
Social media influencers (in Asia, they are known as key opinion leaders) are getting popular and represent another way to build awareness and leverage consideration. Influencers have a massive reach and can reinforce the bond between the brand and the players. It is an opportunity for the brand to build a community at a relatively cheap cost.
