Building customer loyalty is tricky in any industry, but in iGaming you probably face more struggles than most to connect with your customer base due to the competitive nature of this business. In this article, we’re taking a look community marketing techniques that really work to build a returning customer base. We’ll also be taking you through some of the brands that are succeeding in this regard.
How to build loyalty?
In iGaming, consumers can find constant communication off-putting and spammy. They don’t want to be offered something via email every day, especially if it’s nothing of real value. We see this in the retail sector working to great effect, due to individual targeting and data analytic tools that can narrow customer profile segmentation down to shopping preferences – the but not that many iGaming brands seem to have gotten these targeting nuances down here yet. One brand that stands out with this regard recently is Highroller casino who have taken gamification to the next level building a thrilling way to engage their audiences through profile based story telling.
Social media is a great way for iGaming brands to reach and reengage their audience too. This kind of tool can be powerful for affiliates and operators alike, as they organically reach their audience. Facebook is becoming more and more targeted for those looking to connect with their audience, however not all gambling brands are eligible to advertise on this as a paid media partner within this platform. This is where your organic content strategy takes a leap forward. Building a community of customers that can receive incentives and rewards and offers is a good way to build loyalty and retention within your platform.
Creating a brand voice that resonates with your user across these platforms is key to creating this kind of loyalty. The user has to know who you are in order to want to be loyal to you, so give your brand a bit of personality and panache. Bottom line – Don’t be boring!
Getting players to convert time and time again
The main thing that both affiliates and operators need to build with their users is trust. They have to trust that the information you’re giving them is accurate, valuable and that you know what you’re talking about. For affiliates, one wrong piece of information or an inaccurate welcome offer can ruin this trust completely and present a lost opportunity to re-monetise the client again.
Operators can struggle with this trust as well, especially when trust within the industry is already quite low. Customer service has to be top notch and promotions have to be clear for customers, or else they will feel like they’ve gotten a rubbish deal. They’ll carry this negative connotation of the brand with them and will be far less likely to come back in future.
Mastering community management
If we look at the following brands, we can easily see how they’re using communication and community building techniques to cultivate brand loyalty across a range of different platforms.
Paddy Power : Knows their own voice
While Paddy Power can be too bold for some, they know exactly who they are and they never pretend to be anyone else. Often they get it right, sometimes they get it very wrong. The point is they are out there talking and engaging with their audiences sharing content that isn’t just sales promotion based. Their players know what their sense of humour is and can identify with it. If they don’t like this sense of humour, then they most likely won’t engage with it in the first place, but for retention they reach the right users through social shares. It’s one of the best examples of brand voice within the industry, as they’ve used this strategy to great success.
Which Bingo : Start conversations
With the forums and player reviews on Which Bingo, they’ve created a place for players to start and have a conversation. This congregates the right players together and creates a mailing list for Which Bingo to use on their partner’s behalf, should they choose to.
With news and new brands being added to the site on a regular basis, there’s generally a lot for their players to talk about. These communities can spring up organically, but it usually takes a great deal or hard work to collate and maintain conversations online. This is where they have found a great niche to engage audiences on their site and understand where and how to add value. Taking the time to curate content generally creates a better return on investment in the long run and thinking about the longer term strategy when building content is key to success.
Data capture and understanding your audience is key, if you don’t know who they are or what interests them , then how will you build an online relationship of trust?
How should affiliates be using organic content to build repeat business in social?
We’ve talked a lot about using other ways to increase your organic traffic, through Pinterest, voice search and social media. Content that you share, whether that’s on social media or on your website, should be interesting and valuable – not just a keyword stuffed article. Creating a bank of questions that support client searches is a good way to ensure your pages rank in Google on popular search terms. Your community should be able to thrive and grow, though it will need some moderation. You need to be offering something of value, like reviews or exclusive offers, which makes them want to return to your site.
This is where membership marketing can take effect. Creating unique value incentives (Perkboxes) is a good way to encourage return traffic. Understanding what your customers find valuable is really the first step.
When you’re interacting with your audience on social media, you’ll learn so much more about your users. If you install a Facebook Pixel on your site, you’ll even be able to see where these users are going. Check out our article on Facebook Chatbots if you want to learn more about selling to this audience in particular.
