Which would you prefer? An extra €200 in monthly revenue from one player or an extra €10 in monthly revenue from 20 players? (Note to Thomas: stop scratching your head… they are the same thing!)

Loyalty expert Paul Hebert recently published a very interesting article that tries to answer this question, and we’ll translate his text into online casino lingo for you. It’s not that we don’t trust you to comprehend such long texts on your own. It’s that we simply don’t trust you at all.

In the past, we have already discussed the importance of the Social Aspect in your CRM work, and how “Tribe Leaders” change the importance of traditional KPIs. Today, we will be looking at the revenue and social payoffs of your online gambling loyalty program.

In his article, Hebert says that his answer to our initial question is to get a smaller amount from more people rather than a large amount from one. “I’m going for a wider net versus a deeper net,” he says. “I want more people engaged with me – even if they are engaged at a lower level.

More people = more possible places to grow my business.  I need mass – not just ‘more.’”

Hebert says the advantage of having more people involved is twofold. First, you have a better chance of getting more revenue initially if you’re looking for relatively small portions from a lot of people rather than huge portions from one person. It’s easier to get 20 people to increase their contribution levels to your bottom line from 5% of their entertainment funds to 7% than to get one person to increase his contribution level from 50% to 90%.

The second thing is that you’re building a stronger marketing machine by reaching more people. You’ve increased your odds of finding those “Tribe Leaders” who can pull in even more players and you’re gathering more data about how your players are behaving.

Hebert then asks readers this: “What do you offer your loyal customers that will make them WANT to socialize your brand with their network?” His answer: make it personal by offering ownership shares in your company as a reward to your most loyal customers.

Interesting approach, that’s for sure. Would that make sense in iGaming? No doubt we have some obstacles to overcome. For one thing, we have many players that have the social networking capabilities of a dead scorpion.

We also all know that one healthy VIP a day can keep your boss away (from rightfully complaining about your performances, that is).

The concept of offering shares is definitely brilliant for some businesses, but in our highly moral industry hardly any operators are publicly traded companies.

So what do you think? Attract lots of little fish or one big whale? And what do you do to get them feeding from your site more and more?

We are eager to hear your thoughts!

Speaking of monetizing the social world, Shahar Attias, chief executive officer of Hybrid Interaction, Ltd., will moderate a panel of leading iGaming experts on the impact social gaming is likely to have on the industry at an iCE conference in February. Contact us for any media inquiries or in order to set a meeting during the event. Not planning on being there? Here is what we think about your decision-making process:

P.S.: Christmas is upon us. All of you CRMers who are getting ready to wow your players with your holiday promos please do us a favor and submit them for our objective review. The XMAS Promothon (Part #1, Part #2) was a huge hit with our readers, so here is your chance to gain some industry respect!