Summer is here. And for iGaming businesses it means that the declining seasonality effect has already starting to kick in. It also means that you can definitely expect to see less and less people attending the office every day, due to all sorts of excuses (while actually what they do is demonstrated in the side picture).

But this kind of behavior is for other, weaker people (no, not Thomas; as a cold-blooded reptile he actually enjoy this heat wave). Us CRMers? We will spend our time diving into something else – yet another professional article! How fun is that? A LOT!! We sure know how to enjoy the finest things in life…

This time, let’s have a look at “Loyalty Programs in the Real World: Are They Enhancing, or Undermining, Customer Behavior?”, by Michael Lowenstein, a Chief Strategic Research Officer with http://www.relationalcapitalgroup.com/.

So what do we have here? The text raises four major questions RE loyalty programs ROI and optimization. Let’s try to check how relevant they are to our highly moral industry:

1. On a macro level, are loyalty programs achieving their financial goals?

“According to a study from 2010, one of the key findings was that this objective was not being met. The study concluded that companies sponsoring loyalty programs were just using them to deliver general discounts and perks to the mass of member-customers, ignoring the profiles within the database which would help provide more targeted and relevant communication and stronger value perception among program members.”

Well, one can definitely day that most of the transparent sections of online gaming loyalty programs are dedicated to “perks to the mass of member-customers”. But that said, profiling is a huge part of any semi-decent scheme, and most operators also keep a healthy budget to entice players on top of the program’s rewards. In this regard, it seems as if we are doing ok. Yey.

2. How are access channels impacting loyalty program member behavior?

“The fact that many of these loyalty programs have omni-channel, or at least multi-channel, member access can, potentially, create either further value or detract from it.”

This basically means that loyalty programs should pay more attention to social factors. We have already talked about it in length (Social CRM Part 1, Part 2). That said, in terms of accessibility, it seems that at the moment most of the non-bingo-like operations simply use social media as another advertisement channel, with nothing more to it. A shame.

3. How effective are loyalty programs as cross-channel marketing and communication/influence tools?

“Many loyalty program members are active both online and offline. Programs need not only to understand why and how brand-related informal communication is taking place, they need to actively consider incentivizing members to engage in this kind of dialogue. What’s the rationale? When members interact through their various connections, this generates a tremendous amount of data from within their social sphere; and these valuable insights can be leveraged to drive both marketing and loyalty program efforts.”

Well said. As quoted during the 2012 Annual Online Gambling CRM & Retention Conference: “Cross-vertical players are MORE valuable than a single product player, and by several folds, even if we are taking about the most profitable vertical (casino).”

Which means that we are in agreement, yet we also have very important point to highlight: in many cases, the different profiles of players make it harder for us to interest them other gaming verticals. So what do we do? We try harder.

4. What kinds of customer data are being generated through loyalty programs?

“Loyalty programs are an important method of generating customer profile data which can be used for targeted, even micro-segmented, marketing, promotion and communication initiatives. Rewards programs are opt-in, and companies need to be more integrated across all brand access channels, mobile applications, and point-of-sale systems, as well as social networks.”

Probably less relevant to us, as we collect all the data all the time about our players. The question is: What do we do with it? In a recent post we have talked about Predictive Analytics. How many of you are already suing such a tool? What a surprise…

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For the complete article please Click Here.

It’s interesting to see that although we are definitely not part of the retail/services space, when it comes to customer management we can all relate to the same ideas. Especially with the US market magnitude and its online gambling regulation, there is an increase in need for also adopting techniques from other marketing methodologies.

Think it’s nonsense? Tell us about it by using the comment box down below.

IMPORTANT

“BET RAISE FOLD: The Story of Online Poker” is the name of a new movie, released for online watching just few hours ago (Sunday evening, July 30th 2013 on Europe Time), and it’s the first feature-length documentary film about the online poker boom.

As a kickstarter project, they have managed to raise nearly $50K in order to pay for the production costs. But it’s not enough. Now it’s your time to do your part and purchase an online copy for as little as $10. That’s right, you are going to log into http://watch.betraisefoldmovie.com/, and as weird as it may sound, you are going to PAY for a movie on the internet. Why? Because you can.

And also because it’s a damn good piece-of-art, about the stuff you actually do for a living, and for a change – you might even have a chance to discuss about your work, while watching it with other human beings. Then again, considering the way you look, it might be a waste of time and money…