UX remains “more important than any bonus” for player retention

Sports betting operators Crocobet and Betcris agreed that understanding your players is vital for customer loyalty during a recent Betting on Sports Europe panel. 

The panel saw Anders Hauberg Nielsen, Global Head of Sportsbook at Betcris, being joined by Temur Mikeladze, Chairman of Crocobet.com, to discuss how operators can translate player acquisition into player retention. 

Kicking off, moderator Wayne Stevenson, Director of Low6, asked Mikeladze to share his observations on what makes a good customer experience.

Mikeladze explained that being proactive and spending time to really understand your players through data indicators is a two-way practice where the player would give back by strengthening their trust in you. 

“If your revenue is 60% and more from slots & casino, you have to understand that this is action driven,” Mikeladze said. “In order to create an action, you need an engagement. It’s important that you decide the route of the customer. 

“Engage them to move to another threshold, so that you give them more. Look at their behaviour. The more data you have, you become wiser.”

However, Mikeladze added, even if you have all the right data, it essentially means “nothing” if it is not structured correctly.  

“This is what we basically need to do. To gamify the thing so that the customer has a longer journey. You need them to play with you to build loyalty.”

With the conversation moving on to the second panellist, Hauberg Nielsen expanded on Mikeladze’s point by saying that a good platform is even more important than bonuses. 

He continued: “You need the data, you need to know what they want and when they want it. Your platform needs to support this key processing. You also need to personalise your methods on a country basis, as players vary regionally. You need an agile platform, which is more important than any bonus.”

At the end of what proved to be insightful and valuable 30 minutes, Wayne Stevenson summarised what he thought were the key things that should be taken away from the panel.

He concluded: “What I found really important is that you need a good platform, a good UI experience for the user, and they’ll come back. Product is also key, promoting the right product to the right customer – absolety important.”