It is human nature to want to be recognised and praised for personal loyalty, something which many marketers are taking advantage of. Think about the number of retail companies offering rebates, discounts, free merchandise and reward points to gain customer loyalty. Most industries are now saturated with loyalty schemes and no-one questions the motives behind them.
However one industry that seems to be lagging behind when it comes to loyalty schemes is the online gambling industry. Ethics aside, casino players are an excellent example of customers who may become bored with their current supplier and will seek out the competition if they are ignored. In terms of online marketing this will almost certainly result in customers disengaging with the brand. So the question remains; can a gambling company really afford to ignore its high rollers?
In America there are loyalty card schemes in place in every casino, something that can be replicated easily online and easily channelled via behavioural email. In fact the possibilities are endless. ‘Thank you for your loyalty; here’s a free bet’ emails can be sent as easily and as quickly as your ‘forgotten password’ emails which will retain the customer’s attention and send them back to your site. Frequency and monetary value can be married with site activity to offer cross-sell possibilities propelled by free bets, games and incentives across all products straight into the customer’s inbox.
Behavioural email marketing based on these responses is the easiest, cheapest and most reliant way of communicating these benefits to your best customers. BOGOFs, Refer a Friend, Monthly/Weekly Loyalty Bonuses, Deposit Bonuses and Points-Per-Play emails can be set up within minutes, generating an entirely new daily generation of returning customers willing to take advantage of their privileged reward whilst boosting the supplier’s ROI.
Rewarding frequent bettors is not at all ‘gambling reinforcement’ but moreover watching loyal customer behaviour, learning what appeals to the customer and then delivering based on the customer’s individual wants and needs; what every customer in any industry wants from a provider. And when it comes to increasing the odds of customer retention, you would think the gambling industry would be top of the game…