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DANGAARD HANSEN.COM
CRM FOCUS
Making your CRM succeed
Jørgen Damgaard-Hansen of damgaard-hansen.com discusses the importance of having a CRM strategy
Let’s face it, the gaming industry is in a consolidation phase, where both operators and suppliers are facing frequent mergers and acquisitions. The industry is dominated by economies of scale and the supplier market is becoming increasingly strong, creating a more generalised product offering for operators. The more consolidated and larger the suppliers become, the harder it is for operators to differentiate from competitors. The situation leads to an increase in both acquisition costs as well as customer disloyalty. Finally, on top of all these industry dynamics, add the growing size of the diverse customer bases from large multinational operators and you have an industry driven by the ability to build relations and customer retention. Understand, differentiate and adjust Winning operators will be de?ned by their ability to respect the customer as unique, adjusting product offering, communication, service and loyalty schemes to treat and meet customers where they are. A 25-year-old female Swedish bingo client turning over £200 a month over ?ve years should not be treated in the same way as a 55-year-old male English casino client turning over £10,000 a month who just signed up a couple of months ago. In the long run, neither will stay with the operator because of their unique product offering. Rather, operators will guarantee client retention if they meet them where they are and relate to them. CRM is about creating those lasting relationships, as well as understanding and tailoring product offerings, communication and incentives to meet individual clients’ needs. CRM is a core competence in the business model for any operator to successfully compete in the egaming industry. CRM – Land of opportunities CRM has a large pro?t potential in gaming and any operator today that has the chance to bring the right message to the right client, at the right time, through the right channel, and with the right incentive. The technology has been there for decades, but many egaming ?rms still fail to fully exploit their potential and end up not knowing the return on investment (ROI) of their speci?c business ventures. Many companies fail simply because the opportunities are so many and so overwhelming that in their urge to exploit them, they end up jumping into a wide range of projects, without knowing exactly how to manage them through the same strategy. On top of that, the fact that the industry is still very dynamic, complex and entrepreneurial does not make the job any easier, adding an extra element of potential chaos. The challenges do not come with the CRM systems or tools themselves, but with the way they are used from a business perspective. CRM systems are not used to the extent that they can be used. It is not the systems, tools or data that fail, nor is it the CRM expertise or the gaming knowledge; rather, it is often simply a lack of overview and planning. Strategic and operational analysis and planning is key for any success in CRM By creating an overview of the current state within all CRM areas, operators can discover where their opportunities are, which projects are in scope, the ROI potential of each project, and ?nally break it into phases to be executed step-by-step. The task does not have to be heavy or costly; operators should instead ?ip it around and ask themselves how much they have lost from their lapsed clients the last year alone and how much more would have been earned if the top 10% had a 20% less churn rate. CRM is a communicative, analytical and systematic discipline where operators don’t need to take any big risks and return can simply be calculated gradually as you invest. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Framework for CRM in the gaming industry Damgaard-hansen.com has developed a framework that lets gaming ?rms create an overview and execute CRM strategies more smoothly, regardless of their level of CRM intelligence. The framework can assist operators in understanding where potential development areas are and in managing their CRM projects more efficiently.
Jørgen Damgaard-Hansen is an independent CRM consultant at damgaard-hansen.com. He assists gaming firms in improving their CRM and sales operations through a tailor-made business approach. Damgaard-Hansen Consult has developed a CRM strategy framework to optimize any CRM gaming operation.
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