FEATURE MOBILE SPORTS BETTING
Ben Carter, Betfair head of digital
Bwin has its own in-house mobile platform and said in its last annual results it wanted to become “channel agnostic” and optimise its offering wherever the customer was based. The results of this is a big investment in in-house technology with a new improved sports betting app due to be launched later this year.
CHANGING BEHAVIOURS
Betfair’s Carter warns against being too technology led. “Technology is way ahead of the customer and there is a danger that as betting brands look to capitalise on new mobile technology, we start to leave customers behind. Where there are opportunities to enhance this using technological developments, we do look to take them, but we are always careful not to leave the customer behind.” Mobile is fundamentally changing the way users interact with sportsbooks. “The constant and instant access to our services means our mobile users are more active,” Reutter says. Mobile customers want fast, instant access to bets, which places big challenges on brands not just in having stable technology but in building customer relationships with only a few seconds of interaction at a time. The upside, of course, is a rise in user activity. But it’s an upside that needs to be carefully managed. “Mobile devices are generally seen as a fast backbone tool and therefore a platform for fast bets,” Sylvie McDermott, Paddy Power mobile online sportsbook product and marketing manager, says. “Customers spend less time browsing on them and sections need to be very clear on the homepage so navigation is not hindered through bad design.” For example, Paddy Power has added a ‘two tap’ functionality where users can make a bet in just a few seconds. This high-speed instant grati?cation presents new challenges to operators used to customers spending more time engaging with their products. But Reutter argues the direct access it gives is also an opportunity to build new relationships. “With the
to exploit dead time to place bets, and this is time previously that betting companies did not have access to. We continue to see incremental uplift in the value of a customer on mobile while they’re also more engaged than a non-mobile customer.” Likewise at William Hill mobile is driving revenue growth. “Mobile sportsbook is consistently turning over more than its target of £15m a week. It delivered 35% of sportsbook’s stakes across the quarter as a whole, and we’re on track to make it 40% before the end of the year,” Ralph Topping, William Hill CEO, said in an analyst conference call in April. This kind of growth throws up challenges for any company. “We are adapting to that fast growth in terms of ?ne tuning the organisation,” Reutter says. “There is a different complexity with mobile, with more devices coming out and more screen sizes to be adapted to. We need to have the right people and the right teams in place to manage this fragmentation.” One of the more interesting divisions in mobile has been in-house versus outsourced. Betfred, Bwin and Betfair have all opted for an in-house approach, while Paddy Power, William Hill and Sky Bet, among others, have gone with an outsourced solution from Mobenga. This is far from a comprehensive list, but is a fair re?ection of where the market is at the current time.
development of push noti?cations, we have the ability to inform customers of relevant information directly to their device and this crucially allows us to engage and build brand loyalty,” he says. “Although people’s devices are with them 24/7, they don’t spend as much time on them as on the desktop experience. However, the time they do spend is seen as quality time and we must get the experience right ?rst time for our customers.” McDermott adds. "We see mobile as a means of personalising content for our customers and so it’s critical we deliver something that is relevant. Relevant content and materials can then help to trigger adoption of new products.” Carter agrees that personalisation holds huge potential for operators. “A very exciting area of mobile is increased personalisation. We know that customers use their mobile as a utility so we need to focus on making that as convenient and as relevant as possible. Whether that’s by serving up relevant betting opportunities based on a customer’s previous bets, sending tailored push noti?cations or geo-targeting customers based on their location,” he says.
SPORTS BETTING APPS IN THE UK IPHONE APP STORE*
1. 2. 3 . 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. BET365 WILLIAM HILL BETFAIR SPORTS SKY BET LADBROKES PADDY POWER BETFAIR EXCHANGE BETFRED CORAL BETVICTOR
*as at 1/5/13
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