TRAFFIC
player are relevant, given the player’s
behaviours and preferences.
Because of the greater lifetime value
exhibited by players who play bingo
alongside the instant games, it is
important to encourage players to
play both. One way to encourage the
desired behavior is with multi-pronged
promotions such as: “Deposit bonus &
free bingo tickets” for customers who
are not playing bingo, and vice versa for
instant game-only players.
Gamified campaigns are also very
effective and can help encourage players
to try a variety of new games and
products. For example: “Play in at least
three different Bingo rooms in the next
10 days and receive a $25 bonus.”
In terms of RFM segmentation, keep
a close eye on your various active
personas. For example, effectively
engaging risk-of-churn players before
they churn is much more effective
than trying to entice them to return
at a later time. One effective way to
do this is to run daily campaigns that
offer particularly attractive promotions
to each individual segment of active
players who fall into the risk-of-churn
segment. Likewise, pay attention to your
high-rollers—likely your most valuable
players—to ensure you are giving them
the best experience possible. The same
goes for every active player persona. For
example, the main objective for mid- and
low-tier players is of course to encourage
them to become higher-value players,
and one way to this is by targeting
them with campaigns that offer them
incentives encouraging them to deposit/
wager at slightly higher levels than is
usual for them.
The churn (inactive) player
Churn players are those who made at
least one deposit but have not played or
deposited for a while.
●●Insights
Players who repeatedly churn and return
obviously tend to have higher future
values than those who have churned and
returned only once. The repeating churnreturn players also tend to remain active
18
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for longer periods of time.
●●Actions
While the key objective with churn
players is to spark them back to activity,
usually accomplished by offering very
attractive bonuses or other offers.
Operators should not extend their most
valuable offers to players who have
churned and returned many times.
The best way to do go about this is to
sub-segment churn players according to
the number of times they have churned
and returned, gradually decreasing the
promotions offered as the player repeats
the cycle more often. Instead of big
bonuses, remind these players why they
engaged with your brand in the first
place and try to re-engage them on that
basis and/or to continue from where
they stopped last time.
The reactivated player
A reactivated player is one who had
previously churned, but who has since
returned to play again (using an old balance
or a new bonus) or make another deposit,
regardless of how long it’s been since any
previous activity. After a brief “incubation”
period, the player will either become active
or revert back to churn.
●●Insights
The data shows that there is a significant
difference in future value between players
who reactivated by making a new deposit
and those who reactivated by wagering a
past balance or free bonus: players who
reactivated by making a new deposit are
more valuable and more likely to remain
active for a longer period of time.
●●Actions
Targeting customers intelligently, based
on the way in which they reactivated,
is the way to proceed with reactivated
players. For players who reactivated
using an old balance or free bonus, you
incentives and communication with
the player should be geared towards
encouraging them to make a new
deposit. Players who reactivated by
making a new deposit—your more
valuable reactivated players—should
receive extra special treatment to make
them feel valued and to encourage them
to stick around for longer.
Bingo operators should tread lightly
when communicating with reactivated
players. In fact, it is worthwhile treating
reactivated players very much like New
players during their incubation stage.
It is important to provide offers that
are highly personalized to each player’s
behaviors and preferences, something
that is done more easily than with new
players because of the more extensive
historical activity data available for these
reactivated players. The goal, of course,
is the same: to encourage the player to
return to the Active lifecycle stage at the
end of the incubation period.
Conclusion
The online bingo space is extremely
competitive, requiring marketers to closely
analyze player behavior and constantly
look for ways to increase engagement,
loyalty and retention. Online bingo
operators need to communicate with their
players intelligently by carefully segmenting
players and targeting each according to his
or her particular affinities and preferences.
Understanding—and utilizing—the
different behavioural patterns observed
among bingo players can help marketers
communicate with them more effective ly,
thereby increasing player engagement—
and revenue.
TANYA SZWARCBARD
is a data enthusiast with
a passion for applying
data insights to marketing
challenges. As a Strategic
Services Manager at Optimove,
Tanya works closely with CRM
executives from top online and offline
gaming operators on building their
retention marketing strategies, better
understanding their players, and taking
their CRM to the next level.