Successful marketing in sports betting aims to win the right customers and keep them active on your platform for as long as possible – in short: to reach the highest possible level of engagement.
In order to achieve this, it is necessary to address the customers appropriately in the various phases of their activity and thereby pick them up at exactly the point where they are.
In a previous article, the customer lifetime value was already adressed and the context of the customer lifecycle was briefly discussed. The aim of this article is to take a closer look at the individual phases of the latter and illuminate them in more detail with regard to the optimal marketing measures.
What is “Lifecycle Marketing”?
Lifecycle Marketing is a marketing strategy that addresses the wishes, needs and requirements of a customer as they change over time (customer lifecycle).
This includes personalized communication, the choice of suitable channels, maximizing the points of contact and maintaining customer relationships.
Many betting providers use marketing strategies that treat every recipient the same, regardless of their relationship with the company or how great their commitment already is. However, it is neglected that not only does every customer have different needs, but also that these needs change over the course of the relationship with the company.
For successful marketing, it is therefore essential to develop clear strategies that are tailored to the wishes and needs of customers for each phase of the life cycle – and then to transfer these to your marketing campaigns.
The goals of such a lifecycle marketing strategy are the following 3 aspects:
- Win new customers and convert them
- Retain existing customers (maximize engagement)
- Win back lost customers
Depending on the phases of the customer life cycle, various communication approaches can be derived from this, which are to be described in more detail below.
Acquisition phase / registration phase
The first phase serves to gain reach and awareness as a betting provider. During this phase, a customer comes into contact with the company for the first time. For betting providers, ongoing campaigns, such as a registration bonus or a free bet for new customers, are particularly suitable at this point. Advertising campaigns associated with marketing partners (co-branding initiatives, affiliates, etc.) or special events (e.g. flyers with a promo code distributed in a stadium) are also suitable for this phase.
Ongoing campaigns represent a strategic approach that must be carefully researched, worked out and carried out. Continuous performance evaluation is recommended in order to optimize the offer and to improve the way in which that offer is communciated.
Communication approaches in this phase:
- TV & print media (options depending on the target market)
- Google & social media ads (options depending on the target market)
- SEO & Content marketing
- Affiliate-marketing
Arland’s iGaming platform Bookmaker NEXT offers comprehensive CRM and affiliate management tools for the easy handling of campaigns and marketing partners. Using the comprehensive reports, it is possible to keep a close eye on the individual performance of your campaigns and affiliates.
Socialization phase / welcome phase
During the socialization phase, the customer acquires the company’s first product / service (e.g. first deposit & placing the first bet with real money). Communication should specifically support them in this decision by strengthening the customer’s awareness of the quality and the offerings of your platform and moving them to a faster decision.
Communication approaches in this phase:
- Landing page
- Plattform (widgets & banners)
- Remarketing
- Personalized messaging
Growth phase
Nothing predicts organic growth like customer loyalty. Aggressive advertising campaigns and reward programs may lure customers to the platform – but they are not enough to create long-term loyalty based on an emotional connection with the brand. This connection can only be established through targeted and personal customer communication.
Communication approaches in this phase:
- Personalization
- Loyalty programs
- Remarketing
The main challenge in lifecycle marketing is that new prospects and existing customers have to be addressed at the same time, which makes personalizing the customer experience more complex. In addition, different customer groups have different preferences and expectations. In order to be able to handle this complexity optimally, there is no getting around good customer segmentation.
With the help of customer segments, individual marketing measures can be tailored to the respective customer groups. The creation of these segments should definitely be data-driven in order to identify subgroups of customers who show similar trends in terms of consumption and loyalty. In this way, customers can be addressed in a personalized manner in every phase of their life cycle, which significantly reduces waste coverage, which may hurt the ROI.
In Bookmaker NEXT, customer segments can be defined in great detail using a large number of filters and parameters. Marketing campaigns are simply linked to a customer segment in order to determine which customer group should be specifically addressed. Dynamic segmentation also has the great advantage that customer segments, as soon as they have been defined and created, grow continuously and automatically with the customer base.
Read also on this topic: Sports betting business intelligence: How well do you know your customers?
Customer loyalty and reactivation
Sustainable customer loyalty, as well as preventing customers from migrating to competitors, is essential for betting providers. This is where many companies use most of their marketing resources by offering high-value customers their own promotions and special customer service. In addition to free bets and bonuses, marketing activities, which emphasize the quality and offer of your own platform and thus maintain loyalty, are particularly important here.
The promotions should always be context-related and relevant, and not repeated too often, as this could lead to falling engagement rates for the campaigns.
Communication approaches in this phase:
- Personalized promotions
- Loyalty programs
- Promo-codes
- Customer service
The best way to extend a customer’s lifespan is by the use of effective CRM software. Bookmaker NEXT offers a fully integrated CRM system for this, which optimally covers the requirements of the sports betting industry. Read more here: How to set your marketing campaigns up for success
Conclusion
For sports betting providers, aligning their marketing campaigns with the different phases of the customer lifecycle is essential if their business is to be successful. With a high-performance CRM system, it is possible to implement the individual strategy efficiently and in a targeted manner and thus to achieve success more quickly.
If you would like to find out more about how the Bookmaker NEXT CRM can support your marketing campaigns, just write to us at [email protected] !