Technology is constantly changing online gaming – but the industry may need to change its approach to marketing to make the most of the opportunities created by touchscreen technology.

Mark McGuinness

For the under 20s, touchscreen technology is now the norm. One consequence of this is that traditional approaches to marketing, largely based on socioeconomic groups defined by the head of the household’s occupation, are being challenged.

The traditional model attempts to forecast behaviour patterns of these socioeconomic groups by assuming that their income and social class will cause them to react in a similar way to the same stimuli. However, in a society transformed by technology that cuts across social and economic boundaries, it is rapidly becoming an outdated analysis.

A new approach, which may be able to more accurately predict the behaviour patterns of potential customers, is based around the concepts of “social constructs” or “social constructions”. It focuses on how individuals and groups interact with technology and how it is used socially – for example, smartphones being used to access Twitter.

In the context of i-gaming, marketers need to define the tech savvy generation of 16-to-19 year olds as the “touchscreen generation” rather than in terms of social class or income. This group could be the new gamers, sports bettors and casino players that all i-gaming businesses are looking for.

I say “could be” because I feel the current mobile or gambling apps available are more about the delivery channel and serving the current customer than about attracting this new generation of potential customers. Touchscreen transactions are already huge in retail with many consumers expecting to use touch enabled devices in the purchasing process.

But many gaming businesses just see touchscreen devices as one of many delivery channels, and ignore the customer experience of the touchscreen generation, which takes many forms of touchscreen interaction. The Microsoft Surface Pro, for example, is already taking touch, tap and swipe commands to new levels of interaction – but we’ve yet to see a gaming or gambling product experience designed to unleash the Surface Pro’s capabilities.

Then there’s 3D haptic touch technology, which allows users to push around 3D objects in a virtual workspace and which is already popular in virtual reality. This opens up the scenario of playing roulette on your smart device and being able to “feel” chips as you pick them up and place your bet – just one of many amazing possibilities for online gaming. 

Touch technology is fast becoming ingrained in our neural pathways, and will eventually become the standard way to interact both socially and commercially. Too many within the i-gaming sector are still trying to figure out how to target the “millennials” with gaming products and services in what are already saturated markets.

In fact, what they really need to be thinking about, is the touchscreen generation and using the amazing advances in technology to design experiences specifically for them.