The second and final day of the Mobile and Tablet Gambling Summit Europe in London was, much like the first, focused heavily on the user experience.
Delivering value through a mobile-first strategy and maximising return-on-investment were followed by sessions on player-centric analytics and player re-targeting, delivered respectively by Jacob López-Curciel, CEO of Optima IS, and James Hilton, Global CEO of M&C Saatchi Mobile.
López-Curciel predicted that by 2017, two million people would be working on “big data”. “We will need digital leadership,” he said, going on to highlight the potential for organisations to appoint a chief digital officer.
“The CDO does not need to come from IT but needs to be fully literate in, and a champion of, the digital strategy. The CDO will lead the transition to a digital business,” said López-Curciel.
He also predicted an increase in the emerging trend that sees people using the same technology tools at home that they use at work, so-called “bring your own device” strategies.
In his presentation, Hilton highlighted the dramatic rise in player acquisition costs: “In 2006, we could acquire a player for $20. As that has shot up, we need to get more lifetime value out of a player to justify the increased acquisition spend.
“Customers are not being retained for as long as they used to be,” he continued. “Day-one, day-seven and day-30 retention rates are all dropping. It’s a disloyal crowd that’s not always sticking with individual apps.
“If they download your app and open it once and don’t return within seven days, there’s a 60 per cent chance they’ll never return.”
Hilton urged operators to target those first seven days of inactivity: “Players who haven’t played for a month or three? They’re gone. Don’t target them - forget them and get in very early instead.
“Get them in the habit of coming back,” he said, “even if they’ve just made a deposit or some other commitment. Stop them abandoning the process – keep pushing them.”
