Asian operators need to realign their bonus and marketing strategies to capitalise on the wave of new European content crashing down on Eastern shores.
There has been a wave of new games and content crash down on the Asian online casino industry of late. Some of the big names from Europe such as NetEnt, Play N’Go and Quickspin have finally arrived on Eastern shores, meaning players can access their blockbuster slots and table games for the very first time.
Operators are looking to use these games to attract new players to their sites, and encourage those who currently wager to stay with them for longer. RNG titles such as Gonzo’s Quest and Starburst can certainly help to achieve this, but operators also need to think about other tactics.
At present, most Asian operators are only focused on player acquisition via offering players bonuses and promotions. They are encouraged to wager through the bonus, win or lose, and then simply move on to another site offering a similar promotion. In Europe, these players are called bonus hunters.
In Asia, these bonus hunters prove just how fickle the market is. But that is mainly because there is a lack of retention strategies in place. On average, the expected lifetime of a casino player in Europe is around 2-3 months, but in Asia you have less than a week to encourage a newly acquired player to make a second deposit.
If operators can’t engage and incentivise players to keep wagering, they will simply go somewhere else. Operators therefore need to change tack, and adjust their approach to product and marketing, in turn making their players sticky and more loyal. As we all know, it is cheaper to retain a player than acquire a new one.
The raft of new games being made available to Asian operators will certainly help. Titles from the Scandinavi ansuppliers come packed with gamification tools – progress bars, missions, tokens, etc – that tap into the player’s psyche and encourage them to keep spinning the reels.
The likes of NetEnt, Quickspin and Play’n Go have become experts at this, and their content arriving in Asia is a real game-changer. But games alone are not enough, and operators really do need to dial in on bonuses, promotions and marketing. To do this, they need to work with the experts.
Here at Flow Gaming, we understand the bigger picture, and have the technology and tools operators need to fine-tune acquisition and retention strategies. We can guide operators through the entire process of developing bonuses and marketing campaigns, gathering and analysing data, and optimising ROI.
Our innovative and powerful back office allows them to do this from one place; monitoring the success of promotions and whether they are increasing acquisition and retention. We can help them roll up their sleeves and get stuck in, learning more about players and their preferences than ever before.
Sure, these new games will undoubtedly draw players to the sites where they are being offered. But before long, every operator will have these titles in their portfolio, and that point of difference will be lost. Operators need to realign their approach to bonusing, promotions and marketing to ensure they keep the players they win.
It is not difficult to achieve once you understand the bigger picture. The Flow team has decades of experience in European online casino, with a deep knowledge of the market and what it takes to succeed. We are happy to share this with the operators we work with, allowing them to unlock the true potential of their business.
The wave may have crashed down on the Asian online casino market, but the important thing now is learning how to ride it.