Welcome to our 12th Brand Prix, where instead of only investigating the companies’ CRM, we check out the customer experience in a more wholesome way – as we compare two leading online gaming companies.
You can check out past editions to get into the groove: Adidas vs. Nike, Target vs. Walmart, Banana Republic vs. J.Crew,Gap vs. Zara, Groupon vs. Living Social, Kiehl’s vs. Liz Earle, Sunglass Hut vs. Warby Parker, Brooklinen vs. Parachute , Blue Apron vs. Sun Basket and 888 vs. Betway
Introduction
PostFunnel put William Hill and Paddy Power to the ultimate CRM gaming match! Both contestants are cutting-edge, state of the art gaming operators with hundreds of thousands of active players from across the globe.
We followed the two operators for a period of time to assess their customer relationship marketing practices. We enacted a customer journey with each brand through several methodologies, documenting every player interaction that was sent to our testers. At the end, our expert opinion and insight from our experience with the two gaming operators will be announced.
The competition was intense. But there could only be one CRM Gaming Winner. Who will it be?
The Companies
William Hill
William Hill PLC was founded in the UK in 1934 and is now one of the world’s leading sports betting and gaming companies. Headquartered in London, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (WHM). In 2012, William Hill US was established and named as America’s #1 Sports Book.
The company has expanded from its birthplace of Nevada to operate in over 160 locations across 14 states. William Hill US currently has operations in The Bahamas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and West Virginia.
Paddy Power
Paddy Power is an Irish bookmaker founded in 1988 in Dublin, Ireland. Since its founding, the company grew from 30 Irish shops to 500 in the UK & Ireland today. Paddy Power is part of Flutter Entertainment plc, an international gaming operator and sports betting platform listed on both the London and Irish Stock Exchanges.
The company offers a wide array of products including online poker, sports betting, online bingo, online casino, and other games. It merged with Betfair to create Paddy Power Betfair in 2016 and FanDuel in 2018.
Methodology
We split the analysis into the following pillars:
- Conversion Funnel
- On-Boarding Funnel (Welcome Journey)
- Personalized Communications
- Risking Churn
- General Feeling (We had with the brand throughout our user journey)
At the end, we give each brand an average final score according to the above categories.
Conversion Funnel
For the purpose of this experiment, we split the conversion funnel into 2 parts:
- 7 days from the first-ever visit to registration – we visited the websites a couple of times, browsed different pages, and filled some uncompleted bets during this period.
- The following week, we made our first deposit, gave our consent to receive communication from the brands, and waited to receive any kind of direct messaging without completing the “Know Your Client” verification forms (KYC).
William Hill
No communication was sent prior to registration, despite our lingering on the site, but once we were in – we were welcomed with emails and SMS messages. The KYC process was easy and smooth, and we found no difficulty in verifying our account. Certainly, a great start! Score 7/10
Paddy Power
Once again our browsing efforts prior to registration didn’t lead to any communication through any retargeting channel. The KYC process was a bit of a struggle and once we were in – we received no more than 2 emails. Not the optimal way to get acquainted. Score 3/10
On-Boarding Funnel (Welcome Journey)
The welcome journey is one of the most prominent marketing strategies in a player cycle. In the initial period of a customer lifetime, the marketer has the opportunity to communicate with the players and introduce them to the product features, platforms, increase brand awareness, present the company’s bonus capabilities and make sure the player is having a great experience.
While the one-timer rate (players who deposited/played only once) stands on more than 50% for most companies after the first month upon first deposit, the onboarding funnel can assist the marketer to increase engagement and retain the newly acquired players.
Research shows that multi-channel campaigns sent through the right channel, during a player’s first days, based on their activity and preferences, can positively impact customer experience and retention rates.
After placing a deposit of £10, we placed a (losing) bet with our entire balance. After a few days, we placed another losing bet with our entire bonus money. How did the operators communicate with us?
William Hill
Surprisingly, we received no communication via any channel during the first 5 days since we made our first deposit. The first email came in 3 days after losing our first bet, addressing how we feel and asking us to fill in a survey.
This journey could have been more personalized since WH obviously was aware of our losing streak. They could have easily made the welcome journey more… welcoming.
After losing our bonus balance, we started to receive too many frequent communications which led us to feel bombarded. We received 6 consecutive daily emails, alongside 3 SMS messages. To their defense, despite the aggressiveness, both channels were aligned and communicated the same message. The communications included sports betting offers (with a 3 times repeated “Bet&Get” offer) along with casino cross-sell promotions.
Though the lack of personalization and understanding of our bad experience, along with the aggressive approach and the same repeated offers, WH managed to combine multi-channel with one-approach comms to try and drive us back on-site in different ways. Score 7/10
Paddy Power
During our first days as real players with PP, we received 8 emails. Although we verified our SMS, we didn’t receive any communication on this channel, though.
The content we received had many different objectives and targets such as: download the app promo, responsible gambling introduction, refer a friend, join a loyalty club, answer a survey, and even cross-sell to the Irish lottery. This felt incredibly overwhelming.
Overall, we felt that PP strategy was lacking personalization. They didn’t acknowledge our 2 losing bets or playing preferences nor did they share any sympathy or generosity to improve our bad experience. Bummer!
Despite their great campaign rhythm and remarkable onboarding objectives, PP missed the classic CRM opportunity to address our activity and feelings by words or actions (promotions) in order to entice us. Score 6/10
Personalized Communications
After a few weeks of showing and acting upon our interests on both WH and PP, we wished to be communicated with accordingly. We gradually changed our preferences and behavior, moving from sport betting towards multi-games and casino products. We deposited more and browsed the platforms and then played online casino games from both the operators. Did we receive any behavior matching and/or personalized communications?
William Hill
After playing WH casino games for 3 days straight, we started to receive behavior-matched communication via email and SMS. The sport-related images were replaced by casino ones and we felt WH understands our new interests. In addition, free spins upon bets and deposit bonuses for casino activity were shared with us.
Although the drastic shift in communication, we received multiple communications on the same day, emphasizing different bonuses which was pretty confusing. Too bad! It seemed as if WH continued their blasting approach without balancing their communication frequency. Score 6/10
Paddy Power
PP was able to shift between sports betting and casino games pretty smoothly. We received several emails combing both sports betting content and casino related ones. The frequency of campaigns felt appropriate and not intrusive, which kept us interested.
Although the combination of both preferred products, PP lacked the ability to communicate both in the same communication. We did receive ad-hoc campaigns for sport (today’s match) and separated casino comms. A proper multi-preference strategy would have probably answered this need.
Together with a proper balance between products, PP still wasn’t able to address the fact that we lost our money over and over again. So, great work with favorite product, less with activity tracking! Score 8/10
Risk of Churning
CRM eventually is all about retention. From onboarding funnels, through engagement addressing, up-sells and cross-sells – the main driver should always be to increase retention and to reduce churn. Therefore, many operators establish ‘risk-of-churn’ and ‘churn’ plans, to reengage players and to reactivate churned ones.
A proper risk of churn strategy would usually include a preference-based communication and straightforward communication/promotion. A variety of campaigns at a steady frequency allow for the right offer to be sent to the right player.
After spending (more or less) the same amount on sports betting and casino, we ended our relationship with the two contestants for several weeks only to set back and inspect their risk-of-churn/reactivation plan. Who missed us more?
William Hill
After we stopped playing, WH kept communicating with us through both of their main channels. We were pleased to find out that gradually, as time went by – WH increased their offered enhanced promotions – from 20 to 30 Free Spins and from “Bet and Get £10” to “Bet and Get £20.”
While we were away for a long period, we received many similar communications, with the same templates. We know it is impossible to create so many different promotions, but we did expect more creativity from WH. More specifically, to serve each offer in different ways. We hoped that a simple login with no activity would set back the fire with WH but they missed the opportunity to target us in real time. Score 7/10
Paddy Power
Reduction of activity caused a reduction of communication with PP – just a few days after our last real monetary activity, we started to receive fewer emails. Among PP’s emails, we received casino communications offering free spins or free money upon bets. Despite our historical activity of sports betting activity, PP stopped serving us sport offers completely. Moreover, several weeks after churning, we received a live-casino promo, probably a spray-and-pray campaign, but for sure not something of our interest or an action that would bring us back.
It seems like PP failed to keep us as their client due to less relevant communications that simply didn’t suit our personal preferences. Paddy Power: when website personalization is done right, it can do wonders for your brand! Score 4/10
General Feelings
William Hill
Overall our experience with WH was very smooth. We had an easy and quick sign up and verification process. Although there was lack of retargeting, WH focused on their main 2 channels (email and SMS), which were impressively synced (most of the time) once multi-channel campaigns were sent.
With good onboarding and fair personalization, we think that WH should optimize the frequency or orchestration of their campaigns as the comms felt intrusive and aggressive with more than one campaign a day, on both channels. Score 8/10
Paddy Power
Overall, PP had their ups and downs in communicating with us as their clients. Although PP contacted us only by email, with no SMS or ads in place – and only sent a limited number of pop-ups or notifications – the frequency felt right, and many objectives were covered by their comms.
The general feeling that we had was that most of the campaigns weren’t tailored to suit us specifically and instead were rather similar and generic. We believe that a proper understanding of our behavioral traits, together with triggered comms upon emotional experiences – can dramatically improve PP’s CRM strategies. Score 7/10
The Final Verdict
Weeks of testing, depositing, playing, betting, and churning are done. With clear documentation of each. So, the final verdict? Though we expected more from both William Hill and Paddy Power as two of the world’s most prominent gaming brands in the industry – William Hill won the match by less than a couple of points!
William Hill nabbed the win due to our smooth overall experience with the brand which included consistent communications and orchestration of campaigns. Throughout the entire process, it felt as if Paddy Power wasn’t taking our personal interests into consideration. More advanced personalized email marketing tactics and comms can go a long way for them.
Think we got it right? Or should we have picked another winner? Leave your comments below and tell us what you think, or join the discussion on Twitter and Facebook by using the #BrandPrix hashtag.
Contributor: Peter Dibben