Trigger-based marketing campaigns in online gaming

The Challenge

In 2016 Fairplay Online won the eGaming Review Operator Marketing & Innovation Award in the category ‘Innovation in Social Casino’. The customer-centric approach of the company impressed the jury. "It is not a coincidence" explains Carel Meijer, General Manager of Fairplay Online: “Besides our brick casinos we are now offering a broader experience with Fairplay Online, from social gaming to real money gambling. The Janshen-Hahnraths Group has become a one-stop-shop company for adult players with regards to gaming.”

Marketing was one of the highest cost items for Fairplay Online. It was not very difficult to onboard clients, but it was challenging to achieve it at acceptable costs. Also making sure that players will stay active and not only buy coins but also playtime was crucial to Fairplay Online. From the beginning, Crystalloids paid a lot of attention to the registration process and the communication with registered users. There was a clear objective: maximise average revenue per paying user.

Fairplay Online outsourced their marketing operations and employed only one database marketing analyst who was responsible for the CRM-database, analytics and campaigns. The CRM-database offered a 360º customer view and was a key in the success of Fairplay Online. 

To create an overview of all Fairplay Online's visitors Crystalloids connected all data sources including registration forms, payments, website visitors and gaming performance into one database. Having all data in one place provided a complex picture of consumers' behaviour. They could see how often and how much each customer was playing and which channel they came from. These insights enabled Fairplay Online to work exclusively with those online channels that had the highest conversion. 

To stay competitive they had to start approaching their target group in a personal way and execute excellent marketing. That is why Crystalloids introduced trigger-based campaigns. If somebody plays on average three times per week and this decreases suddenly by 20%, this trigger leads to an e-mail with an offer. Somebody who only plays once a week will receive such an e-mail much later.

When we started the cost per lead was pretty high. But now that we have great insights into the returns per channel, we can manage our budget more effectively. The cost per lead has decreased by almost 80%!” Carel says. “This means that we can attract four to five times more new customers at the same budget!”

The CRM-database also helps to convert more people from visitors to paying clients. Based on the data analytics we are constantly improving the dialogue with customers during phases of registration, validation and start of gaming. The conversion is assured at a high level. The art of keeping clients depends on many factors like the user experience on the website.

Retention campaigns are playing a significant role, too. The automated e-mail campaigns to reactivate users have a very high opening rate”, Carel says.