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Personalization: Taking account of modern technologies

Insight | Analysis

In the final part of this series, Russell Karp, senior vice president of DataArt looks at how tapping into the industry’s most up-and-coming technologies for personalization purposes can improve the user experience.

Utilizing emerging technologies like AI or real-time business intelligence can help you analyze bettor’s data and gain valuable insights that can be used to personalize communication.

Chalkline Sports, for example, analyzes the passion points for each user of its games, including the games they engage with and how long they spend playing each game, and then uses this information to personalize messaging.

This involves campaigns that are best aligned with users’ tracked activity. Incorporating these technologies into your app can provide insights that help personalize your messaging and create a more engaging experience for users.

As CEO and co-founder Daniel Kustelski illustrated during our recent conversation: “We collect a lot of data on behalf of our clients. But on a weekly basis, that report really looks like this: how many games we created, the types of players that played, how many times player X or player Y played which games.”

The collected data can subsequently be used to understand what works for users to nudge them to make more or bigger bets, and to try bets in sports where they haven’t historically.

“We understand the value of every single thing that the client does on our site,” Kustelski said. “[For example,] fifty percent of all the real money players are going to be playing a free play for various reasons.”

“If there are ways that we can maybe entice people to deposit money if they’ve already signed up, what are some of those games? And what are some of those passion points that we can use [to say] “Hey, here are campaigns that work for various personas and registrations down into the funnel.””

Optimove’s Mapping CRM Solution is another excellent example of how technology can be used to personalize communication with bettors. Their solution leverages statistical and algorithmic techniques to segment bettors based on historical and transactional data. This process is done continuously and dynamically, as individuals’ preferences and behaviors change over time.

By analyzing this data, operators can generate patterns, predict future bettor actions, and tailor their communication accordingly. Personalized communication has been proven to be effective in cementing relationships with customers, and if integrated with a sportsbook’s wider CRM strategy, it can be a powerful tool.

Another example of personalization technology is start-up Epoxy AI. Originally a voice-led tech product, Epoxy AI has since developed a customer personalization platform technology.

Their Audience Cloud product enables sports and betting industry players to build precise customer profiles in order to deliver tailored content for a more personalized experience. By using this technology, operators can gain valuable insights into their customers’ preferences, enabling them to create more engaging and personalized experiences.

Tapping into in-play betting opportunities

The last two years especially have been good for micro-betting, with consumer interest and operator priorities trending in this direction.

And for anyone not fully convinced, this is what Chris Bevilacqua, Simplebet’s CEO, had to say late last year: “As marketing and user experience around micro-betting become a priority for operators, I’d expect micro-markets to make up the majority of in-play volume; and for MLB specifically I think that will be as soon as 2023.”

Voice assistance technology

Voice assistance technology is becoming more prevalent, with companies like Google and Amazon leading the way.

Voxbet, a UK-based company, has seized on this trend and developed a product that enables users to navigate apps using voice commands and even place bets through verbal interactions.

“The reason for providing a [voice assisted] experience for all bettors is that currently, there’s only one way of navigating content, which is through endless menus, says Jonathan Power, CEO at Voxbet. “And when you do that, you have no room for anything else. But if you can navigate the whole sportsbook by speaking […], you free up probably 90% of the real estate […].”

By freeing up digital real estate on your app, you can offer users more interactive features and options for customization. One way to do this is by enabling users to place bets through voice commands, which is becoming increasingly popular among younger generations who are accustomed to using voice technology.

This allows your app to stay on trend and attract a wider range of users.

Personalization is user engagement 101

User engagement and customer retention are closely linked. After the initial rush to market, sportsbook operators should focus on improving user experience and retention.

Thanks to ongoing advances in mobile technology and cross-platform adaptability, the necessary solutions are readily available for operators to implement.

Today’s app users demand personalized digital experiences, yet most sports betting apps fail to meet these expectations. In order to remain competitive and expand market share, operators need to provide these capabilities. It really is that simple.

Read part one here.