How to Differentiate your Brand in the US Market

The anticipated legalisation of online sports betting in the USA presents great new opportunities for both existing and new operators. The potential is huge, but timescales are uncertain.

Legislation will vary in each state, as will the amount of time it takes to get the Laws in place. Currently 8 states have operating Laws, local Fantasy Sports giants are the first to take advantage of this.

According to CNBC “FanDuel and DraftKings have 83% market share in sports betting in New Jersey, but they may not be the dominant players in every state as online wagering is legalized.”

Marketshare may not work out the same in other states as different laws restrict operators. Some have called the current scenario a ‘Wild West’ of challenges and opportunities.

In spite of the instability and lack of data to work with, the Online Sports Betting industry in the USA has so far offered two sure ways to profit from the status quo:

        1. Partnering with Casinos

        2. Migrating Players from Fantasy Sports

In order for operators to get first dips into the market as the ‘gambling gold rush’ happens state by state, we are seeing partnerships with terrestrial casinos.

These partnerships are helping casinos access the digital market which they would otherwise not easily break into. Fantasy sports online companies are benefiting from the partnerships because it helps them get in line with the new legislations faster.

According to CNBC “Less than a year after legalization, internet sports betting in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to $862 million in New Jersey, compared with about $216 million for terrestrial casinos.”

It is therefore clear that this is a great opportunity for terrestrial casinos too. As the various states open up with different limitations, partnerships and player migration from one vertical to another is key to grabbing marketshare fast and taking a strong position in the market.

If you’re working on partnering with a terrestrial casino or own a Fantasy brand with a player database, you are already lined up to grab marketshare as more states open up.

Here are two main keys to gaining marketshare fast in the US states as they open up:

Winning Trust in US Online Sports Betting – Player Migration

The first opportunity to enter the market is migrating players from your Fantasy site or terrestrial casino to Sportsbook.

The two sectors require a different strategy but the big game-changer is the same for both; Outbound calling.

Fantasy Sport players have different habits as well as different expectations of the user-experience and game rules on your website. Email and SMS are always the first CRM strategy used to get people to move from one vertical to another. This is standard and every operator out there will use it. Therefore it won’t give you the edge you need to stand out.

Once your CRM cycle (involving Email and SMS) is finished, you will find that a large part of the database has not moved over to the new site or is not playing for real money yet.

A direct call will often turn around 30% of your contactable database into paying customers. This happens because outbound calling helps you:

– Stand out as an operator that cares
– Understand how your audience is thinking
– Identify any tech hurdles in the customer journey (and resolve them)
– Help the customer understand Sportsbook betting. The logic is different to fantasy sport and casino games.

Gaining trust is going to be an important part of the game. DraftKings CEO expressed his concern about this in a recent interview by stating, “a lot of the feedback we got last year around some of our promotions said, “This is great, but I don’t think I can win.””

This highlights one of the biggest problems with getting people to bet on Sports in the US. People are aware that online gambling websites are very profitable for operators. It makes people doubt whether they can get a chance to win. Building on trust and helping people understand what their real odds at winning are, is going to be key.

Migrating people from land-based casinos is a little different, however the key here is also trust and loyalty. Making that Outbound call will help your Casino go-ers feel like VIPs.

This particular demographic responds positively to VIP treatment. Can you replicate the VIP feel online? Can you get a good feel of what they expect? By creating a point system that carries over from your offline games to online, you can create a loyalty scheme that makes your Casino clients feel like VIPs.

In this case, the Outbound call is geared to delight the customer and make them aware of all the wonderful stuff you are offering them as a VIP.

Differentiation through Customer Experience in the US online gambling market

As more and more brands enter the market, and Sportsbook betting gains popularity, the only true differentiator remains the customer experience.

Complex CRM strategies and affiliate partnerships can be pretty successful at driving traffic to your website. However, unless you offer a great customer experience, it is unlikely that that those people will convert and prefer you over the competition.

Outbound calls to your players can help you two-fold. They can help your customers get over tech hurdles and become depositing customers right away, during the call. And they can also give you the advantage of understanding these hurdles and therefore improve your customer experience through direct feedback.

Their feedback will help you easily understand the main blocks in your technology and iron out any user-friction points to increase future conversion rates.

Outbound calling can be very effective at improving your customers’ experience and increasing your revenue when done well. Outbound call specialists excel at two things:

1. They employ the best agents and train them specifically to convert and sell whilst delighting your customer. Throwing any agent at this job could results in disgruntled customers instead of happy ones. You want to avoid burning through your player base and destroying what should be a huge competitive advantage. Handle your database with care. It may be inactive right now, but it’s worth a lot of money, when tackled correctly.

2. They have the best tech on the market to analyse and serve your database in real-time. The tech behind outbound calling is imperative in order to achieve good ROI. Outbound call specialists use the best technology developed specially for the task at hand.

The software provides real-time monitoring and data, automatic phone-number verification, progressive calling as well as the ability to take both inbound and outbound calls concurrently. All these factors contribute to the efficiency of the service which pushes up your ROI.

The software also enables the operator to view the player history in real-time and for agents to set-up follow-up calls at a time that is most likely to convert. Most brands also benefit from the opportunity to change numbers as required, automate sms follow-up to boost conversion rates and automatically filter gambling opt-outs for compliance with responsible gaming laws.

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