5 player retention strategies for online gaming

Let me start with a question that has been asked many times: What is more challenging – getting new users to your platform or retaining the existing ones?

There are no easy answers, but any industry veteran would confirm that retaining users is as hard as getting new users. Since the cost of acquiring new users is much higher, it is a wise decision to also focus on retaining the existing users.

Now, let us discuss this in the context of the online gaming industry. Given that there are hundreds of online casinos, it goes without saying that the player is spoilt for choices. What can online casino operators do to retain their players and earn their loyalty?

Let us look at five ways to solve this player retention quandary:

1. Exclusive games

If an online casino operator can get some good and popular games exclusively for themselves, then the platform is a sure shot winner. However, as all of us know, it is not going to be easy or cheap. The game suppliers invest a lot in building new games, and they would want players to access those games across as many operators as possible. Therefore, only large operators with deep pockets can potentially afford exclusive games from game suppliers.

2. Player profiling

Behavior recognition
Every player has different preferences regarding the game type, playing hours, betting capacity, and overall behavior. Understanding the player’s behavioral preferences and offering customized solutions is the key to player retention. For a leading German slot machine maker, we analyzed the data dump of a player’s journey on the platform and identified various patterns to provide clear indications of the player’s behavior. The operator can then use this learning to build targeted solutions for their players.

Game recommendation
Most players will have their preferred games. Some may like superhero-themed slot games, while others may enjoy playing mystery-themed ones. An operator’s challenge is to identify such player patterns and include those games in their suggestions when the player searches for more games to play. This would help online casino operators offer the player a specific and relevant game, which has the highest probability of adoption. For a leading Asian company, we implemented a sophisticated recommendation engine to churn out precise and well-targeted recommendations.

3. User experience

The world moved to mobile devices a long time ago. So isn’t it futile and unreasonable to expect users to play games only on desktops or laptops? Having a user-friendly mobile gaming app is an indispensable offering from the operators. Still, many operators either do not have a mobile-friendly casino or have a poorly designed one. Considering the plethora of operators available in a particular market, players would not hesitate to switch to your competition if they do not get a rich user experience. Players are looking for an easy-to-use and entertaining interface. A complicated, non-user-friendly app would surely turn them away. For a leading Swedish operator, we have built native mobile casinos. This has increased the adoption of their casinos and led to increased traffic on those mobile casinos.

4. Range of options

If you go to a restaurant, and see various food options on the menu, won’t you love it? It is the same in online casinos. Players love options! As an operator, one needs to offer a wide range of slot games, live casinos, table games, etc. Similarly, for payment methods, the operator needs to not only make it easy for its players to deposit and withdraw money, but also allow them to embrace new payment methods such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, integrations with local payment gateways, etc.

5. Round-the-clock support

When a player bets his/her money in a live casino, he/she expects hassle-free transactions. Any system can run into glitches, which is why it is vital that the operator provides 24*7 support. Give confidence to your customers by being there for them, always!

How can Nagarro help?

We have more than a decade-long experience working with the leading companies in sports betting, online casino gaming, and social gaming. Over the last 10+ years of our journey, we have worked on several projects on back-end transaction engines, core platforms, game engines, automation testing, functional testing, compliance testing for regulated markets, data analytics, and machine learning, etc.

Are you facing challenges in offering an intuitive gaming experience to your users and in establishing a broad user base? Our experts who love solving technology challenges can help you—explore our offerings and get in touch with us today!