Keeping the Customer Lifecycle Going
Many sites, whether gaming or retail, tend to have different types of customers: newbies, regulars and returnees. It’s important to divide customers according to where they are in the customer lifecycle so that they can be specifically targeted with relevant rewards and bonuses. This is something that requires constant refinement to optimise the end goal, which is to have a good customer base. To achieve this, they need to convert newbies to regulars and make returnees revert to becoming regular customers, once again.
Attracting Newbies
Knowing where your target customers frequently hang out when they’re online is a significant part of any marketing plan, according to CFI. This is because knowing what social media platforms they use the most enables sites to adapt their advertising to build effective brand awareness. Different platforms focus on different aspects. If you look at Twitter, it uses short messages with a restricted character count, whereas TikTok users focus on producing short clips.
Another way to attract newbies is to provide incentives. These can include new member offers, such as providing them with bonus spins or even getting them to choose their bonus upon signing up to join, as Buzz Bingo does, for example. These types of welcome bonuses are relatively common and effective for newbies to test the waters when it comes to playing new games or buying a product, like clothing.
Retaining Regulars
Looking after online gaming regulars is different from attracting newbies. At this stage, the customer is fairly familiar with the gaming site. They don’t need persuading to join the site as they’re more than likely already a signed-up member. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t require a little TLC. If you want to keep them using the site regularly, it takes more than great games and a variety of them.
Of course, great games are the reason they’ve signed up. But other sites may have great games too, so what separates one from the other? Aside from gamification, as discussed by BI Worldwide, multi-level rewards are a must-have. Things like friend referrals, birthday promotions, invitations to member-only events, different levels of membership, and yearly incremental loyalty bonuses are all great ways to keep customers interested in regularly using a site.
Encouraging Returnees to Return
Customers may reduce the amount of time they spend on any site for various reasons. They’re like redundant customers because they’re signed-up members, but are not active, so how do you change this? You could try re-engagement tools.
These tools are used to reignite the interest customers once had. Perhaps a special offer to entice them back could be sent via a personalised email, for instance. Knowing what items or entertainment they’re and previous offers they’ve used is a good start. Letting them know about these things may potentially be another effective way to try to draw them in and get them to use your site again. Maybe even giving them a choice of offers to choose from allows them to pick what’s best for them. It also provides insight into where their current interests lie when it comes to special offers.
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Knowing what is happening on your site is important for all members, regardless of being new, regular, or returning. Making the most of social media to achieve this is one way, as is sending out regular newsletters. Customers love promotions and things that benefit them, so using both ways to let them know what’s available should enable the feat of attracting newbies, retaining regulars and encouraging returnees to return to be one of ease.
