Operators need to differentiate their digital offerings, especially as the sportsbook industry is heating up. Russell Karp, Senior Vice President of DataArt, says there’s a huge opportunity for companies to harness the power of personalization in order to drive retention.
Personalization is the future of media, helping businesses stand out and cultivating loyal fans.
While most major platforms offer personalized experiences through their apps, sports betting users often find themselves with static interfaces that lack any personal touch.
Jonathan Power, Voxbet’s Managing Director, stated in an interview with DataArt that “Everybody looks exactly the same now.” […] Your old-style user interface is still available, and it takes endless clicks to navigate through menus. That doesn’t happen anywhere else online. It doesn’t happen at Spotify, Twitter, TikTok, Amazon, or elsewhere digitally. It happens in sports betting.
By not implementing personalized digital offers, operators could miss out on substantial payoffs. These benefits include immediate results such as customer satisfaction and improved usability, as well as long-term and mid-term benefits like increased engagement and retention.
Personalization can have a direct positive impact on businesses’ bottom lines.
Improved usability
Operators may place high priority on innovative data solutions like machine learning and blockchain, but they sometimes forget about fundamental elements such as user experience (UX).
It is crucial to have a solid understanding of UX. A platform with the most advanced features and capabilities won’t succeed if it is not easy to use and navigate. Operators must prioritize UX in order to make their app user-friendly and profitable.
In terms of technology, a fast platform design doesn’t always translate to a positive user experience. When developing a betting product, it is important to be fan-centric.
Three key elements are important to ensure a great user experience: personalization, ease-of-use, and localization. Your betting platform should be easy to use and mobile-optimized. This will make it easier for newbies to understand how to place and cancel bets. You should include security features that are not too restrictive and clear payment and payout options. Also, consider UX factors such as speed, accessibility, customer support, and UX factors such as accessibility and speed.
It is essential to have a solid tech stack, but it will not be enough to get users to use your app.
It is important to prioritize usability as it gives you the foundation for creating personalized features. You can create a user experience that is intuitive and easy to use, which will allow you to add advanced features such as personalization.
Usability is therefore a key component of creating an app that meets users’ expectations and fulfills their needs.
Every bettor gets a customized interface
The first step to providing a positive fan experience is creating a custom interface.
You can show relevant content and events to your users’ home pages by allowing them to choose their favorite teams or sports. You can make the experience even more enjoyable by providing personalized content feeds that are tailored to your users’ interests, such as news, analysis and educational material about their chosen sports or betting.
This can be complemented by a notification system to keep users informed about their favorite events or sports. A number of operators have implemented this feature already, but it should be standardised in all apps.
You can make your sports betting app more personal by adding features such as “My Stats”, “My Events”, and “My Rewards”. These elements provide a summary of a user’s betting history, performance, interests, pay-offs, and other information that allows them to better manage their betting activities. These personalized elements can be used to enhance user experience and create a more satisfying and engaging experience for your users.
Nurturing social elements
It is important to leverage the power of human connections to increase fan engagement and retention.
Forums or message boards that allow users to exchange information and discuss bets can help increase “dwelltime” and usage. It can also foster a sense community between users. A feature that allows users to create avatars adds an additional layer of personalization to your app which can increase engagement.
Another way to use social media effectively is to allow users to create and manage their own betting leagues or groups within the app, and then display the results and standings. FanDuel’s Friends Mode provides a great example.
FanDuel created a new revenue stream by adding sharing and gamified features to league management.
In order to increase user engagement and retention, it is a good idea to incorporate social media features that foster connection and community among users.
