Evoke plc is banking on automation and AI as it embarks on a “total transformation” of the business, says chief executive Per Widerström following disappointing first half results.
Following a profit warning in July, Evoke reported a 2% decline revenue to £862m last week, with adjusted EBITDA falling 26% year-on-year.
Widerström did not shy away from acknowledging the operator’s underperformance on Evoke’s H1 earnings call. “[These] results are disappointing and are not acceptable. We understand exactly what went wrong and we have taken corrective actions to address the problems.”
He outlined a range of product improvements, changes to customer lifecycle management and new ways of communicating the overall value proposition for customers in particular.
Product underpins growth plans for Evoke
The product proposition is enhanced by a revamped Betbuilder, which CFO Sean Wilkins said would drive revenue and profit growth by allowing players more flexibility to place bets. A new product, Impact Sub, where a player-specific bet transfers when they are substituted, is coming in H2.
Further changes are coming to the deposit experience, amid a wider focus on customer experience enhancements.
Widerström said in the earnings call that improving the business’ proposition for customers was crucial to his strategic turnaround. He said the business was doing this by streamlining customer journeys and providing a consistent opportunity in terms of product and pricing.
“If we take William Hill here in UK, we are consistent in our messaging in terms of the proposition, a pricing perspective as well as from a product perspective. And here, we are absolutely focused on the mid and high-value players.
“Going forward now for H2, there are some really exciting launches to come,” Widerstrom said.
“We will continue but absolutely focused on ensuring a fairly seamless experience from a customer journey perspective.”
AI improving Evoke personalisation and customer journey
Widerstrom also pointed to a new data team leveraging AI to improve customer segmentation and provide a better player experience for a lower cost.
“We have become much more sophisticated in our play segmentation, enabling us to provide better products and promotions to our core customers who value them the most, driving retention, loyalty and also higher player values,” he said.
“These improvements are enabling us to do more with less, delivering £30 million of cost savings while providing better outcomes for our customers. And we are already seeing tangible short-term benefits here to our run rates.”
As part of this focus on customer life cycle management, Evoke has deployed ecommerce platform Bloomreach to further enhance personalisation.
Strict controls on costs
Group CFO Wilkins said operational restructuring across the company was also driving cost saving efforts so far in H2. He said the finance team was implementing rigorous daily, weekly and monthly tracking of costs.
“Each element of our plan is tracked and monitored to ensure we are delivering. This enables the business to take corrective actions if we are off course and to quickly scale up investments where we are over-delivering,” Wilkins said.
“We continue to take cost out of the business following our strategy to deliver a more targeted business, investing in the right products and brands in the right countries. We are building a more scalable, more efficient business powered by intelligent automation and AI.”
The new strategy kicked in back in March when 888’s US business was sold to Hard Rock Digital. The group subsequently rebranded to Evoke plc in May, as a symbol of its new direction, the company said at the time.
“We are undertaking a total transformation, a total reset of the business,” Widerström said. “And while the first half financial results are not where we wanted them to be, I’ve been really pleased with the improvements we are seeing now, both in the short term and building up for the long term when it comes to overall strength of the business.”
