SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
There is so much talk about sportsbook personalisation for the B2C market. In fact, according to Betinvest COO Max Dubossarsky it represents the “horn of plenty” for operators wanting to get as close as they can to their players. But what is the role of the provider?
Dubossarsky thinks that it is primarily to provide the tools which help “operators to analyse and process large volumes of data”. An operator can therefore understand individual preferences, and deploy the right marketing tools to incentivise players to get more involved.
Yet, he explains why this reliable processing of player data should be offered in tandem with the ability to customise both the content and appearance of a website from a self-managed back office.
Customisation, in this context, might mean different odds formats, the presence (or non presence) of live streaming, sports ordering and capping the amount of betting markets shown.
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The idea of a “universal” product is becoming a thing of the past, and in its place “personalisation” is gaining momentum.
Why is this? In today’s high-tech world, consumers know what they want and how to get it. Hundreds of brands and thousands of offers are vying for their attention day in, day out. And the gambling market is no exception.
Amongst all these operators and providers, the one that will get ahead of the game is the one that reacts the fastest and the most effectively to changes in the industry, and that knows what consumers are really after and strives to give it to them. Companies with abstract products and anonymised clients will, alas, lose out.
Personalisation on the B2C market represents the horn of plenty. Operators can really get close to their players: indeed, they know the smallest details about them, from favourite sports to how much and how frequently they bet, from their gaming preferences to the time of day they like to play.
An operator can analyse player preferences, and modern marketing tools incentivise players to get more involved. These tools include targeting and remarketing based on an interest in specific sports, all sorts of player bonuses and further gamification.
The aim of personalisation in gambling is to make player interaction with the brand as convenient, simple and engaging as possible, to build up loyalty to the brand and turn players into regular customers by analysing the behaviour and preferences.
Meanwhile, the aim of software providers is to provide a reliable solution which can also be customised, and tools with which operators can analyse and process large volumes of data.
We, as a sports betting solutions provider, personalise our product based on our clients’ needs. And everything we do for our clients is with the end users in mind: the players and their requirements.
So, how do we customise our product? We provide various odds formats depending on where our clients operate (European, American, Malaysian, Indonesian, Hong Kong format); front-end adaptation; a choice of how many markets and which events are available in the sportsbook; and an expansion or reduction in the functionality of the platform, the products available on the platform, the system of bonuses, and more. We adapt our products according to the demands of our client operators’ target audience.
There are also clear differences in the sports events displayed. You may find cricket in the list of top sports in India, whereas in the USA it would of course be American football and baseball, and rugby will be a popular choice for the English market.
Depending on where the operator is based, the choice of markets also swings between a standard four or five (for example in Africa or Asia) and 100 or more (such as in Europe, the most developed region in terms of betting). This is as much due to cultural and macroeconomic factors as it is due to the history and regulation of the gambling industry.
If a provider does not customise its product, it will become uncompromising and will fail the interests of the end user. And this could mean the provider losing its place in this competitive market. With the help of modern technology, we can make our products and solutions simpler, more user friendly, and faster in terms of settings and integration – without losing out on quality.
What is more, our approach to providing a sportsbook as a service gives our clients the opportunity to control the majority of these back-end settings for themselves. They manage not only the content of the website, but the appearance of it too, with the help of a comprehensive reporting system.
