ThePuntersPage Research, What Do The Results Mean For The Industry? Interview with Glenn Debattista, Head of Product, ThePuntersPage
We recently published findings from 100,000 monthly visitors to ThePuntersPage website in our article “Odds On Punters’ Delight, Research Report from ThePuntersPage Released”.
Some highlights include two out of three punters suggesting competitive odds as most important with a cash out feature essential for 40% of respondents. Just over a quarter of respondents were enticed by promotional offers and promises of cashback and free bets. One in three gamblers said they favoured ease-of-use deposit and payout speeds.
We caught up with Glenn Debattista, Head of Product at ThePuntersPage to dive deeper into what the findings actually mean for the industry.
What inspired you to create this campaign?
We are very much interested in what the user really wants rather than what we think the user wants.
If you don’t give the user what they want, you’re not going to be able to build trust and a good relationship.
If you’re not able to find out exactly what content the users are after, then you’re not going to attract anyone, or at least you’re not going to attract as many people as you would like.
The Survey gave us really good insight into user needs and what mediums they like to use. This helps guide us on what to write about so that we can get them through to us.
Do you feel that the gaming industry is focused on the customer enough at the moment?
Yes and no. Here at ThePuntersPage, our principle is to create maximum value for the user.
However, all companies are here to make a profit, and this doesn’t always go hand in hand with being customer centric.
As I said, from our point of view, we found that the best way to attract users is to get a customer’s attention and give them exactly what they want by being customer centric.
This was our aim with the survey, getting to know what the user wants directly from the source.
According to your survey, 62% of customers are interested in competitive odds. This may encourage content creators to focus on this as part of their content strategy but what opportunities are there for niche affiliates who focus on alternative content? Can they still succeed?
Yes. Just because 62% of customers are interested in competitive odds, doesn’t mean that it’s only the odds they are after.
Operators have many different features that attract users to register with them.
It’s things like feeling safe, knowing their features like cash out or live streaming – it’s about knowing their deposits and withdrawals are fast and safe.
There are so many different topics that are interesting for the users, I don’t think it can get pigeonholed into simple content on odds.
Apart from this, the survey says predictions and tips help them in their betting experience.
What interests our users the most, is knowing that there are information sources that can help them out in the long run.
With only 14.5% of customers having no accounts, do you think customer engagement is shifting more towards re-activation rather than acquisition? If so, how will this impact the iGaming market in the future?
I don’t believe 14.5% is low.
When you consider that this number of visitors on our page doesn’t have an account, it means there are quite a few people who are actually coming to our site to find the best bookmaker to join – at least as their first account.
When you consider that we have around a 100k users on a monthly basis, that’s 14.5k users that don’t have an account, and it’s actually a big number, which operators do appreciate from us.
40% of the users, according to our survey, also have just one or two accounts at the most.
There are pretty much seven big operators in the industry, and there are many, many others at a very high level – It boils down to what the operator is offering.
If they’re all photocopy of each other, then obviously the user is going to stick to just one operator.
But if there are operators who are unique in their offering, then that may attract more users.
In fact, around 10% of users said that they have more than 10 accounts. So that means something as well.
Welcome Offers and Loyalty Bonuses are the two of the most important promotions. The increasing restrictions mean that operators and affiliates may have to rely on bonus promotions less and less in the future, especially in regions such as Sweden where a player is restricted to one bonus only during their entire player life cycle. Can the iGaming market continue to grow without bonuses?
Definitely. Promotions do attract users to join up for the first time, however, in the long run, the user wants competitive odds. In fact, we can go back to what we said initially, 62% of users are after competitive odds.
Take Pinnacle, for example, their business model is that they don’t have any welcome offers, but what they do have is quality odds; very high odds compared to other operators.
They consider the quality of their odds the main selling point, and it works.
In the long run, having these kinds of restrictions on promotions would increase the quality that the operators need to offer.
They don’t need to rely on these one time offers, but instead to rely on being consistent at a high level and giving the user exactly what they’re after.
Your survey also showed how important mobile apps are. Customers want increased convenience so do you think eventually mobile betting will completely saturate the customer experience or will there always be a space for desktop gaming?
Desktop gaming will never go away.
However, as you saw from the survey, only 10% of the users are desktop only, whereas 49% is a mix between mobile and desktop. We’re always on the run or on the move, and we’re always staying connected.
The best way for the user to engage is through mobile because it’s quick, fast, and efficient.
And with regard to what has been seen over the past few years, with operators improving the quality of their mobile apps and being more mobile-friendly. It’s basically become a standard that the mobile-first experience is the main priority.
Editor’s note: From speaking with Glenn, it’s apparent that there’s not one single factor that contributes to the players choice of operator. Rather, there is a multitude of reasons ranging from odds to promotions, to cashout to speed of payout. Operators who are able to offer a holistic and unique experience will emerge as the victors.
