The personal touch 10/12/2009

Staffan Schroder, senior interaction designer, inUse

L:AUNCH A GAMING PORTAL, advertise, give players big bonuses. 

Today, sadly, that recipe is no longer sufficient if you want to keep your players. Gaming operators need to put more focus on the player experience and each aspect of it. Everything from the registration and deposit flows to how the help a player find a game and start playing that game.

Most gaming portals (and software) display the same information, options and games for all their players. But it is now time to take gaming portals to the next level and start providing personalized content to players if you are serious about making money in egaming.

It is important for gaming operators to find out why their players play. People play online for different reasons, ranging from wanting to win the big jackpot, relax after work or be recognized as a good player. 

However to be able to provide personalized content to different players, operators require tools that can track the complete gaming behaviour of their players. And this can be difficult, as gaming operators often use many different software providers that often store player data across their own systems.

The solution to this problem is target group analysis and the creation of abstract ‘personas’ which represent the goals and behaviours for each of a real group of players.

A player can then be matched to one of those personas based on the gaming history, and the portal (and software) show content relevant to each persona.

Getting this right is a more complex process than the formula presented at the start of this blog post. But by personalising the player experience you will increase brand loyalty, increase retention - and make more money.

Thoughts? EGR welcomes pitches for blog posts of 250-350 words on topical issues in egaming. Email online editor Jon Parker for details.

Thoughts? EGR welcomes pitches for blog posts of 300-400 words on topical issues in egaming. Email deputy editor Stephen Carter for details.

Posted: 10/12/2009