A life beyond free bets

As the new football season gets underway, Julian Rogers looks at the creative ways in which operators are attempting to acquire long-term customers and stand out from the competition

After a three-month domestic football famine, the commencement of a new season is a cause for excitement, anticipation – and sometimes trepidation – among most fans. For betting operators, however, July and August is when their well-oiled marketing machines spark into overdrive in a bid to sign up as many new customers as possible and increase overall revenue.

As usual, all the major sportsbooks have been loudly trumpeting their welcome bonuses, price boosts and other eye-catching promotions, creating a bewildering array of offers and concessions to woo punters. In fact, Ed Nicholson, head of UK marketing operations at Unibet, says customers are truly spoiled for choice. “There are so many offers out there – to quote Harold MacMillan: ‘Most of our people have never had it so good’.”

Naturally, this perennial battle for the punters’ pound creates a fiercely competitive marketplace, especially in the UK, which is feeling the effects of increased consolidation and the Point of Consumption (PoC) tax. “The start of the season is a pretty chaotic time of year with all bookmakers laying out their stalls and trying to out-compete each other,” says Boylesports’ commercial director Brendan Hughes. “Our approach is to carefully plan the season based on analysis of customer behaviours and push out our own strong proposition regardless of what others might or might not do.”

Snagging a customer on the eve of a new season can make all the difference when it comes to that user’s LTV, according to Ladbrokes spokesman Alex Donohue. “We know that the customer who gets a new app on their phone on the first day of the season is likely to stick around if they have a good experience,” he says. “It’s also a time when dormant customers may become active again or people may try a new bookmaker for similar reasons, so it’s definitely one of our busier acquisition periods. That said, it’s one thing getting the customers, but keeping them is something else. Our efforts will be in vain unless people stay loyal.”

Indeed, a customer may sign up to a particular bookmaker and place a few outright bets on the upcoming season and not log in again until May, either to collect their winnings or place another wager. Instead of attracting once-a-year customers, firms want habitual online bettors and depositors, which is where product comes into play, none more so than on mobile. You can have the most spectacular offer out there but if the UX – particularly registration, deposit process and navigation – is lousy then would-be customers may abandon placing that initial bet altogether. Nicholson says: “Price and promotion remain key factors in acquiring and retaining customers, however product offering and product reliability are very important – something that very often gets forgotten by marketers and operators.”

A free lunch
Free bet promotions continue to be important weapons in a marketing chief’s arsenal. Everyone loves to get something for free but these types of bets often come with a multitude of T&Cs, many of which can confuse and frustrate customers. Indeed, a number of gambling firms have had their knuckles rapped over misleading free bet offers in the past. So are customers less receptive nowadays to these ubiquitous free bet promotions?

William Hill’s Joe Crilly doesn’t think so. “Free bets and welcome offers are still very relevant and a tool that William Hill will continue to use to add value for our customers,” he says. Meanwhile, Nicholson chimes: “Customers are never going to be disinterested in getting a free bet. I wouldn’t be either, but I understand what you mean.”

For the second season running, Paddy Power is offering customers a free bet every time the player they’ve backed to be the Premier League’s top scorer finds the back of the net. An incentive like this is a handy way of coaxing clients back to the website and app to collect the free wager, albeit £2. For instance, those who backed Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero at 4/1 to be the top flight’s leading scorer last season received 26 separate free bets from the Irish bookmaker.

Another favoured offer touted by operators is the money-back concession, such as bet365’s long established ‘bore draw money back offer’ on certain markets if the match finishes goalless. Similarly, ‘acca insurance’ for multi-leg bets is provided by the likes of Coral, Betfair and William Hill – the latter crediting customer accounts with over £10m in free bets last season. Football accumulators have always been a cash cow for operators so this heavily promoted concession is sure to appeal once again this season to the casual, weekend bettors.

Before the season kicked off, a handful of operators were also promoting significantly inflated odds on any of the Premier League protagonists clinching the title. Yet Nicholson says Unibet’s analysis suggests customers prefer “instant reward” rather than having to wait nine months to get their hands on the enhanced payout. For instance, Unibet’s ‘90+ cashback’ – now in its third season – refunds losing bets up to £50 on certain markets when a goal is scored after the 90th minute. Last season this offer led to Unibet refunding customers in 40 of the 380 Premier League matches and 16 of the 125 Champions League encounters. “No wonder it was popular,” says Nicholson.

Eyes on the prize
William Hill has devised arguably the most attention-grabbing and novel promotion with its £50m Prem Predictor competition. For £2 (maximum of 250 entries per person), players have to predict the finishing positions of all 20 Premier League clubs in order to scoop the whopping £50m jackpot. There is also a £100,000 consolation prize should it not be won and another £100,000 awarded to the entrant nearest at Christmas.

“The idea was generated to encapsulate the buzz that these conversations create and offer our customers the opportunity to involve themselves in it,” Crilly explains. “Rather than discussing who will finish where, punters can put their money where their mouth is and have a go at actually predicting it and winning some cash while they’re at it.”

William Hill isn’t taking any chances and has insured the bet for the full £50m just in case a customer defies the odds to land the prize. However, if all teams were of equal ability, the odds of predicting the correct finishing positions for the 20 sides is around 2.5 quintillion to one. Based on the clubs’ prices to win the Premier League, the Racing Post’s resident statistician Kevin Pullein was quoted as saying the odds are still roughly a trillion to one. The insurance company’s bosses can probably sleep soundly in their beds.

Prem Predictor, which has its own dedicated iOS app, has so far been a stellar acquisition and client engagement tool. “We have been surprised by the level of early interest as we expected the majority of people to wait until the season has started before making their entries,” Crilly explains. “We expect interest to grow exponentially as more signings are made and the season gets underway, while people who have already entered can enter again if they change their mind.”

It will be interesting to discover what impact this bet has on customer acquisitions and the company’s bottom line. Indeed, we could see other leading operators follow suit with similar prediction-based bets for Euro 2016 or next football season. Either way, trying something different like this is vital if an operator wants to be noticed above the cacophony of head-turning promotions at this time of year.

“There is more promotional material around than ever before,” says Ladbrokes’ Donohue. “But that still means the punchiest offers will cut through well as they are no longer a novelty any more, while the most bland will remain wallpaper.” Moreover, users often have to have trust in a betting brand before they will acknowledge an offer and register and deposit, Nicholson emphasises. “Offers remain key, but getting customers to buy into the brand and what it stands for is imperative.”