COMMUNICATING WITH THE MOBILE GAMBLER

Transcription

1 COMMUNICATING WITH THE MOBILE GAMBLER In partnership with

2 contents THE RISE OF MOBILE GAMBLING 3 THE MARKETING MIX 4 GETTING YOUR CUSTOMERS TO OPT-IN 5 THE MOBILE GAMBLING OPT-IN OPPORTUNITY 6 TIMING IS EVERYTHING 7 BEATING THE MOBILE LANDGRAB 8 AROUND THE UK: MOBILE GAMBLING OPT-INS BY NUMBERS 9 SEGMENTING BY AGE 10 CONCLUSION 10 THE UK MOBILE GAMBLING OPT-IN LANDSCAPE 11 A CLOSER LOOK AT OPT-INS IN: LONDON 12 A CLOSER LOOK AT OPT-INS IN: GRANADA 12 ABOUT TEXTLOCAL 13 ABOUT MOBILESQUARED 13 METHODOLOGY 14 introduction In June we released an extensive piece of research into the behaviours and needs of the UK s mobile user, in the form of a white book called The Mobile Customer Experience Report. We ve spoken to 2,000 UK mobile consumers, we ve analysed the UK mobile market, and we have surveyed a broad sample of businesses (330) of all sizes, quizzing them all on every aspect of mobile marketing. The results revealed are not only fascinating, but in some instances, mind-blowing. Messaging may not have the sex appeal of video for some campaigns, but it has the reach, relevance, targeting and immediacy that no other channel can come close to challenging. It is the most effective marketing medium by far, and therefore the most compelling. The Mobile Customer Experience Report looks at the mobile messaging marketing opt-in opportunity for 13 sectors, ranging from retail, recruitment, entertainment and travel. In this white paper, we specifically focus on the gambling sector and how gambling companies can use an opt-in database to drive ROI. 2

3 the rise of mobile gambling In August 2013, a man won 1.5 million playing slot machine Melon Madness on his iphone. The jackpot win is the largest ever pay-out on a mobile device, and is undoubtedly a sign of things to come as the number of mobile gamblers in the UK maintains its upward trajectory. We are constantly reminded of the growing appeal of mobile gambling on our TV screens, where virtually every other advertisement has been placed by a gambling company encouraging users to either download their app or promoting the latest odds. It is almost impossible to watch sport in the UK and not be confronted by Ray Winstone s unmistakable features during the commercial breaks encouraging viewers to get your mobiles out and place a bet using the latest live inplay odds. Dual screening using a second device while watching TV has become a critical element in in-play sports betting. As this white paper will demonstrate, it s not only about the in-play, but also the opt-in. Research into TV consumption habits in the UK by Nielsen reveals that 40% of smartphone users and 41% of tablet users use their device while watching TV. In the UK, there are 4.5 million smartphone users 1 using their device to gamble, and one of the main attractions of using the mobile device is its real-time gambling functionality of in-play. Clearly, a captive sports audience watching Super Sunday on one of the UK s dedicated sports channels is the ideal opportunity to communicate the latest odds and attract real-time bets regardless of their location. That is not to say people will stop placing bets over-thecounter. Trade via Bookies in 2011 generated revenues of 1.48 billion, but with 9 million people gambling online coupled with the rise of mobile devices, and its fair to say that the UK gambling landscape is undergoing its greatest ever transformation. Communicating with your customers Traditionally, when over-thecounter was the only way to place a bet, a bookie could talk directly to his customers. Today, gamblers are encouraged to visit an app or mobile site and website by aggressive ad campaigns conveying the latest deals and odds. But with the UK s gambling community becoming increasingly fragmented, how can gambling companies communicate with their customers when the punter is away from the TV in a place where Ray Winstone s dulcet tones will not permeate, or not on a high street near a Bookies? Like any other industry, whether retail, entertainment or insurance, gambling companies are no different and need to communicate with their customers. The rollout of 4G across the UK, and the continued proliferation of smartphones is likely to have a big impact on the mobile gambling marketplace. Truly high-speed connectivity will provide a betterthan-wifi experience across towns and cities in the UK. Not only will 4.5 million SMartphone users Use THEIR DEVICE TO GAMBLE million iphone users in the uk million Android users in the uk million non-smartphone users in the uk 1 UK Gambling Commission Juniper Research claims 40% of online gambling is from a mobile device 3

4 il e more people be able to watch live action, and sport in particular, on their mobile devices, they will have the ubiquity and freedom to place a bet anywhere at any time. Which means that the 912 million 2 in bets placed on smartphones (and tablets) throughout 2012, is only going to increase. One of the means by which the spend will increase is by gambling companies starting to engage and interact with customers to develop a direct relationship and boost brand loyalty when they are not actively gambling. The convergence of gambling with online and mobile is allowing companies to capture customer information when they activate an account, which can be used to not only develop a more informed and targeted marketing campaign, but to communicate on a basis with the audience. SMS average response 28% 97.5% sms messages are read within 5 seconds consumers state... Direct Mail average response 2.6% only 20% of marketing s are opened and read The marketing mix Research into gambling companies across the UK revealed that their marketing mix includes TV, print, radio, outdoor, phone, , direct mail, apps, social media, website/ SEO and SMS. But these channels become significantly filtered down when it comes to consumer engagement, with the companies using website, app, Facebook, , 97.5% Twitter, sms LinkedIn only and 20% SMS, of messages all of which are fairly standard marketing channels read within for the 5 majority s of UK are businesses. By the end of 2014, 85% seconds of all businesses will opened be using and mobile as part of their marketing read mix. But not all channels are as effective as others. Companies are investing in Facebook, but our research revealed that only 5% of consumers would welcome connecting with a business on Facebook. can also deliver fantastic reach across an audience, but the average open rates are around 20%, and even then that does not guarantee when the UK Mobile internet Users 39,670,819 Mobile commerce users 27,586,131 35,833,410 Mobile advertising audience 23,009,075 29,701,199 Mobile Opt-in users 27,914,210 35,303,254 47,144,760 is opened and whether it is read. This is in stark contrast to mobile messaging, where on average 99.9% of all messages will be read, with 95% of all messages read within 3 minutes. That is one of the most compelling statistics in marketing, but SMS is often overlooked in favour of more coveted channels such as Facebook. But unlike on Facebook, customers want to hear from their favourite brands, retailers, and of course in the context of this white paper bookmakers, via their mobile phone. The gambling companies taking part in the business research all believed that mobile would become the most effective channel for them. Mobile provides a direct path to a customer, but more importantly, it provides the opportunity for a business to engage with each customer. Not surprisingly, the majority of gambling companies in the research have a mobile site, developed an app, use short Juniper Research claims 40% of online gambling is from a mobile device

5 codes, include QR codes on printed marketing material, and also have an opt-in database used for distributing messages. And this is where marketing has a significant advantage over advertising, for example. The latter is very much a pull-based model, whereas marketing is push, provided the customer has acknowledged that they want to receive brand communications on their mobile phone. Getting your customers to opt-in On mobile, this opt-in process is integral. It is of paramount importance that businesses have an opt-in mobile database, because the level of engagement compared to advertising is over 100-fold. The majority of major gambling companies in the UK have a database of over 1 million names, of which between 31%- 50% also have a mobile number, and will send at least one message to its database per week. Across the UK, the total number of mobile users that have opted-in to receive business communications stands at 27.9 million. By 2015, that number will increase to 35.3 million. These figures are on a par with the number of m-commerce users in the UK, but are obviously lower than mobile internet and app usage. Interestingly, there are more opt-in users than the mobile advertising audience ie those mobile users that acknowledge seeing an ad while browsing or using an app. Yet it is mobile advertising that is the major industry buzzword and not opt-in. The average click-through on a mobile banner advert is 0.1%. So if the goal of your mobile advertising 27.9 million users opted-in to receive mobile messages from Businesses What percentage of mobile numbers do you have on your database? businesses state... What percentage of mobile numbers do you have on your database? How often do you send mobile messages out to your database? We don t Once a year 0%-10% 11%-20% 21%-30% 21%-30% 31%-40% 41%-50% 31%-40% 51%-70% 41%-50% 71%-100% 51%-70% 71%-100% 36% 3.8% 4.9% Once every 6 months campaign is to achieve 10,000 click-throughs, the ad will need to be served 10 million times and could run for weeks. Compare this to mobile marketing, and messaging in 16.7 million opt-in users are on a Smartphone 21.2% 11.5% 7.6% 8.7% 8.7% 16.7% 25.7% 21.2% 11.5% 7.6% 8.7% 8.7% 16.7% 25.7% 8.7% Quarterly 28% 10.4% 15.3% 11.2 Once a week or more Once a month million opt-in users are on a featurephone More than once a month businesses state... particular. To ensure 10,000 people open a text message, it would need to be sent to around 10,010 recipients and read within minutes. 5

6 the mobile gambling opt-in opportunity Gambling 2,403,645 74% OF Gaming, gambling & Sports betting company opt-ins are male Total opt-ins MALE OPT-ins female OPT-ins Featurephone opt-ins Smartphone opt-ins 938,454 1,359,823 1,788, ,485 For gambling companies specifically, there are 2.5 million mobile users that will opt-in to receive communications from them today, with 74% of those users male. By the end of the forecast period (4Q2015), that figure will increase to 3 million. While the number of opt-ins will increase 21%, it is the growth of smartphones that will dominate the opt-in landscape. In 3Q13, the number of gambling opt-ins using smartphones is 59% (1.4 million) but by the end of 2015 smartphones will account for 78% of gambling opt-ins (2.31 million). Android takes up the lion s share of smartphone users throughout, rising during the forecast period from 727,222 to 1.3 million, while iphone opt-ins will increase from 297,241 to 399,097. Gambling opt-in users on other smartphones (including Windows and BlackBerry) today account for 418,987 users, and this will rise to a little under 600,000 by the end of During this period, the number of gambling opt-ins on a featurephone will drop from 910,647 to 566,559. Because featurephones lack the rich media capability of smartphones, they are often discounted from a marketing perspective. But it s worth noting that even by the end of the forecast period, there will be more gambling opt-ins on a featurephone than on an iphone. Any difference in device feature-set and capability can instantaneously be overcome by 6

7 sending a message to the entire opted-in database regardless of device. After all, it is the ubiquity and immediacy of messaging that makes it such a powerful marketing tool. What s more, according to 55% of respondents from the consumer research, the most useful message sent by a business is an SMS appointment reminder, followed by an SMS order confirmation (41%), and then a message providing offers, discounts or promotions for the recipient (38%). An interesting point to highlight is that inapp push notifications did not appeal to more than 10% of the consumer respondents. And of those 10% that had opted-in to receive in-app push notifications, only 8% had responded compared to an average SMS response rate of 28%. Clearly SMS is a more trusted form of communication than in-app push notifications. Given that all smartphone and tablet gambling activity centres around apps, communicating to these users would be more effective using SMS than in-app push notifications. It is conceivable, that using messaging as a complementary service to the app would also help drive engagement and interaction. From a gambling company s perspective the information contained in communications could be the latest odds, betting confirmation, account information, latest betting news and developments, and so on. The sending of key information or data to a customer at an appropriate time via SMS can be incredibly effective for the gambling company. Timing is everything Fifty nine percent of consumer respondents said that the most appropriate time for a business to send a message is during the week, compared to 51% over the weekend. During the week, 13% of respondents would welcome a message anytime, while 12% say that the most appropriate time to send a message is between , and a further 12% between Over the weekend, the most popular time is between The business research revealed that the majority of gambling companies mostly deliver messages to their opt-in database between 18:00-24:00. Across the broader research involving 330 businesses in the UK, less than 2% of businesses sent messages between 18:00-24:

8 When is the most appropriate time for a business to send you a mobile message? 13% 3% 12% 4% 4% weekday 12% When is the 8% most appropriate time for a business 7% to send opriate you a mobile message? send % % 1% 13% 12% 12% 12% 4% consumers state % weekday 9% 9% 15% 12% 8% weekend 7% 2% 2% 13% 4% 4% 7% 7% Anytime perspective. The consumer research revealed that 36% of respondents have opened and replied to a message from a 1% business males (40%) are more likely to respond than females (33%) while 14% have clicked on a web link in an SMS. 9% The demographic 15% most likely to click on a weblink and also forward a message is weekend the year olds. Of 2% the survey respondents, 13% 31% of consumers 4% have identified an increase in the relevance of 7% the messages they are receiving from businesses 1% over the last 12 months: 7% said that this has increased their brand loyalty, while % remain indifferent Anytime 9% towards the brand. 15% Beating the mobile land-grab And 2% it is this latter point 13% that is most 4% compelling for gambling companies today. 7% The emergence weekend When When have have you found the most you found the most When appropriate have Anytime you time time found to to send send the a most a appropriate mobile message? time to send a mobile message? of mobile gambling in the UK in recent years means there is still something of a land-grab taking place by the major players intent on becoming the main company to be featured on the customer s smartphone or tablet. Mobilesquared predicts the number of mobile users placing bets via their mobile device will overtake the 9 million online users by the end of 2014 at the latest. If a business can get both the context and timing of the message right, it can be incredibly powerful. In general, if a business was to send a relevant message, that had a use or a benefit tailored specifically to that individual, 14% of consumer respondents said that it would enhance their loyalty with the brand, and a staggering 60% claimed that it would maintain their loyalty with the brand. Driving engagement and interaction by delivering 8 Previous research by mobilesquared in 2012 highlighted that gambling opt-ins would want to receive communications from gambling companies between 10:00-12:00. This latest round of research supports this, and indicates that existing SMS practices by UK gambling companies would become more effective and drive greater levels of engagement if sent earlier in the day. It is the level of engagement and interaction that these messages are generating that is particularly compelling from a marketing businesses state % 3.1% % 5.6% 5.6% % 32% 32% Weekday Weekday Weekday % % % 1.7% % % 8.7% % Weekend Weekend Weekend % 0.7% % % 5.6% 5.6% % 48% 24% 24% Anytime 48% Anytime 24% Anytime

9 contextually relevant messages tailored to the individual is not only one key way of driving loyalty and repeat spend in a very competitive market, it could be viewed as an additional service delivered to the customer and therefore a key differentiator. consumers state... DO You interact with the mobile message from a trusted business? I have opened/replied to a mobile message from a business I have responded/clicked on a web link and gone to business website I have opened/replied to an in-app message from a business I have forwarded a mobile message/s on to friends/family 36.7% 14% 8% 8% around the uk: mobile gambling opt-ins by numbers Understanding the segmentation of the 2.4 million mobile gambling opt-ins around the UK is critical. For instance, 15% of total gambling opt-ins would like to hear from a gambling company more than once a week, 20% on a fortnightly basis, 35% once a month, and the remaining 30% not more than on a quarterly basis. However, as the business research has already highlighted, gambling companies are communicating with their database on a weekly basis. By overlaying the frequency of messages by the mobile gambling companies with the consumer research, this raises the question of whether the recipients view the messages as a service or disservice. Potentially, only 15% would welcome the weekly messages. But this is where mobile CRM plays a critical role in not only using techniques to segment the mobile database and understanding each individual opt-ins tolerance and acceptance of messages, but also preferences and ideal time to receive a message, to enhance the performance of each mobile messaging campaign. Getting the frequency (and relevance) wrong can be catastrophic from an optin perspective, but this could be overcome by applying simple best practice rules, such as an ask the audience mobile survey. Segmenting by gender By segmenting the research data a little further, we learn that 74% of the gambling opt-ins are male, which means there are 1.79 million male opt-ins and 615,485 female opt-ins. This bucks the national trend of females being more likely to optin than males. Furthermore, males are considerably more accepting of frequent communications from gambling companies than females. Nineteen percent of males would welcome weekly messages compared to 14% female, 23% of males would like fortnightly messages versus 14% of females, and 35% of males would accept a monthly message compared to 29% of females. Males clearly dominate the mobile gambling opt-in, but given figureheads such as Ray Winstone, Paddy McGuiness and Chris Kamara are used by some of the 9

10 major gambling companies, it is not surprising. But as the national research has revealed, females are more likely to opt-in, which means that females still present a great opportunity for gambling companies to expand their opt-in mobile database. Segmenting by age Breaking the research data out by age reveals that year olds (21%) are most receptive to weekly communications from gambling companies, followed by year olds (19%) and year olds (15%). When frequency of messages is on a fortnightly basis, 43% of year olds are by far the most receptive, followed by 25% of year olds and 19% of year olds. However, when the gambling communication is monthly, it is the year olds that are most interested, attracting 39%, followed mobile gambling opt-ins, as a % of demographic Weekly FortNIGHTLY MonthLY 21% 43% by 33% of year olds, and 30% of year olds. When it comes to frequency, 86% of year olds would welcome 19% 15% 25% 19% 39% 33% 30% a communication from a gambling company at least once a month. Across all other demographics, this figure was between 61% and 70%. conclusion Mobile presents a tremendous opportunity for the UK s gambling industry. And while all the talk is of smartphones, tablets and apps, when it comes to communicating with mobile gamblers, 42% of those 2.4 million customers today that are willing to opt-in to receive communications from gambling companies are still on a featurephone almost 1 million people. While the number of featurephone users will drop to around 22% by the end of 2015, it remains a sizeable audience. Messaging is the only channel that transcends the differences in mobile devices and OS platforms, and delivers a one-size-fits-all service. Looking at the mobile opportunity, this highlights that gambling companies cannot afford to focus only on smartphone and tablet users, but look at their customer base as a whole, and develop a communications strategy that drives interaction and engagement. Because SMS has a considerably higher interaction rate than in-app push notifications, messaging can complement an app and drive increased interaction, especially considering the rise of in-play betting. Provided a message is sent to the right person at the right time, regardless of their location it is the equivalent of Ray Winstone promoting the latest odds during half-time of a live football match it can be devastatingly effective. Opt-in opportunities around the UK To help provide greater insight into the mobile gambling opt-in opportunities around the UK, the following maps reveal a breakdown of selective opt-in data on a regional basis. The first map focuses on the UK, and the following two maps then zoom in to London and Granada to reveal more granular information. 10

11 the UK mobile gambling opt-in landscape STV 53,742 opt-ins in would welcome a WEEKLY COMMUNICATION 125,894 featurephones opt-ins GRANADA 281,948 50,271 opt-ins in would welcome a FORTNIGHTLY COMMUNICATION HTV 111,048 34,027 ANDROID opt-ins GRAMPIAN 28,505 12,285 opt-ins in would welcome a MONTHLY COMMUNICATION Grampian STV Border HTV West Country Tyne Tees Granada TYNE 138,365 gambling opt-ins in TEES total BORDER 13,119 opt-ins in would welcome a WEEKLY COMMUNICATION 21,206 SMARTPHONES opt-ins Yorkshire Central Carlton/ London Meridian Anglia 34,196 opt-ins in would welcome a FORTNIGHTLY COMMUNICATION Yorkshire 103, ,580 SMARTPHONES opt-ins ANGLIA 204,315 28,023 opt-ins in would welcome a WEEKLY COMMUNICATION LONDON 518, ,958 opt-ins in would welcome a WEEKLY COMMUNICATION WEST country 167,044 83,374 SMARTPHONES opt-ins MERIDIAN 282, ,814 SMARTPHONES opt-ins 11

12 a closer look at opt-ins in: london There are 50,057 iphone opt-ins in 2Q2013 There are 237,513 Total smartphones opt-ins in 2Q2013 a closer look at opt-ins in: granada There are 24,974 iphone opt-ins in 2Q2013 There are 58,152 iphone ANDROID opt-ins in 2Q2013 Carlton/ London 518,879 4Q2014 Granada 321,694 4Q ,770 2Q ,958 opt-ins in would welcome a WEEKLY COMMUNICATION 281,948 2Q ,271 opt-ins in would welcome A FORTNIGHTLY COMMUNICATION 12

13 About Textlocal have always been at the forefront of business mobile communications and helps over 100,000 businesses across the UK create and execute the most effective marketing service that money can buy. Our award-winning platform, Messenger, sends millions of messages each month. We have an incredible array of customers from major corporations, charities and football teams, to local businesses. And, our price promise means best value every time. We dominate the Food & Drink space as well as Travel & Entertainment, Gambling, Utilities, Retail and Financial Services, but we never lose sight of the small businesses which our business was built on. Our platform services any business of any size. Our technology team likes nothing more than innovating and developing tools that are optimised for the delivery of business messages to every phone, whether smartphone or a featurephone. That makes mobile messaging not only ubiquitous, but the most powerful marketing channel available to a business. Messenger is totally flexible and can be moulded and developed to suit the needs and desires of our customers. As you would expect from an industry-leading platform, it is feature-rich and enables businesses to communicate with their customer by: Connecting to CRM applications and systems via API Sending & receiving SMS Sending attachments, documents, Images, video & brochure messaging Incorporating short codes and keywords Creating mobile web pages and sites Sending vouchers and ticketing Distributing mobile optimised surveys & data capture forms The beauty of Messenger is that it is so simple to use and you can easily connect your CRM systems via our Application Programming Interface(API). It is an online platform so there s no software to download, it takes a matter of minutes to set up a Messenger account and it will be ready with free text credits straight away. With round the clock support and account management getting started couldn t be easier. mobilesquared is the best provider of intelligence and insight on the mobile sector. We excel at conducting dynamic research and writing amazing copy. Our core team of journalists-turned-analysts have been covering the mobile space since phones were like bricks, and this experience allows us to analyse and strategise our findings, and transform into outstanding reports for clients, whether for internal use (e.g. market positioning) or external (e.g. white papers, quarterly publications), even presentations. And because we re small, we re flexible, completely independent, and very cost-effective. Learn more about how we can help you by paying our site a visit

14 Methodology All data and forecasts quoted in this report are by mobilesquared (mobilesquared.co.uk) unless stated otherwise. The national primary consumer research has been supplemented by secondary and tertiary data/information supplied by mobilesquared s ongoing market research the company has been tracking, measuring and forecasting the UK mobile market since The quantitative research involved an online panel survey of 2,000 people, who were quizzed about their propensity to interact with businesses via their mobile device. By surveying 2,000 people, the data is nationally and regionally representative by ITV regions. This means mobilesquared could apply the results to its proprietary Mobile Consumer Trends Platform and forecasting model to reveal a national breakdown of responses across the UK, broken out by ITV regions, device/os type, gender, demographic, and socio-economic segmentation. The consumer research was conducted by Lightspeed Research (lightspeedresearch.com) between March and April All panelists join through a double opt-in registration process and participate in profile surveys covering a wide range of topics in key vertical markets. Timely profiling data is consistently updated. Potential panelists must pass through a series of real-time, technologydriven verification checks during registration before they may join the panels. During surveys, panelists pass through quality checks to ensure they are fully engaged. 14

15 Aldford house, Bell Meadow Bus. Park, Pulford, Chester, CH4 9EP Malvern Hills Science Park, Geraldine Road, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 3SZ Copyright Textlocal All rights reserved No part of the materials including graphics or logos, available in this publication or online may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without specific permission. Distribution for commercial purposes is prohibited. 15