When you’re attracting players for your online gambling business or casino, iGaming bonuses are a key draw. They’re also the single most easy tool for driving up user acquisition numbers.
Given these facts, many campaigns run for bringing on new players employees the use of sign-up bonuses.
However, this isn’t as easy as it looks. Bonuses invite certain types of players and situations, which ultimately erode intended outcomes, and simply drive up marketing costs. Some of the key shortcomings of such campaigns are visible through metrics like:
- High CTR
- Poor deposit quality
- High number of withdrawals
- Increase in low value play , and so on.
The use of this ploy in attracting players also invites the specific problem of bonus abuse — a subset of iGaming fraud, which causes financial harm to operators, brands and networks.
However, it isn’t all gloom and doom where bonuses are concerned in iGaming. Structuring campaigns correctly can lead to great outcomes. This is why they’re still relevant in the industry.
Let’s understand how to do this by looking into ‘who’ is usually swayed by this type of promotion.
Understanding Bonus Intent Across User Journeys
Not all those who seek bonuses are the same. There are clear variations visible, based on the stage they are at.
A simple variation here could exist between someone who has clicked out of curiosity, and someone who has clicked because they’re deposit-ready, and only needed this one push to engage with your platform.
The former is likely to be in the top half of the funnel, while the latter is probably closer to the bottom. You actual audience here, i.e., the one you were aiming for is the latter — conversion and intent-ready to spend money.
How to Channel Intent?
Now, if intent is the driving factor behind making iGaming bonuses count, then intent needs to be identified clearly, and harvested for the purposes of ROI.
One of the ways in which a person can show their propensity for action, is through the kind of things they are searching for. Consider these two distinct queries:
“best casino welcome bonus today” versus “better bonus crash vs lottery games”
The first one is looking for a specific type of bonus, which can be used in an online casino and is relevant for the given day. This person is ready to play and wants to invest in a platform that is providing a bonus for engagement.
The second one is considering two options. They know bonuses exist in online casinos but they’re not sure what they want to do with it. That’s why they are looking for more information on bonuses for two varying types of engagements available on operator platforms.
The above demonstrated example shows just one of the many ways in which intent can be sorted across cohorts of potential players. Only the most relevant, and the most ready ones deliver business impact in online gambling.
Types of Bonuses
iGaming bonuses can be structured on many lines. The key types are listed below.
Welcome or First Deposit Bonus
The type of bonus most prone to getting abused since all it takes to come into effect is registering on the platform. It is best suited for low volume, controlled campaigns to ensure the bonus isn’t being exploited by bonus chasers.
Free Spins or No-Deposit Bonus
When you don’t have to deposit any money to get a bonus, it proves to be rather expensive for the business. However, this type of bonus is effective in the discovery phase, when players are exploring between platforms and land on yours. It allows you to provide them a demo at a cost — to secure an eventual conversion.
Cashback or Loyalty Bonus
Repeat players deserve rewards for continued engagement too. That’s where this bonus comes into play. It is critical for reactivation campaigns and helpful in reengaging lost or recently disengaged players.
The Ideal Campaign Structure
Separate Campaigns by Bonus Type
The online gambling bonus types are set up in accordance with a pre-decided end goal. One type of bonus can affect only a certain type of behaviour.
If you’re trying to use multiple iGaming bonuses in a single campaign, it is unlikely to work. Additionally, this format may result in confusions on ROI and high CPA.
To clearly identify a cause-effect relationship between bonus type and outcome, no more than one bonus type should be used in a single campaign. If more than one bonus is to be given, multiple campaigns need to be run.
Segment by Funnel Stage
When you use only one bonus across various stages of the marketing funnel, the results are going to look equally confused. Signal clarity leads to better return on investment in this case, which means there needs to be one campaign synced to one funnel stage only.
If you’re targeting users across various stages, you’ll need multiple campaigns.
Split by Platform and Format
Social, search, display ad and affiliate traffic behave differently. This means you will need to test for the type of bonus that can be applied for a given audience at a given point in time.
Someone viewing a social media ad may prefer to click on a link but click away if too many steps are involved in redemption. Yet, someone who comes through search is driving the gambling behavior, and won’t be deterred by a lengthy sign-up form since they have come mentally prepared for it.
To optimize this type of advertising further, you can rely on real-time bidding that offers better outcomes in the case of DSP-served ads.
Creative and Messaging Strategy
Offer stacking leads to only one thing: confusion. Users aren’t impressed by a variety of iGaming bonuses offered if they’re primed for engagement in the first place.
One bonus per creative ensures your marketing message gets delivered clearly, and lands as intended, without any misunderstandings.
Additionally, depending on the user stage, clear wagering terms need to be set. Are there any terms and conditions that come with the bonus? Let the users know clearly through the ad copy and the landing page.
For those using mobiles and handheld devices, creatives need to be clear across device sizes and ad formats. Mobile-first users will also need scroll-stopping, visually catchy ads and creatives that break the pattern and trigger action.
Moreover, trust and regulatory messaging play a big role in driving bonus-related conversions since it is a key pull device used by grey market actors too. When players know they can engage safely, they’re likely to wager more and reengage often.
Summing Up
The reason why iGaming bonuses succeed or fail isn’t the size of the bonus. Instead, it is the manner in which the campaign is framed.
Of course, this is also not a one-time measure. Campaigns need to be designed by isolating bonus types, platforms and formats for various geos. Then this entire set of variables needs to be A/B tested to arrive at effective outcomes.
Only when your offers match intent signals and reach users at the right stage, will they start leading to better CPAs and more players.
