Details, details, details
Apparently small changes to a casino Website can have a significant impact on player behaviour, writes Barnaby Page
W
e reported on this page a few months ago how PartyGaming had used the testing services of a firm called Maxymiser to improve
the structure and design of its Website. Now comes news of another, quantifiable success for Maxymiser’s approach, this time with the Sky Vegas online casino. Sky Vegas’s goal was to improve the
conversion rate of visitors to its site – the proportion of them that become active players there, rather than just taking a look and then wandering virtually off. To discover exactly what would entice the
greatest number of visitors into signing up and depositing money, Maxymiser used its MaxTEST multivariate tool, which serves different versions of content simultaneously to different visitors, and then measures the effects of each. It discovered for Sky Vegas that two relatively simple tweaks – amending the page layout, particularly the position of graphics, and also changing the cash incentive – would provide the biggest impetus to sign up. And after implementing these, the operator found that registrations jumped by 20 per cent. Said Sarah Merrick, Head of Acquisition for
Sky Bet: “Maxymiser’s solution has helped us to test our theories on design and layout of landing pages and registration forms in a quick and scientific way with results that cannot be questioned. Improving our conversion rate by 20 per cent allowed us to invest more heavily in our online acquisition channels, generating more new customers for the business at a lower cost.” Even if you’re not planning to use a specialist
like Maxymiser, there are important lessons here. First, every time you make a change to your
Website, try to measure the impact on traffic, turnover, length of visits, and other key
performance indicators. Second, strive as far as you can to eliminate the effects of unrelated causes – if you suddenly get a lot more visitors at the end of the month, that may be because it’s payday, not because you changed the logo. Third, try to separate out the effects of
multiple innovations. This can be tricky; sometimes you do need to overhaul lots of functionality simultaneously, or roll out a completely new look. But it’s usually possible to test in advance each major change independently. And finally, don’t underestimate the
difference that small adjustments can make. Achieving an ambitious goal in terms of Website performance does not necessarily mean radical transformation (that would be rather akin to the fallacious belief that the success of a project is directly linked to the time put into it). For proof of that, just look at the benefits Sky Vegas reaped from repositioning some graphics.
The good guys
Perhaps seeking to position itself and its members as the acceptable face of online Poker, the American Gaming Association has assembled a code of conduct for the game in anticipation of its legalisation, now believed to be imminent by many. Arguing that regulation is the only way to
protect consumers from unscrupulous operators, it says that every operator should adhere to six principles. To obtain a licence, they should “submit to
extensive background investigations of the company and key personnel”, as well as “ensure proper identification of every U.S. online Poker player”, for example through public databases, as well as geolocation and age-verification technologies.
They should “submit to regular testing and auditing of online Poker software”, to ensure that their systems play according to the rules and pay out as promised. They should “implement effective player
exclusion processes”, which means blocking out under-age consumers, residents of jurisdictions they are not permitted to serve, self-excluded individuals, cheats and law-breakers. They should “incorporate effective
responsible gaming protections on their sites”. These would include links to Websites that help problem gamblers; easy access to players’ own gaming history so that they can see whether they have lost unaffordable amounts; and provision for players to limit in advance the size of their bets, and the size or frequency of their deposits, as well as to voluntarily self-exclude. And finally, they should “implement effective anti-money-laundering procedures”. This would mean both putting protections in place within their own systems, and sharing information with other casinos.
Best of British How to differentiate yourself from the
multitude of other e-gaming operators out there is always a challenge. For a new online casino that launched for the UK market in October, the answer lay in deliberately not offering Poker or sports betting, and concentrating on classic casino standards such as Blackjack, Roulette and Baccarat as well as slots.
HarryCasino.com also makes its British
customers feel at home by operating solely in sterling, and is claimed to have “a distinctive British look and feel”, though at a glance we couldn’t see what this actually entailed beyond a broadly red-white-and- blue design theme.
NOVEMBER 2011 62
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