Looking ahead, I believe gamification will play
JON BOWDEN Chief Marketing Officer PlayStar
As operators across North America compete for their share of what is already a highly saturated market in regulated states like New Jersey, I believe one of the main ways that they can help their brand stand out and increase their player retention is through smarter adoption of gamification.
Speaking from PlayStar’s perspective, the rise in popularity of gamification has been a real game-changer for us – and as the team and I have mainly come from regulated markets in the UK and Europe where gamification is absolutely everywhere, we’re fully aware of the impact it can have; especially among recreational players, who sometimes need a little more to keep them engaged.
At PlayStar we also look to ensure things feel familiar and personalised through localisation. As we're currently only live in the Garden State we look to activate PlayStar in a way that feels familiar to our patrons in New Jersey. A great example of this where we've also used gamification to enhance player experience is in our Star Rewards loyalty scheme. Patrons get a stamp on their digital stamp card through multiple deposits to then get local discounts on meals out, days out or even their morning coffee.
When looking to introduce gamification features to their offering, I think an operator’s primary goal should be to always make them as simple and intuitive as possible. At PlayStar, we tend to use very straightforward mechanics that really promote the feel of winnability – and for that reason, a huge portion of our gamification features give users the prospect of a guaranteed prize.
Whether it be a real-time scratch card that pops up on log-in or the field goal kick promotion that we use to celebrate the Super Bowl, we look to ensure that our gamification features are both super engaging and incredibly clear in terms of what players need to do in order to participate. Tis way, not only can we attract new players with the promise of guaranteed rewards, but we can also retain them beyond the welcome
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an even greater role as the U.S. iGaming market matures and operators shift their focus from acquisition to long-term retention. Engaged players who frequently interact with our platform are the backbone of sustainable
growth, and gamification is a powerful tool in ensuring they stay entertained and invested in their experience for the long haul.
bonus by frequently offering new and exciting content.
In addition to that, one of the main ways that PlayStar has differentiated itself from the majority of the New Jersey market is that we’ve made a real effort to include gamification across all touch points of our business. It’s a part of our onboarding, our CRM journeys, our headline promotions and our loyalty scheme, so pretty much everything we do has a further gamification aspect to it.
Having said that, there’s more to deploying gamification features successfully than just throwing them out there and hoping that players respond. I think one of the main ways that operators can ensure their gamification efforts hit home is to pay attention to what’s popular in the markets that they operate in and come up with ways to localise their promotions accordingly.
To give you an example of how PlayStar has gone about this, we have a daily free to play game “Star Pucks” which we re- branded in launch with our sponsorship with the New Jersey Devils. which drove an increase in 18 per cent in actives on the game. We also activated the sponsorship through other types of gamification such as our IceStar Shootout where players had to score hockey goals to win point for New Jersey Devils tickets.
Our players and especially VIPs love this game, and we doubled average revenue per user during the promotion periods. We get a lot of feedback from out customers how they love to win tickets to events, and experiential prizes so adding
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