Interview with Sara Gunnarsson, Onboarding & Customer Success Manager at Wiraya
For many brands, trying to win back lapsed players and standing out from the competition can be imperative. We previously discussed the importance of putting love and care into reactivation and explored 5 vital tips for operators to get players back into the game. One that really stands out is gamification, and thanks to this, brands are able to take advantage of a non-game context and combine game-design elements to surprise their customers and deliver positive emotions.
This time, we sat down with Sara Gunnarsson, Onboarding & CSM Manager at Wiraya, to discuss the advantages of using gamification in her experience to create engaging communication for customers. Sara is taking care of customers after the contract is signed. She is building the communication in our platform, and by looking at data, she makes necessary improvements to ensure the result of the communication is exceeding our customers expectations.
How would you define gamification? And can you give an example of how you’ve used it to generate unclaimed revenue for an operator?
In the competitive gaming landscape, you simply cannot compete just with your offering, hence the player experience is of great essence in order to gain your players trust and loyalty. Gamification is a playful way to interact with lapsed players and engage with them in an easy and attractive way. With the use of sound effects and music in our calls, we have helped create higher engagement and increased conversion compared to ordinary communication. By turning calls into a game or quiz, you are able to evoke positive emotions and create a fun and engaging experience for your players.
To give an example, we have used gamification for a customer in Germany with impressive results – a market that has proven to be challenging for operators to engage with players at a satisfactory level. In this case, the purpose of the communication was to reactivate 6-12 months lapsed players and get them back in the game. This is, as everyone knows, is quite a tricky segment to convert.
The goal was to convert 5% of the 10 000 contacts that were in the segment. However, we managed to convert 9.15%!!
Quick calculation; if we assume a lapsed player is worth on average €90, then we generated an additional €82 350 for the operator!!
Instead of using our calls where we for example welcome the customer, engage them in a survey, or offer them a bonus, we call to invite the customer to join a music quiz. This is engaging, creative and gives the customer the potential of winning a reward.
In the call, a soundtrack to a well known slot game was played and the customers were asked to guess which slot game the soundtrack belonged to – they answered by pressing either ‘1’ for Book of Dead or ‘2’ for Coins of Egypt.
If guessed correctly, the customer was notified directly in the call and an SMS was sent with a link to the login page where the reward was to be collected.
For the ones that got it wrong.. well, they received a little thank you for participating as well.
When you are building a communication flow with gamification, what do you keep in mind in order to maximize customer engagement?
When building a communication for lapsed players, it is important to gain their interest and engagement without them feeling forced into something. We do not know the reason why they left…so we need to treat them with a soft hand!
With gamification, we can communicate with the customer in a happy and playful way. We do not ask anything from the customers but encourage them to engage with the brand in an easy way. This will make the customer more likely to continue on to the actual game site.
If the customer has had a bad experience or other reason for leaving the brand, gamification is a great way to get them aware and interested in the brand again.
For this type of communication, it is also important to be straight to the point and easy to understand, or the customer will hang up. No brand wants that, and therefore it should be a happy and inviting call.
Why do you think your gamification communication is successful in winning back lapsed players?
Music and familiar or subtle sounds have a positive impact on humans. Unlike many other senses, sound is processed throughout the whole brain, meaning that we can use sound to trigger emotions and actions.
What makes voice and sound so powerful is its ability to evoke positive emotions, spark interest and create a faster response than if only using text or visual images. Not only does this initiate a faster response, but by adding voice to your communication, the ability to reach customers is much higher than with for example, email marketing. As seen in our Voice Report here, with the power of voice, you are able to reach around 97% of customers, which in turn, means the opportunity to connect with more of your customers on a personalised level.
By using sounds and music in a call, the customer will feel more engaged with the brand, even after the communication. It is a unique opportunity to deliver positive emotions in your interaction with players and differentiate yourself from the competition.
When developing the call into a game, there is nothing pressing that the customer needs to take a decision on.. it is just fun and playful!
And of course everyone likes to win right?
The positive emotions of winning will make the customer more likely to continue on to the company’s portal and continue interacting with the brand.
If you’re interested in learning more about using gamification in your communication flow to engage with your players in a fun and entertaining way, click here to get in touch with our team!
