Customer Journey in Online Casinos: Analysis of the User’s Path

Experts from the Smart Money company explain how to effectively track the customer journey from banner advertising to a real bet. You will learn about the tools worth applying and the role of a modern CRM system in studying clients.

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General Information on the Term

It is the entire process of the person’s interaction with an entertainment site from the first contact (for example, clicking on a banner) to active play, deposition of funds, and repeat visits.

The customer journey includes the following main stages:

1. Attraction. The player sees an advertisement (search results, message on social networks, or the affiliate’s recommendation) and clicks on it.
2. Visiting an online casino. A client gets to the main page of the website or mobile betting application.
3. Registration. The gambler fills out a questionnaire, creates a unique profile with a password, and verifies their account.
4. First deposit. The customer makes the first payment. This stage is considered a key conversion point and an indicator of the marketing strategy’s effectiveness.
5. First game. The user selects a slot, roulette, poker, or other entertainment and places a bet.
6. Activity and repeat deposits. The frequency of replenishments depends on the degree of the audience’s involvement, participation in the loyalty program, bonuses received, and VIP status.
7. Completion of the life cycle. The person stops betting (due to going to competitors, changing their place of residence, loss of motivation, and other circumstances).

Why It Is Important to Analyse User Behaviour

Tracking the player’s path in an online casino is the key to the increase in conversions, revenue growth, and reduction of promotion costs. By studying the customer journey at each stage, operators can attract, retain, and monetise gamblers more effectively.

Marketing Campaign Optimisation

It is important for entrepreneurs to track this aspect since not all advertising channels (working with search engines, targeting, and affiliate programs) drive quality players to the site.

How customer journey analysis improves advertising:

• shows which traffic sources attract the audience with high LTV;
• helps to disable ineffective marketing campaigns that generate registrations but do not lead to making deposits;
• allows business owners to optimise their budget and invest only in those channels that produce results;
• provides an understanding of which bonuses and promotions work best.

A striking example is the efficiency comparison of different traffic sources. If the first channel generates 1,000 registrations but only 50 people place bets, it is much more profitable to invest in another solution that provides 100 deposits with 500 sign-ups.

Increase in Conversions

There are many points of failure in a customer journey:

1. The user clicked on the banner but did not register. This often indicates problems with the landing page or offer.
2. The gambler created an account but did not make a deposit. The reasons can be very different, from insufficiently attractive incentives to inconvenient payment systems.
3. The client replenishes the account once but does not play anymore. It is often associated with unfortunate experiences, an awkward UX interface, or a weak loyalty program.

Thanks to the concept, entrepreneurs can track players’ behaviour at each stage and understand why they lose interest in the platform. Studying the customer journey is also an opportunity to test different landing pages, bonus offers, and financial systems.

Increased Client Retention

User engagement requires huge costs, but it is even more expensive to lose regular casino visitors. If an entertainment portal does not track when and why people leave, its revenue will reduce.

Analysis of the players’ path allows operators to:

• segment the audience by identifying newcomers, VIP customers, bonus hunters, and “sleeping” gamers;
• create personalised offers;
• automate trigger chains (email and push notifications asking people to come back);
• create a loyalty program with well-thought-out rewards for regular and frequent deposits.

Fighting Against Fraud and Dishonest Players

Bonus hunters and multi-accounts are big problems for online casinos. Without deep analytics, operators cannot distinguish real people from scammers, record abnormal behaviour, and identify wrongdoers.

A high-quality customer journey improves an iGaming platform’s anti-fraud system, reducing losses due to dishonest users and increasing the trust of honest casino visitors.

Business Process Improvement

Those entrepreneurs who understand the concept’s advantages can automate many tasks and make their marketing campaigns more effective.

The main focus should be on studying end-to-end analytics and predicting audience behaviour.

Integration with a CRM System

Custom Relationship Management plays a key role in tracking the client journey and affecting their attitude toward the entertainment site. The service combines data from different sources, and automates promotion campaigns. It also helps increase conversion, LTV, and retention indicators.

Special software performs the following tasks:

• allocation of a unique ID number to each user;
• storage of data on deposits, incentives, bets, etc.;
• segment gamblers by traffic sources, payments, selected products, and preferences;
• tracking the real effectiveness of each advertising channel;
• identification of weaknesses in attracting and retaining clients;
• generation of multi-level reports on ROI, LTV, Retention Rate, and other parameters.

Popular CRMs for gambling platforms include such solutions as Keitaro, Affika, iGaming CRM, HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.

How to Build a Customer Journey Tracking System

Let us consider the main tools and metrics that can be used to analyse the player's lifecycle.

Configuration of Tracking Links

When launching advertising (using affiliates, Google Ads, or Facebook), each traffic source must be assigned a unique UTM tag. This will allow project owners to notice the first contact of a person with an online casino: a click on a banner, a transition via an affiliate connection, or an entry via a search query.

What information can be obtained using tracking links:

• traffic sources (Google, Telegram, and Viber);
• campaign type (banner, video, and push notification);
• a specific ad (which creative worked better).

It is possible to set up UTM tags in Google Analytics, Voluum, RedTrack, Affise, Binom, and other programs.

Interaction with iGaming Sites

After clicking on the banner ad, it is important to analyse how the client behaves on the digital platform:

• how much time they spend on the page;
• do they fill out the registration form;
• do they reach the account replenishment page.

At this stage, marketers focus on several parameters:

1. CTR (Click-Through Rate). This is the number of people who clicked on the advertising banner or affiliate link.
2. Bounce Rate. It shows the number of visitors who left without creating a profile on the entertainment portal.
3. Conversion Rate. This indicator displays the percentage of users who went from views and clicks to the target action — registration in the online casino.

The CRM system helps interact with “cold” logins. For example, the program can send an automatic letter with a welcome bonus or a push notification with an individual discount.

Registration and Verification

At this stage, the gambler enters personal data and goes through the identity verification procedure. The key task is to generate a unique ID and link it to the traffic source.

It is possible to save UTM tags using the CRM service installed in the online casino.

At the registration stage, the system records the following data:

• name, email, and phone number;
• traffic source (UTM tag);
• device and browser (mobile, desktop, iOS, Android);
• IP address (country or region).

The tool can also speed up the authentication process. This is a reminder about the need to upload documents, automatic comparison of information with KYC systems (for example, Sumsub or Onfido), and other actions.

Tracking the First Deposit and Bids

After registration, a casino visitor is asked to make the initial bet. Account replenishment can be recorded using the CRM service.

The program collects the following data:

• deposit amount;
• settlement method (bank card, cryptocurrency options, or eWallet system);
• traffic source (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, or affiliates);
• date and time of the transaction.

After the first bet, entrepreneurs need to understand whether the new player is paying real money. CRM services are also used to track it. The main attention at this stage should be paid to the size and frequency of bids, as well as the calculation of the RTP (Return to Player) coefficient.

With the help of Google BigQuery, iGaming CRM, and other tools, account replenishment and wagers can be monitored.

Postback and API for Data Transfer

To analyse clients’ actions in real time, it is advisable to use the Postback URL program. This is a server method of transmitting information that allows you to send events (registrations, deposits, or bets) directly to the advertising system.

The solution also analyses the activities of gamblers:

• the first and each subsequent account replenishment;
• bids;
• bonuses.

The use of Postback allows project owners to optimise current advertising campaigns and automatically disconnect ineffective channels. Among the program's analogues, we can highlight S2S tracking, Voluum, RedTrack, Affise, and other solutions.

The Role of AI in Tracking the Customer Journey

Key capabilities of artificial intelligence algorithms for studying players’ actions:

1. Behaviour analytics. With the help of AI, it is possible to determine when a person is going to leave the portal and offer them a reward.
2. Identification of bonus hunters and fraudsters. Programs based on the technology automatically track and, if necessary, block suspicious transactions.
3. Personalisation of offers. This includes sending recommendations (games, incentives, settlement methods, and multiplayer activities) based on the client’s preferences.

CRM services with AI elements will help quickly identify weak points in the sales funnel. If, for example, 70% of casino visitors leave after registration, then the tool easily finds the reason (this could be long verification, inconvenient payments, etc.).

The advantages of artificial intelligence also include the identification of valuable players (high rollers). The solution segments users by LTV and predicts who will bring the most profit to the entertainment site.

The Main Things about Effective Customer Journey Tracking

A CRM system is an indispensable tool for analysing the behaviour of gamblers.

Key aspects that operators need to take into account:

• Integration of the service allows entrepreneurs to automate business processes, optimise marketing campaigns, and increase the players’ retention rate. An important point is the effective fight against fraud and dishonest participants.
• The customer journey system includes several stages. These are setting up tracking links, analysing the first contact with the portal, creating a unique identifier, data transfer adjustments, and other actions.

From the Smart Money studio, you can order turnkey online casinos, White Label platforms, lottery sites, and bookmaker software.

We also offer the following useful services:

• development of slots according to individual sketches;
• connection of payment tools;
• security software integration;
• assistance in obtaining a licence;
• sale of equipment for land-based halls;
• casino promotion, and much more.

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