Payment methods as your strongest retention tool
The assortment and convenience of payment methods are one of the first things website visitors look at when it comes to online gambling. Every casino operator strives to offer the best user experience and capture player's attention, this is clearly on the marketing and retention departments. Retention is actually the primary growth area for any business. It's a well-known fact that product generates revenue primarily from retained users who consistently return, rather than first-time customers.
To build up the base of a loyal audience online casino resorts to various mechanics. Among them are bonuses and tournaments designed to heat the excitement of players in competition with other users of the platform. At the same time, payment methods are often overlooked in this regard, and those who are first introducing new mechanisms tend to succeed. Making a deposit is an integral part of the gaming process and if managed correctly, it can cause both excitement and positive emotions, without negative experience from the initial need to spend money. How to manipulate this impression? We will understand this in today's article.
Retention and payments — what they have in common
Let's start with the most important thing: actually, what may payment systems and brand retention have in common? Actually, quite a lot, if you consider these processes together, and not separately from each other. Users make deposits every day, thus interacting with the platform. This is exactly what retention seeks to achieve — daily and most importantly effective interaction.
We, at Monoup, see payment systems as another touch point with the brand and one of the most important, it has to be said, in gambling. You can't reduce the deposit process to a machine debiting a player's card, because that's not what a successful business needs. "So, what does it need?" — you ask. In this case, the primary goal for a gambling project is to create a positive user experience for each player, which is impossible without a clear and efficient payment process. If a player feels irritated and has to go through numerous complicated steps every time they make a deposit, it will significantly lower level of satisfaction and enjoyment of the game. Therefore, we recommend working in two directions: to develop bonuses and promotions directly related to the payment process, and to deal with UI/UX and payment flow permanently.
Payment method promotions: mechanics and effectiveness
Among the main mechanics of promotions, bonuses for using a payment method are the most popular. For example, a 100% deposit bonus when paying via bank transfer. Thus, users who made a deposit using the bank transfer payment method will receive x2 of the deposited amount on their balance.
At the same time, conditions may be more complex and depend on the amount, level of the player (e.g., only for VIP players), apply only on special days (weekends or once a week, for example) or periods, depending on various factors of the player's activity on the platform. More favorable conditions for depositing a particular payment method (and the bonus is a definite benefit) can motivate players to use it. And this in turn can have a different effect on business of the casino operator. For example, in this way you can reduce the cost of processing payments — if you provide bonus terms for more favorable for the operator payment methods in terms of price. The main thing is to make quality calculations and not forget that bonuses is also an expense, which you must be able to manage competently and eventually come out with positive margin.
For long-term retention players’ bonuses on particular payment method can be an interesting tool to increase loyalty. And also, an option to stand out among other brands that do not hold such promotions. After all, it is known that the range of promotional mechanics is quite organic in the world of online gambling and confident manoeuvring in between of the same tools — means high skills and ability to create an engaging atmosphere. Payment methods are a must-have because, without a well-established payment infrastructure, you can't have a successful project. But in addition to placing payment methods on the site, it is important to customize the work with them so that they bring benefits in all directions.
Convenient payment process and positive experience of payment is also a strong retention method. As mentioned earlier, the process of making deposit or withdrawals is something users encounter daily, even multiple times a day. If it's difficult to navigate and understand, there's a high likelihood that users will switch to a more convenient platform.
How do you retain users with payment methods? Make them intuitive, fast-working, and convenient.
Working on the design and payment flow is central to building a project's payment ecosystem as soon as payment systems are connected. In the gaming business, a lot depends on the mood of the player, which means that it is not in the gambling operator's favor to negatively affect him with payment difficulties.
How to start working on UI/UX of payment methods
Before any efforts to improve the payment content of your product you should analyse the target audience and understand what payment methods and currencies your users prefer. This will depend on the country of operation and local payment habits. If a business operates in many countries, such a procedure may seem complicated and unnecessary, because "everything is roughly the same everywhere". But this is where the main mistake of startups lies — to evaluate all users on the same scale. Payment habits in China and Europe differ so much that it's hard to believe they are on the same planet. Such an analysis will allow you to better understand your audience and emphasise the most popular and in-demand payment methods.
When payment systems are connected and the portfolio of methods is formed, during the integration and planning phase, it is also important to pay attention at the design and layout of buttons and payment forms on your website. Besides the fact that they should be easily accessible and clearly visible to users, as well as match the overall design of your project, their sequence should be logical. Popular methods are first, the remaining ones are next. In addition, you should provide for a maximum number of different user behavior scenarios. This will help to foresee problems that may arise in these cases and think through their solutions in advance. For example, if you have to enter a phone number to make a payment, you should implement the possibility of saving the number after entering it once for all subsequent payments. Or it can be transmitted via API to the payment system without the player having to manually enter the data if, for example, it is collected at the registration stage. It is worth considering the possibility of saving card or wallet data for future payments, as well as implementing a system of quick and easy payment cancelation. Depending on the type of payment method and its working principle, there may be many such nuances, and the task of specialists is to identify them and turn them to the benefit of the business.
Working on the UI/UX of payment methods is a continuous process. It is necessary to regularly test and analyze the results, as well as make changes and improvements. This will allow you to constantly increase conversion rates and not sag due to factors that can be fixed before they occur. Payment approval ratio depends not only on the quality of the payment gateway you use, but also on how you use it. The combination of factors gives the final result in the form of a payment approval rate. Therefore, you need to manage this indicator from several angles as well.
All this will help to increase the income of the game project, as well as maximize user loyalty and satisfaction. This is the goal that is achieved by the retention of any online casino. And payment systems can significantly help, rather than being an obstacle on this path. Monoup develops effective player retention systems based on the cashier of your website, improves payment flow and UI/UX. We know exactly what mistakes can cause payment declines and why approval ratios can decrease across the different markets. To order this service email us or leave a request in the form below.
