Email marketing for online casinos - the right strategy

The difference between email marketing and spam and regular newsletters

Spam is unauthorised mailing to purchased customer bases. In this case, no one is responsible for the target audience and their interests. In most cases, spam causes only a negative reaction from users, just like overly intrusive advertising. In the case of email marketing, you send offers to your customer base which are consented to. In other words, if your customer has indicated that they want to receive a newsletter with current news and offers, it’s marketing, and if it is being sent to random people without their consent, it’s spam.

It is a mistake to think of email marketing only in the form of a newsletter. Sending out emails is one of the many tools of email marketing, including digests, commercial offers, welcome emails and triggers. A well-designed strategy involves several tools that work together to produce the best results.

Which email strategy is right for online casinos

The most important condition for starting an email marketing campaign is to get permission from the user. There are two options here:

• in the user agreement when registering, the newsletter is a mandatory item, i.e. by default;
• there is a choice in the user agreement: either the user ticks the box and agrees to the newsletter or not.

A compulsory newsletter has one drawback – it can seem intrusive, and therefore the content and number of emails need to be calculated very precisely. If your online casino mailing list is optional, you can still attract a user who has opted out. To do this, you need to use one trick – a welcome letter that not only confirms registration on the gaming portal, but also offers to sign up for the newsletter. To keep the user interested, make them feel loyal to the portal: mention promotions, bonuses and other incentives. This will increase the chances of a reconsideration in your favour.

What information the letters should convey:

• Welcome email – this is also the welcome email when you sign up and the subscription notification. It is opened 4-5 times more often than all other emails, so it should be informative, attractive, readable and not overloaded.
• Informational Letter – a letter with some important information. It covers changes to the website, the rules, and updates. For example, it will be nice and useful for the client to know that you have updated the gaminator catalogue or decided to run a promotion..
• Digest is a short news bulletin. It is usually sent out at the end of a week, month or year. For online casinos, frequent digests pose a risk of being mistaken for spam. Optimal solution is to send them out once a quarter, six months or a year. Take stock of the casino’s achievements over this considerable period: how many new machines you have, how many new payment systems are connected, what records were set by the players or how much money was won. Numbers inspire confidence and show that you’re improving your gaming club. Users like resources that want to be relevant, especially in a highly competitive environment. 
  
• Triggers and transactions – remind the user that they have money left in their game balance (trigger) and notify them of the transaction. This makes gamblers feel secure: they like it when their financial transactions can be recorded via email.
• Direct communication – a personal letter to the user. It should be short and not overloaded with details. You are speaking directly to the user. Congratulate them on a big win, their birthday (if it’s on their profile) or any other event. Thank them for their loyalty and recommend one of your products. This will retain the user and encourage further cooperation.