Member Article

Winning big despite the 3 Rs: Recession, Rising Costs, and Regulation

In the world of gaming and gambling, navigating the emerging trifecta of recession, surging costs, and increasing regulation is proving to be a formidable challenge, even for the industry’s heavyweights. Traditional revenue streams are under threat, and the need for innovation has never been more critical. Stagnation is not an option. However, for ambitious organisations this presents a clear opportunity: companies who rise above the status quo through iterative incremental gains can’t fail to be differentiated.

In an era where every percentage point can tip the scales in your favor, optimisation of digital extends beyond mere efficiency; it is a strategic imperative and the creation of a culture of experimentation is a good place to start.

Culture of Experimentation Given that change is constant, the ability to adapt and innovate becomes a competitive advantage. Companies that foster a culture of experimentation are better equipped to identify what works and what doesn’t, allowing them to refine their strategies continuously. This is crucial because it allows for continuous learning and improvement. By encouraging employees to explore new ideas, test hypotheses, and learn from failures, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changing market conditions.

Entain - from testing… Having worked with Entain for over 5 years, we know that “just doing it”, or getting experiments out the door is just the starting point. Through our partnership with them we went on the journey together, it started by getting the attention of the business through increasing velocity but very importantly getting some headline winning results.

One set of notable experiments was testing if they could innovate on the traditional registration form to boost mobile registrations for Foxy Bingo. Replacing the conventional with the counterintuitive more communication driven approach was a paradigm shift. It effectively meant taking a three step form and turning it into a 15 step series of questions and answers. WHAT? Yes, you read it right - it went against all the thousands of experiments we had run before. But the timing in the market seemed right due to the increase of mobile screens and use of chat applications. Research from customers suggested a new approach was needed, even when all previous experiments of this kind had failed. .

We conducted a series of experiments, the first of which bombed on overall conversion. But, and it’s a big one - it delivered a key insight. And this is one of the morals of our story - learn to love your failing tests… you never know what you’ll get from them. But back to the test - it showed us that if you could engage people in the conversation the dropoff through the conversation was non-existent. So starting a conversation was the aim. Once we found the optimal questions to start the registration process the rest, as they say, is history. We achieved a 5.7% increase in mobile registrations and a 30% reduction in time spent filling out forms. As a result, Entain went on to apply the learnings across all of its sports and casino brands internationally and are continuing to reap the rewards.

…to continuous improvement This activity led Entain to question how to change the culture of release through validated learning. We knew that working as a third party, we would never be able to satisfy the overall needs of a technology business. So it became clear we had to support Entain to run this themselves. We used interactive, action-oriented training to help Entain’s in-house optimisation team build experiments faster. By training the team in multiple optimisation platforms such as Oracle Maxymiser and Adobe Target, the output ramped up as new markets opened.

As time went on, Entain became increasingly capable of operating independently. We provided them with the LeanConvert framework and processes to stay organised and informed, using Impact Mapping for enhanced program management with clear, trackable objectives. We worked with the team to monitor the health of their optimisation program, making sure that tests were live, metrics were firing, errors were accounted for, and so on. This ensured that all tests were trustworthy with actionable results during thousands upon thousands of experiences and ultimately led to agility and increased velocity. Commenting on the impact of the culture shift Stefan Kalcher head of Analytics and Optimisation said: “Our industry is fueled by innovation–it’s all about simplification and optimisation of journeys and experiences. LeanConvert supported us to test and learn at a pace that got us ahead-of-the-curve. The tests and iterations delivered powerful statistical results, but the real power was the outcome of now outlearning our competition.”

Ultimately, the digital landscape serves as a battleground for differentiation through experimentation. Organisations embracing a culture of experimentation are better placed to navigate challenges in the macroenvironment. And adding an extra layer of personalisation acts as a force multiplier. Read our next article to find out why and how!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lean Convert .