S6 | 500: March Madness Special: Hyper-paced CX in the iGaming Industry with Pini Yakuel, Optimove

Digital StrategyTechnologyConversational AI
Written By Basil Ali

About the Episode

Welcome to our first March Madness episode - and in the spirit of this, today we’re going to talk about the customer journey and experience in an industry that has one of the highest velocity of transactions, yet with very little differentiation between brands. The iGaming industry, which includes sports betting and online casinos is often looked at as a commodity product/service with little differentiation between brands. Incentives, like bonuses of free money for gambling, wear out.

As we know and talk about a lot on this show, for brands to create a difference, they need to create a better user experience, deep personalization, and relevancy. Yet, with the high stakes and high volume of customer interactions, traditional retailers, financial service providers, and others can learn from marketing in the iGaming industry. 

To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome Pini Yakuel, CEO and Founder of Optimove, a platform ranked #1 by Gartner for multichannel marketing journey orchestration.

About Pini Yakuel

Pini Yakuel is the co-founder and CEO of Optimove, the first customer-led marketing platform. From its two-person launch in 2009, under Yakuel's leadership, Optimove is now a multi-million-dollar global retention marketing business with more than 450 employees. Today the company provides industry-specific and use-case solutions for hundreds of leading consumer brands, including Dollar Shave Club, BetMGM, SodaStream, The Pennsylvania Lottery, Papa John's, and Staples. 

Yakuel led the CRM industry in making a powerful fundamental shift in marketing by always starting with the customer instead of a campaign or product. Customer-led marketing has been proven to deliver brands an average increase of 33% in customer lifetime value. 

In addition, Yakuel's two decades in analytics-driven customer marketing, business consulting, and sales have enabled Optimove to become the only customer-led marketing platform powered by the combination of 1) rich historical, real-time, and predictive customer data, 2) AI-led multichannel journey orchestration, and 3) statistically credible multitouch attribution of every marketing action. 

Yakuel has an unrelenting focus on assuring that marketing campaigns deliver business results. A December 2022 independent total impact report from a leading analyst shows that Optimove significantly improved marketing effectiveness but, more importantly, delivered business results with a 10% improvement in customer retention rates and a 15% improvement in customer order value. 

Yakuel holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management from Tel Aviv University.

Resources

Synopsis

The iGaming industry, as discussed in the podcast episode, is characterized by several key factors that contribute to its unique marketing landscape. Firstly, the products within the iGaming industry, such as sports betting and online casinos, are often considered commoditized. This means that customers can easily find similar offerings across different brands, leading to intense competition for customer attention and loyalty.

Moreover, the iGaming industry experiences high-velocity interactions, especially during peak seasons like the NFL season, NBA playoffs, and events like March Madness. This high frequency of customer interactions requires brands to constantly engage with their customers through personalized and relevant messaging to stay top of mind.

Additionally, the extensive use of bonuses and promotions in the iGaming industry adds another layer of complexity to the marketing landscape. Brands offer generous bonuses and promotions to attract and retain customers, creating a competitive environment where players are constantly seeking the best deals.

Overall, these factors contribute to a sophisticated CRM marketing landscape within the iGaming industry. Marketers in this space need to leverage data, technology, and creativity to deliver personalized and engaging experiences to customers. By understanding customer preferences, behavior, and engagement patterns, iGaming brands can differentiate themselves in a crowded market and drive customer loyalty and lifetime value.

OptiMove's approach to journey orchestration involves utilizing AI-driven, customer-centric message journeys to prioritize personalized messaging based on customer behavior and preferences. This approach allows marketers to move away from traditional rule-based systems and towards a more dynamic and responsive method of engaging with customers.

In the podcast episode, Pini Yakuel, the CEO and founder of OptiMove, explains that their platform enables marketers to create campaigns and interactions that are tailored to each individual customer. By leveraging AI technology, OptiMove's platform can analyze historical data and customer interactions to determine the most relevant and effective messages to send to each customer at any given time.

This AI-driven approach to journey orchestration allows marketers to focus on creativity and ideation, rather than getting bogged down in system limitations and administrative tasks. Marketers can freely push out new ideas and campaigns, trusting the AI to prioritize and deliver the most impactful messages to each customer. This results in a more personalized and engaging customer experience, leading to higher customer satisfaction and ultimately, increased customer lifetime value.

By adopting OptiMove's customer-centric approach to journey orchestration, marketers can enhance their campaigns, improve customer engagement, and drive better results. This shift towards AI-driven, personalized messaging based on customer behavior and preferences is a key step in evolving marketing strategies to meet the demands of today's dynamic and competitive landscape.

Marketers in other industries can benefit greatly from embracing sophistication, creativity, and deeper data analysis in their campaigns to drive better customer engagement and results. Pini Yakuel, CEO and founder of OptiMove, highlighted the importance of moving away from traditional, rule-based marketing approaches towards more customer-driven and AI-mapped journey orchestration. By allowing AI to prioritize messages based on individual customer characteristics and behaviors, marketers can deliver more personalized and relevant content to their audience.

In the iGaming industry, where products are often commoditized and differentiation is challenging, sophisticated and personalized marketing strategies play a crucial role in standing out. The high velocity of customer interactions in the iGaming industry necessitates constant engagement and creative campaigns to capture and retain customers' attention. By leveraging AI to optimize message delivery and engagement, marketers can ensure that their campaigns are not only effective but also resonate with customers on a deeper level.

By adopting a customer-centric approach and utilizing advanced technologies like AI for journey orchestration, marketers in other industries can enhance their campaigns, drive better customer engagement, and ultimately achieve improved results. The key takeaway is to shift towards a more creative and data-driven mindset, focusing on delivering unique and personalized experiences that delight customers and drive long-term loyalty.

Pini Yakuel, CEO & Founder, Optimove

Basil Ali
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