When people talk about successful business areas over the last few years, only a few have a 100% success record. Recessions, the cost of living crisis, world events, and pandemic lockdowns have all taken their toll on almost every industry. But there is one that has thrived.
Sports betting has always been a successful sector, but the 2018 decision by the US Supreme Court to revoke the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) revolutionized the industry and effectively gave individual states legal control over betting. In the years that have followed, gambling has become very much part of the mainstream in the US and a rare success story.
One reason is that online sportsbooks like BetOnline are masters at marketing and use their websites to their advantage. Although sports betting and gambling may be a million miles away from many other business sectors, some lessons can be learned from how they market themselves and present their websites to customers and potential customers.
New Customers
For any business to be successful, it will need to be good at attracting new customers. That is how businesses grow and how larger profits are made. Sports betting sites are better than anyone else. One of the main ways that they do that is incentivization.
Not all businesses and websites can offer welcome bonuses and “freebies” in exchange for new customs – especially not in the same way that betting operators can. However, almost all kinds of businesses can offer some incentive to potential customers. They need to work out what a visitor to their site wants.
Looking After Customers
Attracting new customers is all very well, but there is an old business adage that says keeping a loyal customer is cheaper. Any serious company should be willing to spend money to make money, but the concept of ensuring existing customers are happy is ingrained in the sports betting business model.
This can be done in the form of further incentives, of course. However, betting sites will also put a lot of faith in their customer support teams’ ability to alleviate unhappy customer account holders and provide help beyond the call of duty. You should be fine if you can keep your customer base loyal and happy.
Range of Payment Options
How often have you used an online site where you are more than happy to make a purchase but then are let down by the poor range of payment options available? We’d be willing to bet (as it were) that you will never have experienced that using a sports betting site.
Sportsbooks excel in offering the widest range of payment methods to their customers. Debit and credit cards are commonplace everywhere – but a betting site will routinely do business with e-wallets, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Skrill, and even all the latest cryptocurrencies—anything to ensure they don’t lose the customer.
Device Optimization
Most businesses will know that people use many devices to access online information. But far too many still don’t ensure their sites are optimized for the different screen sizes and shapes. Mobile optimization is a necessity now.
As most people use their mobile phones to go online, not optimizing content to fit in with people’s lives is a surefire way to lose users and customers. Having a mobile app for your business is possibly the most important way of dealing with this issue. Modern society lives on apps, and businesses must be part of that.
Simplification
If you visit any sports betting site, you will be amazed at how much information is offered and conveyed on the homepage. Part of that incredulity will come from the fact that online sportsbooks also pride themselves on ease of use and simplicity of design.
Most business sectors won’t even need to include as much information on their pages and screens as these betting sites. However, there are still far too many poorly designed sites, which causes information overload and loss of customers. Spending money on well-designed, simple-to-use websites is a good investment.
Marketing Genius
Sports betting is one of the most competitive sectors out there. So, individual sportsbooks need a way to stand out from the crowd. Although brand loyalty does come into play, marketing expertise is required to stay successful. Sportsbooks are masters at this.
As with the bonuses and incentives we discussed earlier, many businesses cannot directly copy the marketing strategies of sportsbooks, but thorough research into customers and how to market to them is vital. In today’s online environment, a high level of marketing know-how is a definite prerequisite.
Conclusion
It will be interesting to see whether the US betting model can be sustainable in the long run. We are still at an important stage in its legal history, and there may be downturns ahead. But, if the global gambling industry is anything to go by, its success should be maintained.
Much of that success comes down to how sportsbooks present themselves and their marketing. Just because your business has no connection to sports or sports betting, that doesn’t mean that you should not attempt to learn from the masters and create your strategy for success.