The gambling sector is no different in this respect, according to new research by Econsultancy and IGT.

The Multichannel Convergence in the Gambling Sector Best Practice Guide examines how companies can significantly improve their business performance by taking a cross-channel approach to the customer experience and marketing activities.

It includes findings from an industry survey and in-depth interviews with senior executives.

Here’s a summary of three of the key findings from the report:

Multichannel customers spend more

Across different industries it’s true that customers that engage with brands across numerous touchpoints tend to be more valuable.

This should be no big surprise, as it makes sense that if a person is a fan of a certain brand then they will be more likely to engage regardless of the channel or device.

The gambling sector is no different. Companies surveyed as part of the report are seeing a much improved revenue uplift per player when customers engage with them across multiple channels (an average of 38% uplift).

So the real challenge for gambling brands is to ensure they are delivering a consistent customer experience across all channels.

A majority of respondents (88%) said it was crucial to offer a consistent brand experience, while 67% strongly agree that convergence is creating significant opportunities for their businesses.

Barriers to convergence

Though the gambling industry is aware of the critical importance of convergence there are still major challenges to overcome.

In our survey the most commonly cited barriers to having a truly multichannel approach are:

  • Incompatible technologies (58%).
  • Too much focus on short term goals (58%).
  • Difficulty joining up different data sets (50%).

These issues are by no means exclusive to the gambling sector, particularly the problems with legacy technology and disparate data sets.

All industries are struggling to overcome these hurdles as they try to reach the ever-elusive single customer view.

The complexity of the supplier ecosystem in the gambling sector is not conducive to a joined-up customer experience, nor is the issue of differing legislation across geographical boundaries.

Maturity in convergence requires alignment of multiple elements

It’s clear from the research that there are a number of key elements to be considered in the path to success.

These range from convergence in games, to the critical area of account convergence and the potential of using account information and other data to inform marketing and content activity, increase revenues and drive competitive advantage.

The full report includes a maturity model that summarises the key required elements for gambling companies to benchmark themselves against and a comprehensive list of recommendations for marketers looking to achieve convergence.