Striking the perfect balance, Marketing & Advertising News, ET BrandEquity

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<p>Representative image (iStock)</p> <p>“/><span>Representative image (iStock)</span><br />By <strong>Gunnidhi Singh Sareen</strong></p> <p>The marketing landscape has undergone dramatic transformations over the last couple of decades, demanding continuous adaptation from marketers. In India, gaming, a relatively new industry, has witnessed a meteoric rise. Fuelled by the democratisation of technology, India’s gaming industry has become a powerhouse, boasting the world’s second-largest user base. With 455 million online gamers and nearly 100 million daily online players, India reigns supreme as the global leader in mobile game downloads.</p> <p>This massive gaming audience presents a golden opportunity. But simply attracting new players isn’t enough. Marketers are turning to data-driven strategies to retain existing users and optimise their gaming journeys. This is crucial because neglecting retention leads to high churn rates, while neglecting acquisition stagnates growth. The key lies in striking a balance. Tilting too heavily towards either can hinder sustainable success in this fiercely competitive market. </p> <p>Capturing new players requires a nuanced understanding of customer preferences. Factors like geographic variations and player behaviour necessitate a deep dive into specific segments. However, this highly competitive market presents a double-edged sword:</p> <ul> <li>High Customer Acquisition Costs: Reaching new players can be expensive, demanding careful targeting and strategic marketing campaigns.</li> <li>Retention Challenges: Keeping existing users engaged requires ongoing investment in marketing and promotional activities.</li> </ul> <p>The complexity further amplifies with diverse game preferences. For example, Rummy players often exhibit high loyalty to one platform, while Poker players might be more susceptible to switching based on their experiences. This variability demands tailored strategies for both acquisition and retention – a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t cut it. In essence, Indian gaming companies must navigate a landscape of high acquisition costs, diverse player preferences, and ongoing retention needs. This necessitates laser focus on customer segmentation and targeted marketing campaigns to achieve sustainable growth.<strong>Superior customer experience</strong> </p> <p>Irrespective of the industry, customers crave maximum value with minimal obstacles. For gaming, this translates to prioritising a smooth user experience with minimal friction. Both acquisition and retention strategies should focus on creating this seamless experience. This experience at large is defined by app experience, connect with the brand and eventually the trust factor between your brand and the user. Building loyalty also hinges on offering tangible benefits. This is where the strategic use of coupons, bonus points, and rewards come into play—to incentivize players to return and engage consistently. All these elements combined lead to a positive customer experience which in-turn acts as a channel of furthering one’s brand reach through word of mouth. </p> <p>Think of it as a way of saying “thank you” for choosing our platform, while simultaneously encouraging repeat business. Although traditional marketing continues to hold its ground, the world of gaming is witnessing a crucial shift. It prioritises user experience in the product itself to keep players engaged. Companies are implementing comprehensive in-app tutorials to streamline onboarding and reduce learning curves. Building trust is of paramount importance here, similar to any market where users invest money. Offering frictionless withdrawal options is a key step towards establishing credibility. This can be further bolstered by exceptional customer support that resolves issues promptly and efficiently, ensuring a positive and secure experience.</p> <p>Topping this, is the market’s competitiveness that ensures brands are constantly on their toes. To keep up with the fierce competition, companies need to go beyond platform enhancements and create occasions for celebrations, thereby ensuring an active customer base. Through sales bonanzas and tourneys, brands can not only attract new users and re-engage the existing pool, but also create a sense of community among users.</p> <p><strong>Fostering a sense of community</strong></p> <p>For marketers in India, while gaming booms, it presents a unique set of challenges as well. For instance, keeping a balance between cost of acquiring new users, cost of keeping the existing users engaged and cost to fuel future growth. Unlike mere user acquisition, retention demands more than just personalisation. Factors like consistent interaction, player enthusiasm, and trust are crucial for long-term engagement, but maintaining them can be a constant battle. Personalised messages, tailored offers, and unique gaming experiences are a strong foundation, but retention requires an extra step: fostering a thriving community. It requires building community initiatives and programmes like refer-and-earn to incentivize existing players to bring in new ones. Create forums, social media groups, or even in-app chat features to facilitate player interaction. Additionally, periodic engagement opportunities encourage players to share tips, celebrate wins, and connect with each other. This fosters a sense of belonging and builds an emotional connection to the platform. By fostering a community, you can create a space where players feel valued and engaged. This not only enhances retention but also organically attracts new users through word-of-mouth.</p> <p><strong>Bridging the regional divide: a challenge and opportunity</strong></p> <p>One major hurdle in the Indian online gaming market is expanding beyond established gaming hubs. Player preferences vary significantly by region. This is the reason why regional diversity demands a multifaceted marketing approach. At one end of the spectrum there’s a 360-degree marketing approach that utilises both digital and traditional marketing channels to reach a wider audience across diverse regions. On the other end, it’s propelled by targeted communication to develop messaging that resonates with regional preferences. </p> <p><strong>Building Trust</strong></p> <p>It is important to create long-term brand connect through brand-building campaigns. These do not have to sell a product or service most of the time. Campaigns and messaging focused on your core ethos and brand promise penetrate a potential user’s thought process and lead to long-term loyalty creation.</p> <p><strong>The Bottom Line: Fostering Loyalty through User Focus</strong></p> <p>By prioritising the user experience at every level, companies can attract new players and retain existing ones. This involves tech-driven innovation that helps implement product-level changes to enhance user experience and cater to regional preferences. For retention, incentivizing engagement in the form of offers, rewards and loyalty programmes goes in long way in motivating existing users to stay engaged and participate actively. By keeping users at the centre of every initiative, both technological and marketing, brands today can achieve a sustainable competitive edge. This user-centric approach builds loyalty, trust, and ultimately, a thriving online gaming platform.</p> <p>In the cutthroat world of Indian online gaming, striking a balance between user acquisition and retention is the holy grail of success. Sure, attracting new players fuels growth, but it’s retaining them that ensures long-term sustainability. The ultimate goal? Create an environment where users feel like valued members, not just numbers. This fosters loyalty and ensures they not only choose your platform but become long-term advocates.</p> <p>(The author is the vice president- marketing, Head Digital Works (A23). Views expressed are personal)</p> <p><img decoding=

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  • Published On Aug 22, 2024 at 08:32 AM IST

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