In the modern world of gambling, metrics play a key role in managing and analysing gaming processes. They help casino operators and online platforms better understand player behaviour, optimise marketing campaigns and improve the user experience. However, not all metrics are equally useful. Some are crucial for achieving success, while others can be overrated and fail to provide significant insights. Additionally, some metrics have hidden, non-obvious meanings.
Reg2Dep as a Measure of Conversion
I do not believe in the importance of Reg2Dep as a marketing metric (registration to deposit). When calculated using the classic formula, it’s important to understand that, over time, Reg2Dep will grow due to FTDs not being made on the first day (nonNDC).
Classic Reg2Dep formula:
Reg2Dep = Regs/FTD
Where:
Regs = Player registrations
FTD = First-time deposits
Thus, this indicator may not be very effective during day-to-day operations work. An interesting case can arise when traffic acquisition declines but, due to delayed FTDs, Reg2Dep begins to grow significantly. Conversely, when a source just starts driving traffic, Reg2Dep will initially be lower but will increase over time without any changes in the acquisition approach.
Personally, I find the average FTD metric much more representative as it comprehensively evaluates not only the quality of traffic acquisition but also the overall player user flow from the visit to the first deposit.
Average FTD = Average first-time
deposit of a player
However, Reg2Dep is very useful for an affiliate manager in the context of monitoring the performance of PSP methods. It effectively shows the pass-through rate of payment solutions, allows for quick decisions on stopping traffic and can be considered when deciding to change CPA without waiting for feedback from the Payment department.
Open Rate and Email Domains
The Open Rate is a favourite KPI for email marketers, motivating them to work on the subject lines and subheadings of emails. This is indeed a crucial part of their work, enabling them to convey promotional offers to users. But its usefulness ends there. A good Open Rate does not correlate with a high percentage of reactivated users.
Reactivated users: A player who was inactive for a declared period but made a deposit and/or placed a bet after receiving a marketing communication.
In the CRM department, it’s much more important to work on Average TO, Retention Rate and Deps/active.
Average TO = The average turnover,
i.e., the total bet amount wagered by
active users over a period
Retention Rate = The percentage of
players returning from the
previous period
Deps/active = The number of
deposits per active user
Like Reg2Dep, the Open Rate has a hidden operational benefit for email marketers. Although it is not a business metric, it allows real-time monitoring of product functionality – how well the email sender is working and whether email domains and servers are blacklisted.
A Few Amusing Points
Many metrics in gambling are borrowed from classical marketing, but some common metrics for online projects do not fit well for online casinos. For example:
Total Unique Visitors: This metric is often used by SEO specialists but is highly susceptible to multifactorial influences in gambling, making it a mediocre KPI. Traffic flow can be caused by competitor DDOS attacks, poor quality traffic acquisition, non-functioning key elements of the operator’s front end, and much more.
Time Spent on Site: This is another classic indicator often used in website promotion. However, like the total unique website visitors, an increase in time spent does not always lead to increased revenue. Sometimes, a long time spent on the site can indicate a confusing interface where the gambler spends excessive time finding the registration or login button, making a deposit, or activating a bonus.
Page Depth: In traditional web analytics, page depth is considered important as it shows how interested users are in the product. However, in gambling, it’s not always relevant because a player can reach a game page in just a few clicks, and part of the user flow involves modal windows that are not full-fledged web pages.
Conclusions
What conclusions can we draw from these cases? Marketing and product are closely intertwined within the business. While some metrics are traditionally marketing-oriented, they can highlight potential product issues or evaluate its functionality as a tool that marketing works with. Sometimes, they do this much better than traditional online business metrics.
Bio
Hryhorii Shelest is an iGaming expert and CMO, with 4+ years of experience in land-based casinos and 6+ years of experience in online gambling.
