On average, 95% of gamers are non-paying. Of the 5% who do pay, the top 1% are serious players who drive 80% of revenue. This economic reality means it’s crucial to create a vibrant, engaging gaming ecosystem with excellent player support for your VIPs and Whales.
Delivering VIP customer support is not easy or for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of work – but the effort can score a touchdown when it comes to driving loyalty, engagement, and revenues.
Here are five ways to level up your game plan when it comes to lucrative players:
Secure Speedy Response Times
Speed is the name of the game when it comes to your most valuable customers. You want them engaged in play – not sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a response. Player downtime has a direct impact on your profitability.
Faster response times also drive CSAT – and you want to keep your best customers happy. The increase in CSAT associated with speed can be dramatic. Goodbay recently ran a test with a leading gaming company that demonstrated shorter response times propelled CSAT up by as much as 64%.
Plug into Multi-Channel VIP Support
Multi-channel support may not be feasible for your entire base of players, as it can be costly. However, your best players will appreciate options when it comes to connecting with customer service.
Goodbay works with a gaming company that initially offered a single channel of support. We spotted an opportunity to drive up CSAT with chat and suggested a trail for VIP players. The results were striking. Chat serviced players had a 24% higher CSAT vs. those supported in email. Speed was a factor in this test. Customers connected with a CSR in under 48 seconds who addressed their issues quickly.
Deploy Dedicated VIP Teams
Another powerful option is dedicated Player VIP Desks. Deploy your best agents, with the strongest gaming and service skills, for your premium players. Go deep and ensure these agents are dedicated to one title and truly understand the game they are supporting. They will need to help some of your most experienced players, so they will need to be subject matter experts.
You may even want to have your absolute top players connect with a single dedicated agent. We work with one company where their biggest spenders have a direct line to a specific agent.
Compensate Based on Value
Known issues, technical issues, problems with promotions, and bugs in features will always drive tickets. Compensation guidelines for these can vary based on VIP Tier to ensure you keep your best players engaged – and happy.
Compensating a regular player with 5000 points might not mean the same thing to a Whale who spends a lot more–and that might impact CSAT. And remember, you can pull several compensation levers, including credits and in-game boosters/multipliers.
Craft Customized Responses
Templated responses for VIPs may not pay off when it comes to CSAT. Your top players expect personalized service and can spot a canned response a mile away. More importantly, since VIPs may connect with your support teams more often, it’s essential to take the time to do a little research on each customer. What was your last response to them, what kind of compensation did you give, how did they react – are all questions you should ask. We recently performed an A/B test with a leading gaming company that demonstrated the impact of customized responses vs. standard macro responses. The tailored replies drove CSAT up to 25% higher vs. the generic ones.
Gaming companies know how much effort it takes to turn a non-paying customer into a highly lucrative player that drives revenue. It’s critical to ensure your best gamers PLAY, STAY, and PAY. Thankfully there are several powerful and effective ways to manage your VIPs to ensure this happens.
Learn More About Goodbay’s Gaming Customer Support Solutions.
Sapan Shahani is the CEO of Goodbay Technologies and is based in Chicago, IL. For close to two decades, he has helped digitally disruptive businesses deliver superior customer care experiences. Sapan was born in Bombay and raised in Hong Kong. He came to the US to study Finance & Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. After a successful career in strategy consulting, he left to pursue an idea he discovered in an Economist article that outlined how the world’s best companies were moving their customer support to India.
