Online betting companies are taking quite a gamble when it comes to getting customers to actually place a bet, according to a report from Global Reviews, the leading specialists in measuring how easy it is to buy products or services online. The report reveals how badly many sites perform in signing up customers.
Navigation and terminology are often confusing and it’s difficult to find online or offline help. The result? Almost half (45%) of potential customers would actively discourage others from visiting these sites to place a bet.
Paddy Power provides best online betting experience
These findings come from the most advanced online customer experience audit ever conducted across UK sports betting websites. A score of 100% means a brand is providing the “perfect online journey”, giving people what they need quickly and effortlessly. The Global Reviews audit shows that Paddy Power provides the best online customer experience, scoring 62%, followed by William Hill and Sky Bet, each scoring 61%. The industry average among the 10 betting websites measured was just 57%.
Consumers extremely unlikely to recommend sites
Only 15% of potential customers would recommend a sports betting website to a friend, while 45% would actively discourage friends or colleagues from visiting. This gives the 10 providers in the study an overall negative Web Promoter Score* (WPS) of minus 30%. Paddy Power achieves the highest score, with a plus 5% WPS, while 888.com gets the lowest WPS at negative 60%.
Rebecca Jennings, Principal Client Advisor, Global Reviews, said: “Websites in the online sports betting world are turning customers off. This study shows that the experience of placing an online bet is frustrating and that many consumers would dissuade others from doing so. In fact, 80% of the brands in our study have a negative WPS. The sports betting industry needs to do more work on this to avoid missing out on many thousands of potential customers.”
How much revenue could the UK online sports betting industry be missing out on per month?
Consequently, Global Reviews estimates that the UK online sports betting industry could be losing out on £24 million a month. Gambling Data’s “European Regulated Online Markets Data Report”, values UK online sports betting net revenue to be £650 million per year, whilst ComScore says nearly 4.4 million people in the UK visited a major sports betting site in January 2013. If 45% of those visitors actively discouraged one person from using these sites, and assuming the average visitor spends £12 per month, then the monthly lost opportunity could be worth close to £24 million.
Rebecca Jennings added: “Our lost online revenue estimate could be up to £288 million annually – nearly half the estimated annual £650 million value of UK online sports betting. That’s a very strong case for all the leading online sports betting providers in this market to seek improvement. None of the players are providing a consistently positive experience from homepage through to opening an account and betting. Many providers could surely increase their transactions by making only minor amendments to their existing sites.”
Betting websites are least effective at “initial engagement” stage
The Global Reviews report measures a customer’s online journey from the first encounter with the website, to researching their betting options through to opening an account and finally placing a bet on the betting slip.
The score for “initial engagement” – where users consider their options – was low at only 50%. Sites also performed poorly at the “deciding to purchase” stage, scoring just 52%. However, the score increased at the point where users were ready to act with the highest score going to the “becoming a member” stage at 66%.
Rebecca Jennings said: “Many sports betting providers fail to support visitors during the initial stages of their experience. They don’t provide reassuring content as to why betting with them is the best choice, and few offer any support for returning visitors. Essential information such as comparison tools, external awards, consumer opinions or press articles all help to reassure consumers that they are choosing the right brand, but most sites fail to promote themselves adequately. They also do little to help users find answers to questions online.”
For more information contact Stuart Ridsdale on +44 (0)20 8891 2870 / +44 (0)7790 951229 stuart@greenfieldscommunications.com
About Global Reviews
Global Reviews is a leading international customer experience research and insights company servicing top tier clients around the world. In particular Global Reviews provide heads of marketing, digital marketing, e-commerce and research with unparalleled industry data, competitor intelligence and behavioural insights that help improve online sales conversion, customer satisfaction and competitiveness.
The new Global Reviews online Portal also provides our customers with access to data and insights from anywhere in the world via a web browser, allowing them to generate key metric reports across their brands, competitors, products and channels.
For more than 11 years Global Reviews’ benchmark and bespoke research solutions have helped many of the world’s leading consumer brands across sectors to measure customer touch-points – cross organisation, product and channel – to track, measure and improve customer conversion and retention. For more information, please visit http://www.globalreviews.com