
The end goal of marketing has always been to generate convertible leads for a brand by hook or crook. During our recent project with a casino client, we made this possible by converting 10,000 email subscribers into a deposit resource worth $500k in 6 months.
Some may assume it was easy once we had the subscribers’ list with ourselves, but let’s look at it the other way around! Although the subscribers were interested in collaborating with us, they needed incentives and, most importantly, trust to proceed.
Even after a subscription, we would end up being among the many casino brands in our subscriber's email notifications. Something should set us apart so they can click on our CTA and become a depositor.
The essence of this case study is to give you insights into how to build a unique email campaign that would generate massive deposit revenue for a client!
Background
Before discussing strategies, let’s review our client’s background! Our client ran an online casino website that targeted high-income groups in America, most likely those between the ages of 18 and 30 years.
This group did not just have the potential to earn but spend a huge chunk of their earnings on recreational activities like gambling that promised good returns. Based on the interest of their primary audience, our client had built a diverse iGaming catalog that comprised classics, trending, and a few original gaming products for enhanced engagement.
When our client approached us with their $500k deposit targets in 6 months, we had a couple of ways to go about it. The first was achieving the target from the website, which could have taken a lot of time, depending on factors like the brand’s SERP visibility, traffic volume, CTRs, bounce rates, and conversion rates.
Then, we had the option of converting email subscribers to depositors. This was less time-consuming and incurred lower marketing costs. Moreover, it was a highly effective strategy, targeting only interested customers. Naturally, this was the choice we went with!
However, we knew previous email marketing campaigns had miserably failed to convert subscribers to depositors, and we had a few theories regarding it.
According to us, the previous email outreach programs had a high gap between successive emails, generic CTAs with little persuasive quality, vague subject lines, and a lack of customized email content. We devised a comprehensive plan to fix these.
Strategy and Implementation
Our strategy encompassed everything ranging from building a subscriber list to sending regular emails to ensure consistent engagement. Here are the highlights!
Building the Subscriber List
The foundation of our campaign was acquiring as many subscribers as possible. We included sign-up links throughout the website via pop-up forms and dedicated landing pages. We also promoted our newsletters and sign-up forms on social media platforms.
Our introduction of high-incentive referral programs to drive subscriptions through word-of-mouth promotion lent quite a lot of help. However, the most effective was offering exclusive discounts and limited-time offers to subscribers.
At the end of it all, we acquired 10,000 subscribers, whom we would work on next to achieve the $500k deposit target.
Personalized Email Campaigns
Our client's biggest mistake in his previous campaigns was creating mass emails with the most generic tone and content without a hint of personalization. They were like every second mail casino players got in their email notifications that asked them to deposit but offered nothing of their choice in return.
To fix this, we initiated several engagement tactics with our subscribers, such as sending them game-specific limited-time offers, bonuses of different deposit amounts, incentives for VIP enrollment, and emails with lead magnets such as gaming contests, webinars, workshops, and free trials to understand their preferences.
This helped us carve out a more targeted and customized email outreach program with high chances of conversion.
Compelling CTAs
The CTAs are the last thing a subscriber reads before making a deposit. We ensured they were clear and persuasive, highlighting the deposit offers or benefits to drive conversions.
To avoid technical issues, we ensured the CTA button was clickable and seamlessly redirected the subscriber to the payment page. Our goal was to create a CTA that didn’t make subscriber think twice about their decision to deposit, even for a second.
Lead Nurturing Sequences
Email campaigns do not convert subscribers into depositors overnight.! Consistent engagement with them is key to slowly driving conversions through the “sales funnel.” So, we prepared an email calendar in which we planned to send engaging emails to the subscribers every week.
These would include exclusive offers, limited-time deals to create a sense of urgency and FOMO, interesting blogs about the games subscribers liked, regular information about the discounts and bonuses we introduced on our website, details about our collaborations with new game developers, free invites to our game launch events, and more.
Results
Starting with the 10,000 email subscribers we acquired from scratch, here are the highlights of what we achieved in 6 months!
- A 50% increase in monthly email subscriptions owing to our constant promotion of sign-up links on website pop-up messages, landing pages, and social media.
- A 20% rise in email-to-deposit conversion rate driven by strong CTAs and strategic discounts, free spin bonuses, and coupon offers.
- $5.2k deposit volume from email subscribers interested in exclusive subscriber benefits.
- 15% increase in CTRs of website links sent by mail, indicating consistent engagement and interest of subscribers.
- More than 1,000 free deposit sign-ups, which can later be converted to loyal depositing players.
Key Takeaways
Converting email subscribers to depositors requires far more consistent efforts than generating deposits from leads on a casino website. However, brands prefer email marketing because they offer quick results at low marketing costs.
The key to a successful email marketing campaign is to remain patient and not be too pushy when engaging with subscribers. Take a personalized approach and let the subscribers feel a sense of belonging to the brand. If you stand out from the crowd, conversions will drive naturally.
Although exclusive discounts and special offers help a lot! Always highlight the unique benefits subscribers will get after making their first subsequent deposit. Limited-time deals create a sense of urgency just enough to push a subscriber on the verge of becoming a depositor to the other side of the hill.