Setting The Scene: What To Expect During Euro 2024 

As a first step, as marketers build a marketing plan, they should consider the following fundamental pillars:    

• Expect a spike in new players during the tournament  
• Many new and reactivated players will be available for acquisition  
• Many new players will churn immediately after the tournament  
• Most new players will only wager on their national team  

By integrating these pillars into their marketing strategy, marketers can strategically navigate the dynamic tournament landscape and maximize their impact on player acquisition, retention, and engagement. 

Strategize for Success: The 5 Tips 

Tip #1 – Comprehensive calendar planning:

Begin by constructing a detailed calendar that includes all match schedules and significant events. This foundational step ensures you stay organized and well-prepared. 

Tip #2 – Segment effectively:

Conduct a player analysis and segment them into distinct groups. Consider player lifecycle categories such as Non-Depositors, New One-Time Depositors, New Multi-Time Depositors, Active Players with a High Risk of Churn, Live Bettors versus Non-Live Bettors, and Mobile Bettors versus Non-Mobile Bettors.  

This strategic segmentation allows for targeted and personalized marketing efforts tailored to each group’s specific characteristics and preferences.  

The image below shows how brands can segment their players so that each target group receives the most relevant and personalized messages with their preferred content, offer, channel, and more. 

Tip #3 – Before the Euro, marketers should: 

• Focus on new and reactivated players: Direct efforts toward acquiring new players and reactivating players during this crucial phase. 

• Leverage existing high-lifetime value players: Identify best-performing existing players and reverse-engineer their acquisition strategies. Use these insights to attract new players with high-lifetime value. 
   
• Seize the peak-event opportunity: Concentrate on acquiring a high percentage of players available ahead of peak events like Euro 2024. While these are often casual players with lower average value, accumulating a large share increases the likelihood of nurturing them into high-value players. 

• Continuously acquire players: Ensure ongoing acquisition of new players and develop reactivation plans based on past bettor behavior to reactivate as many players as possible. 

• Unlock the potential of reactivated players: Capitalize on the opportunity to revive activity among reactivated players, which may include unnurtured casual players from past peak events. Like new players, there is a deep pool of potential reactivated players, providing an excellent opportunity to nurture them back to activity. 

• Event-driven player breakdown: During a period with no major sporting events, the player type breakdown tends to skew toward active players. During peak events, the focus shifts significantly toward reactivated and new players – as shown in the chart below. 

• VIPs shine during peak events: VIP players exhibit increased spending (5X), higher betting activity (4X), and more frequent deposits (2X) during peak events. Tailor your strategies to cater to this valuable segment. 

Tip #4 – During the Euro, marketers should: 

• Increase engagement via personalized messaging: Elevate engagement levels by tailoring each message to the recipient. Leverage personalization, including content that resonates with individual preferences. 
   
• Create a sense of urgency: Instill a sense of urgency in all communications, urging players to act promptly. Utilize language and offers that convey time-sensitive opportunities, driving immediate engagement. 
   
• Implement dynamic content across channels: Implement dynamic content strategies within your multichannel campaigns. Ensure consistency across various platforms while adapting content dynamically to suit the channel’s unique characteristics. 
   
• Utilize educational content integration: Enhance the player experience by incorporating educational content. Provide valuable insights, tips, and information related to betting strategies, match analyses, or tournament-specific details. 
   
• Use Euro loyalty programs and gamification: Establish special loyalty programs and gamified campaigns specifically designed for the mega-event. Introduce incentives, rewards, or exclusive offers for tournament-related activities, fostering increased participation and loyalty. 
   
• Capitalize on National Pride: The probability of a player placing a bet on their national team’s match is +40% higher than an average match played during the group stage. To maximize impact and engagement, leverage this national pride by strategically investing in targeted betting promotions for matchups involving rivaling countries, such as Germany versus England. 
   
• Create adoptive team programs: In the face of inevitable eliminations, create “adoptive team programs” to mitigate activity dips. Extend these programs not only to participating countries but also to non-participants in the tournament.  

The chart below shows that neighboring countries tend to stick together; for example, the Spaniards are 62% likely to bet on their national team, but in their absence, they’ll probably bet on Portugal.   

• Use gamification to increase engagement: For example, introduce a promotion where betting on all national team matches earns a free bet for the final. Monitor logins and email openings as indicators of player engagement. 
   
• Encourage a second bet: Optimove data reveals that players placing a second bet are twice as likely to be retained. Encourage continued activity to enhance retention likelihood, with increasing engagement correlated to higher retention rates.  
   
• Focus on superstar-driven betting activity: Teams featuring international superstars witness a surge in betting activity. Recognize the attachment fans have toward club players, and if you identify their supported team, leverage this information to enhance engagement and betting participation. 

Tip #5 – After the Euro, marketers should: 

• Maximize retention strategies: New players acquired during major sporting events have 25% lower retention rates. Effective retention strategies are critical, especially considering the historical trend of bettors activated during peak events experiencing higher churn rates.  
   
• Link Euro 2024 to the next peak event: Leverage the short gap between Euro 2024 and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games (just 12 days) to maintain momentum. 
   
• Incentivize and offer preferential rates: Incentivize deposits promptly for users with zero balances or recent withdrawals. Provide early preferential rates on bets made towards the resumption of other sports, creating a compelling reason for continued participation beyond the Euro.  

In Summary 

This comprehensive plan is based on extensive Optimove data involving hundreds of millions of bettors. Our deep dive into player behavior highlights a key insight – prioritize retention over acquisition and remain vigilant about post-tournament churn. A well-executed marketing plan can yield substantial rewards, positioning operators for success. 

For more insights, Request a Demo.    

Published on March 14th, 2024

Posted in

• Digital Personalization
• Segmentation
• Gaming

Guy Leshno

Guy Leshno, a seasoned PR and Communications professional, with a successful track record in leading PR strategies and projects in emerging startups. With over a decade of experience, his expertise lies in blending creative ideation, analytics, and expert writing capabilities, driving brand awareness, and improving sales.