Dobromir Mitev is the founder and CEO of Dench eGaming Solutions, an innovative fully integrated B2B gaming platform, focused on the full marketing automation, enhanced user experience and increased satisfaction through revolutionary four tier dynamic segmentation . Dobromir has been involved in the iGaming industry for the past 8 years, consulting for various well-established or newly started iGaming brands. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to several key partnerships such as EE market development for the industry leading company 888poker, publisher of CardPlayer Magazine in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Greece. Further proof of his hands on entrepreneurial skills is the fact that he brought in and successfully organized one of the biggest live poker tournaments in Bulgaria.
He is a top notch gaming professional, with vast experience into the day-to-day operations, product/brand marketing and development, penetrations, CRM, social media and deep understanding of customers’ needs.
Dobromir is now focused on delivering the next generation gaming platform, featuring full promotional and communication automation providing a visionary view over how iGaming operators should deal with everyday customers’ needs and wants.
He is going to be a key speaker at the Customer experience transformation discussion panel at the Eastern European Gaming Summit 2015 which will be held between the 23 and 24 of November in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Dobromir’s presentation focus on the following topics:
- Measuring & managing Player Lifetime Value.
- Retention & acquisition incentives.
The panel is dedicated to the customer-centric approach in gaming and how to attract & build strong relationships with customers online.
EEG: Hi Dobromir, since you are one of the key speakers of the discussion panel CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMATION for online, we would like to have a sneak preview about what your presentation will be all about. We need your expert opinion on this one, does having a real strong land – based brand is going to bring an easier online presence? I mean, is it going to be easier to get ahead of the already stable online competition?
Dobromir: It really depends whether the land based operator is looking to use the online presence as an extended arm of their current business proposition or they want to create a completely separate business entity taking advantage of their existing brand recognition.
In the first scenario when the land based operators are willing and interested in expanding in the online world to provide their current customers additional, remote gaming experience which further increase customer loyalty and satisfaction, than the answer will be no.
In the second scenario the answer will be obviously yes. However such approach will not give the opportunity to find the synergies between the two worlds, the operator will need to setup an entirely new team, which in most cases will be strictly with online gambling operational background. In that case a strong brand can give certain advantages but those would not be enough to give a head start against the current well established competitors.
At the end, the only thing that matter is the customer. If the operator is capable to understand customer needs, to offer relevant products, market through value offers and communicate well then loyalty will be created and that’s all you need. No matter if it is offline or online. The land based operators have the advantage of the direct interaction with the client and the opportunity to engage him and directly mediate this experience into the virtual environment.
EEG: Do you think social media plays a strong role in bringing new players towards a casino or poker room? We have seen quite a low activity coming from the large brands in terms of social media lately.
Dobromir: The question refers to acquisition of new players and definitely social media could be potentially a great source. The reason behind low activity through this channel is the lack of fast results or certain high ROI expected by operators. Usually businesses see social media channels as extremely lucrative due to the massive audience, whether we talk about users, traffic, and time spend. The problem is inability of the operators to engage the players using the social media in a way that the player feels appreciated and confident with the brand.
This led us again to what I mentioned earlier. What brands currently have? Usually an enormous player database. They need to start from that database and do its best to engage the players, improve communication and increase loyalty. Once they have successfully improved communication, engagement, they will improve retention and decrease churn. This translated into measurable criteria means overall satisfaction.
After you have created the content and engagement practices you can think of the acquisition. Because social media acquisition contains one more important layer before the actual acquisition which delivers revenue. This layer is captivating people by what you are doing, what you are offering and most importantly how you are doing it and communicating it. Educating the clients and explaining the real value of the online play is as well fundamental part of the social media, let the client know what you are doing, seek instant feedback, be there for the client and interact on a daily basis, Brands need to understand that social media is the instrument to engage with the player on a daily basis, make him feel that your brand is becoming part of his lifestyle through small but repetitive and memorable for him gestures.
EEG: What should Eastern European brands focus on to deliver a good service towards players when they switch to online?
Dobromir: Eastern European brands should focus on the same as other brands – understand their customer needs and wants and find the synergies between the offline and online businesses and moreover how those can contribute to business growth and increased player loyalty.
If they want to offer online gaming experience to their current customers they need to look into all the current practices they have at the casino floor and think of a way to replicate those online. A simple example will be the customer care. If the casino has fun, friendly and entertaining dealers from customer perspective than the same should be transferred and applied online. In the particular example this will mean fun, friendly and responsive to customer needs customer support.
On another hand, if they launch an online business with the aim to boost overall business growth, throwing themselves against the massive competition they will simply need to learn. They will need to forget everything they know and start from scratch. With the increasing number of operators, the dynamics of the online gaming environment, the completely different target base including millennials you just need to align yourself and learn, however that’s not something I would advise.
There are great professionals in both land based and online operations. Currently, however with the entire hype, land based operators need to choose their partners wisely and most importantly look for people which will understand their business needs and will help them structure the online business accordingly.
If you would like to get the unique opportunity to ask all your important questions and learn first-hand details about Customer experience transformation, be sure to attend the Eastern European Gaming Summit at which Dobromir Mitev be among the speakers of the panel. For 8th consecutive year on 23 – 24 November 2015, Inter Expo Center in Sofia, Bulgaria will bring together under one roof world’s leading figures and companies from the industry to present and outline current market developments and future trends with global vision and focus on the Eastern European market.
Visit the EEGS website here.
