How To Give iGaming Users the Experiences They Crave

Providing a seamless, compliant end-to-end betting and gaming environment is mission critical for today’s iGaming teams. In a recent webinar, How iGaming Teams Reduce Release Risk With Crowdtesting, a panel of Applause experts who are involved in testing for betting, gambling, sportsbook and casino organizations sat down for a Q&A to discuss the latest user experience trends in iGaming. I asked the questions and Major Account Manager Andres Montiel, Associate Director of Testing Services Paul Teasdale and Senior Director of Solutions Consulting Manny Paola dove into how organizations can reduce release risk and deliver a positive user experience for modern iGamers.

Key differences in user expectations and behaviors: sportsbook vs. casino vs. predictive betting platforms

To begin the conversation, the panel discussed important differences across the main subsets of iGaming and how operators can validate those differences across the user journey. “Usually sports betting users prioritize speed, real-time updates and a seamless betting experience. On the casino side, it’s more around the UX and the gameplay interactions,” Paola explained. “And then when we start to talk about the predictive modeling space, we’re generally getting a lot of requests relative to the research side, specific to introducing and educating people on what predictive modeling is so they understand how it’s different from the sports betting space.”

These three iGaming subsets also vary across their respective competitive landscapes. “Even though predictive modeling is relatively new, there’s probably six or seven companies in North America that already have an MVP version or version that’s out in production,” said Paola. But given the industry’s relative nascency, trust is a top priority for users. On the other hand, the sportsbook and casino landscapes are more heavily saturated, and speed and the overall user experience are the top factors in players’ decision-making processes.

Common breakdowns in geofencing and how companies can test real world location validation

Geolocation also plays a critical role in player experience — and operator compliance. One key for success is ensuring that users are not blocked from playing when they are in a state or country where iGaming is legal. “It’s important that there’s not a complete block of that user because they could very well be the next VIP client. So other checks, like multisource triangulation, need to be done,” said Teasdale. Live testing in the real world is crucial for identifying problems and making sure that:

1. You’re not allowing users to place bets when they’re not supposed to and risking compliance fines.
2. You’re not blocking legitimate users from the platform because of a technical problem with the IP address.

“Ensuring that geolocation testing is surgical will allow iGaming teams to make sure that they remain compliant… and not jeopardized because of a mistake due to a false negative,” added Montiel. By deploying testers who are real local users, Applause helps organizations validate that site performance stays consistent for users across different locations, whether they are on state borders or in full stadiums.

How operators can ensure that KYC workflows are seamless and resilient across different touchpoints

Onboarding and identity verification are essentially the first impression for new players, making them a crucial interaction for businesses of all sizes and iGaming subsets. “Failing to upload a document when trying to create an account is already an invitation to move to the competition,” said Montiel. “So it’s really critical to have these workflows tested quite thoroughly.”

Applause does that by sourcing “local testers who validate the KYC flow from a real user perspective, using different forms of identification across different sorts of devices,” said Montiel. This helps organizations know that users can successfully upload a picture of their driver’s licences or passports, whether they are using the latest iPhone or an older Android. A smooth KYC process is crucial because, as Montiel summarized, “when a KYC flow is not working, customers are not going to contact the customer support from the operator. They’re just going to say, ‘What is the next application or provider that I can use?’”

Paola mentioned another concern that pops up in the KYC onboarding flow that customers struggle with: “organizations don’t account for simple things like hyphenated names, mismatching addresses, documentation expirations to where that causes friction. And if your process is not accounting for that, then typically users will go for the next iGaming platform versus trying to get through your process.”

Organizations also need to consider the various types of ID documents used across different countries, as well as if verification will work under poor lighting conditions. The bottom line is abandonment can happen for a variety of reasons during the KYC journey, making it a key differentiator for iGaming operators.

The importance of validating real money transactions in production

The movement of money is probably the most critical aspect of the user experience outside of the KYC process from both a business and user perspective. “The deposit is obviously really important. You don’t get the deposit, you don’t get the revenue. But equally, the withdrawal experience is really key… The experience is ruined if users have to jump through hoops to withdraw that money,” said Teasdale. Just like during the KYC process, friction during payments and withdrawals risks users switching to another iGaming platform.

“The reason why it’s important to test is the fact that it’s hard for iGaming companies to validate whether their gateways or payment processors are effectively working in certain locations or regions,” said Paola. “That is a big pain point that’s hard to validate with an internal team.”

Real-time payments, error messaging and the complexity of betting can make testing in a pre-production environment difficult for iGaming companies. “Those types of things need to be tested in production to understand not only the user experience, but also the messaging generated to the user to make sure they understand what is happening at that given instance,” added Paola.

However, digital wallets, ACH and cash-based methods can often be overlooked during payment testing. For these methods, “There are a huge number of permutations that need to be considered when it comes to testing,” said Montiel. “That’s something that can only be tested in the wild.” To thoroughly validate their payment processes, organizations need to test in production with real people.

Preparing for major sporting events

Major sporting events are a huge driver in the iGaming industry, creating massive traffic spikes as well as promotional opportunities. To explore how companies can capitalize on them, the panel discussed testing strategies to validate that promotional logic, eligibility rules, payout calculations and other features work the way that players expect.

Teasdale said that the “key is getting early feedback on any promotional campaigns and making sure that they are going to be understood, and that they’re going to lead users in.” Making sure that players clearly understand promotions is crucial; not only for regular users, but also for casual users who are more likely to sign on during major sporting events.

With proper testing, “operators will proactively have the opportunity to fix those issues rather than having users be very annoyed by the situation and probably move to the competition,” said Montiel. So while promotions are a great strategy for driving revenue and gaining users, they can also be detrimental for operators who fail to properly test the promotions they offer.

How bet shoppers shine a light on what players are really looking for

One of the key differences between casual and veteran iGaming users is that while casual users typically stick to one or two platforms, the veterans are more likely to shop around for the best promotions and prices. This begs the question of what drives a user to choose a specific platform, outside of bet prices. Paola pointed out that the user experience is critical in this situation, asking “outside of you having the best odds, is your user experience overall good for those who are seasoned bettors?”

On the other hand, casual users are more likely to make a decision based on the overall experience of a certain platform. When choosing between one or the other, they may wonder how much re-onboarding they need to go through to validate their identity, financial institution or methods of payment, said Paola. Thus, it’s important to conduct research specific to each of these personas in order to strengthen customer retention.

Why continuous validation is vital for gaming controls

A few years ago, many operators saw compliance as a set-and-forget process. However, with increasingly rigorous regulatory checks, responsible gaming controls are more important than ever. Limit controls and account restrictions need to be validated consistently, said Paola, “because if control limits are not working as expected and one release goes into production, how many users is that going to affect?”

Environment fragmentation is another concern. “We want to make sure we can validate that our controls are still in place across a brand new operating system and device type… as well as any sort of browser combination,” said Paola. “That’s typically where I see continuous validation needed to make sure that users still have their controls in place and that iGaming operators are still adhering to the rules and regulations they put in place.”

Key business outcomes achieved by validating the complete end-to-end experience

Beyond compliance, there are plenty of business outcomes that iGaming operators can achieve by validating the end-to-end user experience. “Having a flawless, properly tested KYC flow is going to help them, and we have proven cases of how the conversion rates increase as well as having stronger retention,” said Montiel. “Offering a product that works well everywhere all the time helps operators build trust, especially during high stakes moments.”

Paola echoed these sentiments, saying that “the biggest aspect of that end-to-end testing process is retention and then overall user experience.” With thorough testing, product and engineering teams can be much more confident that whatever they are setting into production will work properly and create a positive user experience.

How operators can be proactive as new challenges arise with the explosion of AI

As predictive modeling, AI personalization and real-time betting experiences evolve, so too do the challenges operators face. “The predictive modeling space is relatively new,” said Paola. “So it’s not a typical ‘we’re releasing every two weeks’. It’s ‘we gotta make changes today. We gotta make changes tomorrow. Do we have the bandwidth to effectively know that these changes are going to work in production and drive a good experience?’” The challenge lies in being dynamic enough to correct or change some of the experiences in real time, and being confident in your ability to do so.

Montiel expanded on the risks AI introduces, explaining that a poor AI-driven recommendation can be very harmful for a brand. He emphasized the importance of having human-in-the-loop checks to make sure that across all locations, different devices and the different interests of the player, “the AI-driven recommendations in place are not abusive and are helping the brand to boost their revenue, not damaging their reputation.” With the fast pace that AI is bringing to iGaming, proactive testing is essential for thorough validation of these tools.

How AI is causing shifts in customer support interactions

AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in customer support, and the process of validating compliance in these interactions has shifted as a result. “AI is going to make a big impact and cut down on the customer support interactions required,” said Teasdale. “But, obviously, it needs to be offering the right advice, not hallucinating, not being led into saying something that it shouldn’t, and that’s where routine testing would come in.”

Paola added that the AI “has to work specific to a user. So the personalization and interaction of it needs to be big.” And at some point, human interaction needs to take place. “At what point does the system say, ‘We need to personally ask for this user’s account information so we can better generate the appropriate information back to them?’” said Paola. This is another component that will need to be validated with proper testing to ensure customer support interactions are both efficient and compliant.

Case studies: How organizations are working with Applause to deliver great iGaming experiences for their customers

The session concluded with the panel discussing a variety of customer examples that show how crowdtesting with Applause helps organizations deliver the great user experiences that players crave. These included examples of:

• Customers working to improve their level of coverage: How a 25-person UAT testing team validated a client’s ticketing system with nightly testing.
• Payment use cases: How a company in Nevada turned its mobile wallet into a frictionless money movement tool, validating performance both online and in casinos.
•  Developing stickiness and building customer loyalty: How an e-commerce team created a loyalty program to drive retail consumers to their iGaming platform.
• Customer successes: How a casino created a competitive advantage through their player engagement strategy, encouraging customers to try new games to earn points they could redeem to keep playing their favorites.

By using crowdtesting, these organizations gained coverage and feedback that in-house teams simply can’t achieve on their own. With thorough testing across all aspects of the player journey, iGaming operators can deliver memorable experiences that keep players coming back.