Putting the ‘real’ into real-time

Like big data, AI and omnichannel, the introduction of ‘real-time’ as a buzz phrase into networking huddles has the potential to make people wince, check their watch, finish their drink, and scarper.

The term is commonplace within the igaming sector when it comes to the automation of marketing services. However, defining ‘real-time’ is open to interpretation. Is it a matter of microseconds, seconds, minutes, hours or even days, for example, and does it mean a job being done quickly at the expense of accuracy?

For Solitics, an Israel-based customer engagement and analytics platform, enabling B2C brands to personalise and optimize customer journeys, real-time delivery is at the essence of its service. Solitics connects online and offline data sources, and links them to marketing actions, to enable the personalisation of every customer touchpoint real time, or ‘live’. Defining ‘real time’ clearly is therefore essential, according to Solitics’ CEO and Founder Tomer Baumel.

“We define real-time in terms of time, context and content,” Baumel said. “So, we have that time value of 1.8 seconds, which is the response time of the system. Added to that is the context, which considers the suitability and accuracy of the marketing service’s response, taking into account individual user behaviour. Then we have content, which means intervening via the right channel with the right information or offer.

“That time target is important, but it’s also essential that the intervention is based upon accurate and relevant information.”

Gaming brands that can utilize all the data they have on players, and at the same time maximise speed and accuracy can build a more personalised interaction and stronger relationship with each customer from the earliest opportunity. This improves customer retention and reduces churn – a major bugbear for many in an increasingly competitive landscape.

“If someone signs up to your website and you don’t interact with them in the first minute, they are most likely soon not going to be your customer,” Baumel added. “Equally if a customer made their first deposit yesterday and has now lost 50% of that, we can clearly see they are a high churn risk, so there should be an interaction at that point, not two hours or a day later.

“Or let’s say there are two players who both sign up at the same time – one with $50 and the other with $5,000 – and when they are each halfway through their funds, we automatically offer them a $20 bonus. Clearly, that is not similarly appropriate for both scenarios, as they have very different circumstances and resources.

“In these examples, you need to have the correct data at the right time and in the right place, to respond in real time – again, our time, context and content. It makes a huge difference. The whole idea is to increase conversion, retention and longevity.”

Solitics initially focused on the retail vertical after launching in 2013, but soon identified online gaming and trading as sectors that offered greater potential for their services. “There were a lot of pain points in data collection and utilization in gaming and trading, such as the mix of online and offline, and that’s why we went in there, believing we can make a big difference” Baumel said.

Solitics’ platform pulls together relevant pieces of information on each customer from the brands distributed data sources, including websites and apps, call centres, CRM, and data warehouses. All that information is bundled and analysed to enable interventions in lightning-quick time.

Baumel believes that operators are increasingly becoming aware of the potential impact of real-time automated marketing interactions on their business. Simultaneously, they are acknowledging the need to offload some of the heavy lifting associated with building up a data management structure that can fulfil their ambitions.

“Operators are realising that they do not have to put so much resource into building up their own data teams and creating their own gigantic data infrastructure,” he added. “Indeed, they should focus on what they are good at – customer acquisition and creating games – not on being data companies.

“By trying to do it all themselves they are slowing their organisations down, making themselves less flexible, failing to respond to their customers’ needs and ultimately restricting growth. For some operators, solutions such as ours are something of a surprise to them. They maybe did not even consider that there might be an alternative to them developing an in-house infrastructure.

“Most of the time clients are really surprised at how quick – within 30 days – and seamless integration with our service is for them, compared to the financial and operational challenges of developing it by themselves.”