Cross-selling between sports betting and casino products presents both a key opportunity for boosting revenue but also a challenge with regards to operations and marketing.

Andrea Foley, Partnership Marketing Manager at The Pools, says that effective cross-sell is both an art and a science, but player trust is the ultimate driver of success.

Given the high cost of customer acquisition and the promiscuity of players who are happy to jump from brand to brand, the code for successful cross-sell has been one that operators have been trying to crack for many years now. 

But successful cross-sell is easier said than done and goes way beyond simply adding new products and verticals to the existing proposition and then offering bonuses and promotions to incentivise players to try slots or sports betting for the first time. 

As a multi-vertical operator, The Pools goes to great lengths to drive customers between the different products that we offer and over time we have found an effective formula for doing so.

The foundation of this is trust. If players do not trust the operator they are wagering with, and have not had a positive experience over time, no bonus or smart marketing campaign will convince them to try new gambling products with that brand for the first time. 

The Football Pools has been around for nearly 100 years now, and over that period we have earned the trust of players – both from those that have been betting with us for a long time and also those that have only recently joined.

While brand heritage and equity certainly help when it comes to cross-selling, that is only half the battle and we have developed and fine-tuned a process that ensures we can maximise the opportunity at hand. 

Ultimately, there is no point in presenting customers with products and services that do not match their preferences or add value to their play.

But this can involve an education process. If players are not aware of the full suite of products you offer, they may not be aware that you can meet a need they have. That is why education is key and as part of that, informing the player about how you can elevate their experience. 

This is why we use marketing scorecards and behavioural indicators that allow our teams to clearly understand individual player preferences and needs and then suggest products or services that will add significant value to their time with The Football Pools. 

This must be underpinned by an approach that always puts the customer at the centre of the journey and, as an operator, this means always asking yourself what information you would need as a player to take the decision to move on to a new product or service. 

Typically, this involves fact-based content and an incentive. Content can take different forms, but we have found that video and other interactive elements achieve the highest engagement rates. 

For The Pools, the greatest cross-sell is between our traditional Pools Games and the casino games that we offer, and in particular slots. This is certainly the case for progressive jackpot slots as they offer the same life-changing prizes as our Pools Games. 

But finding synergies between these two products required a clear understanding of our customer’s preferences and needs. Armed with this, and by leveraging our heritage brand and the trust we have built, we can achieve incredibly high cross-sell rates. 

The importance of cross-sell will only increase as regulated markets such as the UK become increasingly competitive. But for those that have player trust and can provide added value via new and exciting products, there are plenty of opportunities on the table to drive growth.