Success for your online gaming company involves more than designing the platform your players want and finding the best high-risk payment provider.
Satisfying existing customers and attracting new ones requires that you pay constant attention to your brand as well as the impression that you are making in cyberspace.
Learning how to prevent negative online feedback from happening and cutting down on the number of poor reviews you do receive is one of the most important steps you can take to burnish your reputation and bring new players into your loyal customer family.
1. Close the feedback loop.
Whether you run a casino or support customers in their hobby of sports betting, one truth remains the same: Although these are games we’re talking about, clients are very serious about the experience they have on your site.
If they encounter a bump in the road that interrupts their session or compromises their ability to win, they will quickly become dissatisfied. And one of the first recourses many disgruntled players will take is to express their irritation for all to see on the internet.
Perhaps the most effective way to keep this from happening is to learn about and address the issue before it mushrooms into a full-blown catastrophe. In other words, you need to gather feedback and deal with the client’s concerns right after the incident occurs.
This is where automated tools are a life-saver. As soon as someone plays a game or otherwise uses your website’s services, send them a quick questionnaire that asks them to rate their experience and point out any difficulties.
Then be sure to read and act on this information immediately to stay ahead of the dreaded one-star review.
Also, examine your customers’ concerns with an eye to the bigger picture, making adjustments in the nature and quality of the relevant service to enhance future customers’ experiences with your site. Pay attention to positive responses as well.
After all, knowing where you have excelled will enable you to shape your offerings accordingly and to encourage your happy customer to post a rave on social media or your website.
2. Polish your site’s online presence.
No guide to reputation management would be complete without a discussion about enhancing the reach and consistency of your brand. By doing so, you can encourage positive feedback while simultaneously reducing the sting of the inevitable negative reviews that surface in spite of your best efforts.
There are a few ways to boost your brand online. Make a strong effort to identify your brand identity and to present it in a voice and tone that remains consistent across all channels.
Then accentuate the positive by highlighting content that puts your website and brand in an upbeat and fun light.
Encouraging satisfied players to become evangelists for your brand will inspire potential gamers who read their content to come onboard and eventually share high-tier reviews of their own.
3. Keep your ear to the ground.
We don’t need to tell you that running your own online gaming business is a high-pressure undertaking that occupies most of your time.
Given how many balls you juggle on a daily basis, failing to see poor reviews relating to your site when they come out is all too possible. However, this understandable lapse of attention can leave the subpar review to fester, ultimately causing even more damage to your business.
Analytics and reputation management tools can do a lot of the work for you in this regard, scouring the internet for mentions of your site and allowing you to react to them quickly and effectively.
When you do come upon some less-than-ecstatic chatter about your gaming platform, that is the time to respond thoroughly and politely. Your goal should be to publicly demonstrate your commitment to quality and customer service for all to see.
4. Be accountable.
Some feedback simply stems from customers bad-mouthing you needlessly or excessively. That being said, other critical comments may be well-deserved. When you make a mistake or fail to deliver services that you promised, your best bet is to own up and take responsibility for your actions or negligence.
When you do, you demonstrate your humanness to your customers. Believe it or not, this can actually foster trust since most people recognize that nobody, not even an online gaming site with thousands or even millions of customers, is perfect.
Although no entrepreneur wants to see a scathing commentary on the business they have poured so much of their heart and soul into, the occasional piece of negative feedback is a fact of life in the gaming industry.
The key is to learn about and respond to it quickly, preferably within 24 hours of when it was posted. Then use the customer’s experience to enhance your offerings. This is the silver lining that lies within the cloud of bad reviews.
Act upon it and learn from it, and reviews of all types can help to propel your gaming site forward.
