Online casinos in Canada: why is UX important?
The UX acronym is derived from the initial letters of User Experience. And for businesses, it involves keeping your customers happy in the broadest sense. Yet though many companies are aware of the need to remain competitive on the pricing of goods and services, not every organisation fully appreciates the need to monitor how things are for the customer. And when the business is dealing exclusively with customers online, as is the case with the Canadian online casino industry, the lack of visual contact only makes it more difficult to assess customer UX, and thus to know whether it is actually improving or deteriorating over time.
Manly online gaming sites prioritize customer acquisition, and therefore tend to ignore, or at least play down the importance, of customer retention. However, The impact of such acquisition strategies on casino profitability will always be limited if UX is neglected. This is because no business can profit from new business until the cost per lead has been overtaken by the money a new customer spends. Thus optimising an online casino in Canada to reduce rapid customer turnover can soon increase the overall effectiveness of any new business initiatives. In effect, then, developing a successful customer experience can prove a lucrative means of growing a business.
UX best practices for online casinos
UX should always be about putting the customer first. Conducting business online may be problematic for casinos in some respects, particularly on gambling sites where there’s a glut of content to greet the prospective player. It’s really not hard to guess that when a player first enters the site what they really want to do is to get started with some gameplay. So best practice suggests the responsive casino should set up the quickest means possible to signpost the user to where they want to go.
There’s nothing wrong with maintaining profits, but every initiative should be in tune with what the user clearly sets out to do and should be adapted the user’s preferred means of engaging with the casino. In an age of business clones, it’s the online casino user experience aspects which can become the major points of difference. That does not just mean killer casino games, it’s the whole customer journey from the moment the user enters the front door of your portal.
Getting the balance right in the casino softaware is always a tough task. Complex glitzy layouts will confuse, bore or even intimidate some new users – to the extent that some may just bail out at that point – so Canadian online casinos should look to streamline what they provide. That means just enough to signpost any visitor to where they need to be. But remember, stripped-down can still be stylish, and practical doesn’t have to be bleak. There’s also the matter of staying relevant and responsive to multi-platform access. Tweaks like grouping games by type and category, and not just by name, with targeted prompts for returning customers, go a long way towards focusing your space.
Mobile online casinos
These days, it’s unthinkable that your casino portal should not be ultra-friendly for mobile users. And with that in mind, always prioritise your content by avoiding fancy navigation which just takes up space. Research also reveals that large icons help users to make decisions. Though small icons allow more to be displayed, they are also confusing to the mobile user. Personalisation appeals to returning users because it speeds up their navigation. But resist any tendency to use personalisation to increase complexity.
You can get ahead of the game if your design can anticipate user behaviour. For instance, playing games and banking are urgent needs, and so your design should address that. On the other hand, checking account balances and checking jackpot prize values are (non-urgent) regular site requests, which your design should address in a subtly different way.
Keep casino layout simple
Wholesale UX site optimisation can be expensive, but some small changes will still have an effect. Think about a change of web host to boost your site’s speed, strip out excess visual clutter from your page layouts, and above all, make absolutely certain that your site is fully mobile optimised.
Online security and fast banking options
Visiting customers will have banking needs related to their gameplay activities. So, on the one hand, there will be a pressing need to provide rapid and responsive banking facilities so players feel they can quickly get down to their favourite slot etc. However, most customers will also be careful, and maybe even a little uneasy, during banking transactions because of worries about online security. So the tension is between security and convenience. And best casinos like JackpotCity Casino will provide quick and safe online banking options.
Customer service in language
Customer support optimisation can be difficult to get right, but casinos in some jurisdictions ought to know their regional priorities. So in some areas, operators will already know about issues such as multi-lingual populations. Taking Canada as an example with its significant French and English speaking areas, casino operators have a golden opportunity to enhance their customer care simply by providing mother-tongue language support. Done well – in other words with a 24/7 presence, like JackpotCity Casino – it can boost UX by transforming attitudes very quickly indeed, and might even recruit brand champions.
Listen to customers
Asking your customers what they think and what they want is time well spent. So if you want to trial new designs and layouts, just ask your users for their opinion. Furthermore, these encounters always yield ancillary information too. So, if you listen carefully and think about what you are being told, you’ll be able to develop a much clearer picture of an ‘average’ customer: why they visit your casino, what features act as a barrier, and what further enhancements they would like put in place for the future.
This exercise is helpful at any time, but it becomes essential if you plan major site changes. If you engage with customers, you’ll be able to trial and test your ideas before going to the expense of rolling out a major upgrade only to find most of your customers are disappointed by the result. And likewise, you will also be able to validate the effectiveness of initiatives designed to address particular business aims.