The Business of Social Games and Casino

The Business of Social Games and Casino

By Lloyd MelnickBusiness
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The Business of Social Games and Casino episodes

  • How to avoid meetings about the trivial, aka bikeshedding

    Key takeaways

    • Bikeshedding is the tendency we have to spend excessive time on trivial matters in meetings, often glossing over important ones.
    • Bikeshedding is damaging because it wastes very valuable time and, more importantly, leads to insufficient discussion of important issues.
    • To avoid bikeshedding, set a clear purpose for all meetings (and eliminate conversations about other issues), only invite necessary people, appoint a decision maker and have the decision maker set clear parameters for the meeting.

      • This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/06/17/how-to-avoid-meetings-about-the-trivial-aka-bikeshedding/

      7 min
    • Lifetime Value Part 30: Why clumpiness should be one of the KPIs you focus on

      Key takeaways

      1. We normally focus on analyzing recency, frequency and monetization of the customer but by adding a new KPI, clumpiness, we get a much better understanding of their expected value.
      2. Clumpiness refers to the fact that people buy in bursts and that those customers could be extremely valuable.
      3. Clumpiness can help you better segment players, predict VIPs and target your reactivation efforts and spend.

        4. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/06/24/lifetime-value-part-30-why-clumpiness-should-be-one-of-the-kpis-you-focus-on/

        4 min
      4. Why Evo’s $2 billion+ acquisition of NetEnt is more important (to both iGaming and social casino) than you think

        Key takeaways

        • Evolution Gaming, the largest Live Dealer provider, recently announced a bid to acquire NetEnt, the largest slots provider for $2+ billion.
        • The deal, in that Evo is the acquirer, shows that Live Dealer is eclipsing slots in the casino ecosystem.
        • For real money operators, they need to ensure they balance resources around both Live Dealer and slots while social casino companies need to figure out the best way to embrace this opportunity.

          • This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/07/01/why-evos-2-billion-acquisition-of-netent-is-more-important-to-both-igaming-and-social-casino-than-you-think/

          8 min
        • Customer analytics tips for gaming companies

          Key takeaways

          • People who wander around a retail location spend more than ones who immediately find what they are looking for and retailers optimize to create this jiggliness. Online casinos and games can also build in jiggliness so players find new games and offerings rather than simply quickly go to the one they are looking to play.
          • While satisfaction with customer service positively impacts profitability, the relationship is not linear. Improvements have a strong impact when players are highly dissatisfied (and that is corrected) or when customers with great service make further improvements, companies in the middle often do not see a positive ROI on CS improvements.
          • A relationship between two variables does not show one is causing the other, to have causation there must be a relationship plus temporal antecedence plus the absence of a third variable driving both factors.

            • This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/07/15/customer-analytics-tips-for-gaming-companies/

            8 min
          • How to get your big initiatives done

            Key takeaways

            1. Many important initiatives, from new products to operational efficiency, bog down and die in the middle phase. They initially have momentum but stall once the initial burst dies down.
            2. To MOVE projects through this middle phase, the Middle element needs a clear and concrete strategy and you need an Organizational structure with capacity to complete the initiative.
            3. The final keys to getting through the middle phase are Valor, making tough decisions and prioritizing the initiative, and getting Everyone involved.

              4. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/07/29/how-to-get-your-big-initiatives-done/

              7 min
            4. How Operations Analytics can help online gaming companies

              Key takeaways

              • While Operational Analytics are a focus primarily in retail and traditional businesses, there are many best practices that iGaming and social game companies can leverage.
              • Forecasting is central to generating and earmarking resources but is often a challenge for game companies, rather than trying to create a point forecast create a range based on moving averages and looking at standard deviation. For new products, create a simulation that will show the distribution of potential outcomes and the risks and rewards possible.
              • You need one, and only one, distinct goal and then optimize your strategy around that goal; it’s impossible to optimize for multiple goals. Use constraints to incorporate what used to be additional goals.

                • This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/08/12/how-operations-analytics-can-help-online-gaming-companies/

                10 min
              • The risks of market research

                Key takeaways

                1. A sole reliance on customer input and feedback, traditional market research, is built on a model of human decision making that assumes humans are rational, while in practice we are not.
                2. Not only do people provide a response inconsistent with their actions, they often do not understand the underlying causes of their behavior.
                3. Use one or multiple tools that show actual decision making, such as ABn testing or looking at reactions to similar initiatives in adjacent industries, rather than relying on what customers believe is their preference.

                  4. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/08/26/the-risks-of-market-research/

                  6 min
                4. People Analytics for Online Gaming

                  Key takeaways

                  • You need to align performance evaluations with the underlying factors that create success; deconstruct what leads to the outcomes you want and then assess people on those factors.
                  • Some common problems when evaluating people include context (attributing results to a person when the environment drove success or failure), interdependence (assessing on an individual level a result that was driven by a team), self-fulfilling prophecies (people perform consistent with expectations) and reverse causality (we attribute causality to correlation, even though the factors may not be related or may be in the other direction).
                  • You should assess how your team or company works as a network, looking at the relationships, and then encourage and grow ones that lead to desired outcomes.

                    • This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/09/09/people-analytics-for-online-gaming/

                    16 min
                  • How to manage your customer service to have the biggest impact on your profits

                    Key takeaways

                    • Data shows that trying to create an exceptional customer experience has virtually no impact on loyalty and engagement, however, reducing the effort the customer must exert does improve loyalty,
                    • The best way to measure this effort is CES score, which is based on a statement, “the company made it easy for me to handle my issue,” after which the customer is asked to answer (on a 1–7) whether they agree or disagree with that statement.
                    • The keys to implementing successfully an effortless experience program are minimizing channel switching, avoiding repeat contacts, engineering the customer service interaction experience, building the control quotient, creating the right culture and optimizing the purchase experience.

                      • This episode is also available as a blog post: http://lloydmelnick.com/2020/09/23/how-to-manage-your-customer-service-to-have-the-biggest-impact-on-your-profits/

                      27 min

                    About The Business of Social Games and Casino

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                    How to succeed in the mobile game space by Lloyd Melnick. Lloyd is a serial builder of businesses (senior leadership on three exits worth over $700 million), successful in big (Disney, Stars Group,…