CEO Markus Nasholm assesses the Asian marketplace, and how QTech Games’ latest campaign rewards tool is improving retention and driving better CRM practices.

As competition and stringent regulation intensify across Europe, market barriers to entry are recommending that more and more igaming companies explore new markets. Just witness how the industry has changed in Asia over the last three years, or how many eyes there are currently on Africa. One continent’s challenge is another’s opportunity.

Of course, operators and providers can still struggle with authorities’ diverse restrictions, and Asia’s patchwork quilt is no different in that regard. Therefore, selecting the right software partner has never been more important (ie securing the most flexible and nimble platform), and can make the difference between securing market share and asking your team to vocationally relocate! 

We are also seeing an emerging pattern whereby European operators feel a pressing urgency to establish a presence in Asia. However, understandable as that desire is, due to regulatory and business reasons, they cannot run their operation in Asia.

Or, alternatively, they simply know they want to sample the market but lack the expertise. 

One continent’s challenge is another’s opportunity

We have been running a progressively successful platform business in Asia and other growth markets for years from our established and well-resourced headquarters in the Philippines.

Ultimately, QTech Games can now call upon the largest knowledge-base of emerging markets, and consequently provide full support for any operator that wants to enter these territories.

Our advice is simple: If you are not operating in fast-growing markets – such as China, India, Japan or South East Asia – you won’t last long. The volumes here are towering and appear to sustain in double-digit (even triple-digit) increments year-on-year. That trend is only going to extend.

So what other components are going to keep you ahead of the pack is this constantly evolving legislative landscape? Well, always cognisant of pressing partner and player needs, QTech launched QT Tournament earlier this year, an industry-first campaign rewards tool, whereby any operator can create their own tournaments across the entire QTech portfolio of products, or the specific games or studios which they want to promote.

Operator demand has already exceeded expectations, with the next major tournament already underway (and runs till 30th October), sponsored by some fantastic partners at Booongo, August Gaming and Epic Media.

European operators feel a pressing urgency to establish a presence in Asia”

This month’s prize pool is an eye-catching $15,000, while operator results from QT Tournament’s performance history to date are already provably reliable, with unique-player numbers escalating by an average of 40 per cent during the campaign period.

Perhaps even more significantly, in the 10 days post-tournament, this improved player activity effortlessly endured at a 10 per cent higher level when compared to the period prior to the tournament.

QTech’s tournament campaigns frame the perfect platform for providers to boost their games with a great opportunity to generate extra exposure and sustainability. On the other hand, it’s an influential marketing tool for operators when it comes to raising acquisition and retention rates by offering players a life-enhancing win off normal stakes.

Long story short, QT Tournament gives players the chance to turn their loyal spins into prizes during competitions on across their favourite titles. Players accumulate points in a variety of ways, such as consecutive wins, successive losses, or large multiplier wins.

Its unique gamification layer also features live leaderboards for each game, which constantly update in real-time, allowing players to keep track of their progress throughout the tournament, promoting immersive engagement and hang time.

“Better player-engagement and behavioural data-analytics speak directly to better customer relationship management”

Campaign banners and other collaterals are accordingly prepared for each brand. Public promotion and leaderboard pages, featuring both active and historical results, are also be available via an instant QTech Games link.

Daily winners will be announced after each completed tournament, while the overall victors will be publicised after the campaign period. Any prize money credited to customers will be deducted from the next operator invoice, with any participating partner enjoying the discretion to add rollover conditions to the prize amount awarded to their winning players.

Ultimately, better player-engagement and behavioural data-analytics speak directly to better customer relationship management. And CRM may well be the next key battlefield when it comes to positively delineating your offering from those of your rivals.

In this industry, you need to be a “quick-study” – assimilating new material with speed and flexibility. Therefore, if you have the instruments with which to recognise, reward and serve your customer from password entry, you’re going to surpass the competition.

After all, the top igaming platforms are doing little more than many other modern businesses. They’re just more cutting-edge about it – drawing from sources such as socioeconomic databases, loyalty schemes etc.

The true power of CRM resides in its capacity to mitigate risk of failure by leveraging the true worth of your data for deep insight into players’ proclivities.

We’d like to think that QT Tournament is the latest innovative step along the road to meeting these perennial challenges.