FAST TRACK CEO on the need for modern streamlined CRM tools

“Companies who do not digitalise their operations within the next few years will cease to exist,” claims FAST TRACK CEO and co-founder Simon Lidzén.

Within the next few years it will become impossible for companies to succeed if they do not digitalise their operations.

While CRM is still a manual process, current segmentation models are now outdated and have numerous limitations. Moving instead to one central system to orchestrate all actions enables the whole process to be automated, says FAST TRACK.

The CEO of FAST TRACK, which claims to provide the only CRM tool built for egaming, believes it is vital for operators to target and engage players at key “moments” to deliver a truly personalised experience. This in turn will help operators with acquiring and retaining players in a highly competitive marketplace.

Many industry-leading operators are now using FAST TRACK’s CRM platform to engage players with the right communications or offers at the right moments via relevant channels.

CEO and co-founder Lidzén talks to EGR Marketing about the importance of modernising and streamlining CRM and why thinking in “moments” can help operators to create a relevant and detailed retention marketing strategy.

EGR Marketing: How has CRM changed over the last five years?

Simon Lidzén (SL): What has changed is that operators have realised that with more markets regulating and stricter rules about how you can engage your players, along with margin cuts through taxes and fiercer competition, to stay competitive we just have to change the way we work. The market is in desperate need of a solution to tackle this efficiently and be able to achieve automation and scale without additional headcounts. That can only be done with a smart tool, working with real-time data, and a platform that lets you interact with all your communication channels and rewards platforms from one central place.

EGR Marketing: Why is it so important for companies to digitalise their CRM?

SL: Organisations who are, and will continue to be, successful will always view their business as one unit. Whichever platforms such organisations install to support their business, they should be sure that they are linked with the rest of their systems, platforms and processes. This allows the organisation to have a single customer view and be able to deliver exceptional service.

EGR Marketing: What are the pros and cons of digitising CRM systems?

SL: I believe there are only positive outcomes when modernising and streamlining any part of your business. The added value, especially for FAST TRACK’s partners, is that it will have an impact on working processes across the entire organisation. FT CRM is specifically designed to engage players across multiple channels, but can also be used, for example, to notify your responsible gaming officer if a player is displaying signs of problem gambling.

EGR Marketing: What effect will “thinking in moments” have on customer acquisition and retention?

SL: Knowing when to engage with a player is very important. Traditionally, operators have done most segmentation based on historical data whereas we look at future predictions. For example, instead of focusing on how long ago a player last engaged with you, we predict when the player is most likely to return and engage with them when they’ve deviated from their usual behaviour. If you take players who only play on payday as an example, they shouldn’t be considered inactive until they don’t return on the next payday. Most companies work with historical data fields in order to determine these things while we use moments to do that. Thinking in moments ensures that your engagement agenda is very purposeful.

EGR Marketing: How does this tie in with personalisation?

 SL: Personalisation is more than just adding your customer’s name to an email. It’s making sure that every contact you have with them is relevant and being able to anticipate their wants and needs. You have to be there, supporting and guiding your players in every key moment.

EGR Marketing: How does the segmentation model work?

SL: This is a key differentiator for us. We have built our tech to be very flexible on this point and we do not compromise on this. Even though the basic segmentation model will have similarities between one operator and another, we believe the differences in the details are essential and therefore we tailor it to each partner.  We work very closely with every partner at the onboarding stage to ensure the segmentation model is implemented in a way that reflects their unique business, is efficient to work with, and ultimately leads to valuable engagements.

EGR Marketing: How will automation help to streamline the CRM process?

SL: If you can automate the majority of your CRM, you can spend more time on analysis and improvement. We see teams that start using FAST TRACK CRM achieve four to five times more output than their industry peers, largely down to efficiency of the tool and that up to 90% of their campaign activity is run automatically.

EGR Marketing: How are you helping operators like Parimatch and Casumo meet their CRM needs?

SL: The first thing we do with any new partner is sit down with them and have an in-depth discussion about where they currently are with their CRM and what capabilities they would like that they may not have currently. We also, through a series of workshops, look at how FT CRM can be a component in binding all the business tools, platforms and operational teams together to have a single customer view and take customer experience to the next level.

EGR Marketing: What is the future of CRM?

SL: In an increasingly competitive landscape, with more regulatory challenges and taxes minimising margins, operators must achieve more with less. The desire to create a more personalised experience while using less resources has driven a lot of innovation in how operators work; through their tools, systems and people.