Immediacy. A craving that has grown to become ingrained across society, and one forms a crucial component of global development practices to ensure that users continue to receive the highest quality within the quickest timeframe possible.
However, this forms just one strand of the wider complexities that must be considered as Amelco aims to implement a consistent pipeline of updates in looking to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive environment.
SBC News spoke to Amber Walton, Project Manager at Amelco, to address how fresh additions are made without compromising the user experience, why optimisation and personalisation are critical factors for retention, and how data can be correctly utilised to heighten a players’ journey.
SBC News: Amelco prides itself on offering a next-gen platform for its partners. For you, what makes a sportsbook/igaming platform “next-gen”?
Amber Walton: At Amelco, innovation is not a ‘nice to have’, it’s essential! Product development is central to our business, it shapes everything that we do. In this fast-paced, demanding industry, it is vital that we are the first-to-market with our new innovations and product developments, whilst also still making sure that each and every new addition to our portfolio is adaptable for our individual partners.
We’re also one of the only providers on the market that is able to deliver great quality at such speed, allowing our partners to stay one step ahead of their competition.
In terms of ensuring the product is tailored towards the ‘next-gen’ of sportsbooks, I think it is important for us to keep the foundations of our platform the same whilst making subtle tweaks that can benefit our partners. Our platform is tried and tested; we know that it works well, and that it can generate solid results – you just have to look at some of the big-name operators that we work with to see just how successful it has been.
For instance, keeping the crux of our sportsbook and iGaming platform the same but offering the additional feature of a ‘Spin-wheel’ or ‘Refer-a-friend Section’, or even adding our even more exciting Social Overlay adds a certain uniqueness for each operator. To me, these are enhancements that will help our clients’ products evolve, whilst enhancing the customer experience, which is obviously the central focus for every operator.
SBCN: How does Amelco balance the addition of new features on its platform without compromising on the UX/UI?
AW: Every new feature that we develop, and launch, is of course trialled and tested at great lengths! It’s not just as simple as coming up with a feature idea and rolling it out to partners; we spend a a huge amount of time ensuring that any new additions will elevate their experience, rather than create a convoluted UX. Our partners expect the best, and it’s our job to deliver that.
Each new functionality has to enter the cycle of being brought into the delivery roadmap, designed, analysed, developed and tested, ready to be rolled out for day one. It can take months of development, but we know that the end-product will be perfect!
When new features are added to our internal roadmap, we have an extensive team of designers that are able to create several versions of each feature to ensure that they align with our back-end functionality. From this, the development teams then iron out any inconsistencies to help target the finalised design.
At this point, I would say the UX would be the selling point to our customers since we have tested what works, received valuable feedback internally and we often also discuss this with the customers themselves; essentially, it is their branding that we want to align with.
Being able to show our clients or potential partners something in practice is really the most thrilling stage for me; this is when our Figma designs actually come to life and we can see all of our hard work in action!
We obviously also have the option of building entirely bespoke systems so the customer can design their full end-to-end sportsbook and casino product themselves.
During this process, we work incredibly closely with the operator’s team to understand their unique requirements, target audience, branding specifications and the range of products that they want to incorporate into their offering. From there, we are able to develop a product that is entirely personalised for them.
SBCN: What role does mobile-first design play in modern sportsbook platforms? How can optimising for mobile enhance both usability and customer retention?
AW: In today’s society, it goes without saying that mobile devices are central to our daily lives. Everyone has a mobile phone, and the majority of us spend hours each day scrolling through various different apps – from social media to news and messaging. This growth in mobile has been evident in the gambling space too, with mobile volume compared to desktop currently averaging about a 70:30 ratio.
At Amelco, our iOS and Android App development, alongside our mobile web view, is our biggest focus, although desktop tweaks also come in tandem. By ensuring that we’re offering the best possible experiences on both mobile and desktop, Amelco can help operators to create the most streamlined UX and UI for bettors, which ultimately keeps players coming back.
In my view, customer retention is largely about building a product that is essentially easy to use. Can you easily access the race that you want to bet on? Can you easily deposit, place a bet and withdraw? Is the mobile app easy to navigate? These are all questions that we ask during the development phase – ensuring these needs are met is essential to our business. After all, no one wants to jump through several hoops just to place a bet!
The UX of these features must be dominant and located in an easily accessible frame, whilst also taking into account the scrollable login on a mobile device. In addition to this, there are also several minor points that must be taken into consideration, such as sizeable font and placement of buttons; get these wrong and it’s enough to turn users away towards your competitors. As you can imagine, a lot of thought goes into our latest releases.
SBCN: We’re seeing a growing demand for real-time data and live betting products as bettors demand more immersive experiences. How can operators better leverage this to create an in-play betting experience that appeals to bettors?
AW: Real-time betting has certainly grown in popularity over the last few years and is something that continues to create more immersive experiences for our punters. I really do think that this feature creates a thrilling atmosphere from wherever the player is based – be it sitting at home, commuting to work, or enjoying a flutter with friends while watching a game.
The ability to simply watch a live race and receive continuous updates via a live match tracker is arguably essential for customer retention. Players demand instant information; they want to know what is happening at that exact moment during a race.
Customers clearly want the ability to watch more live events, see more markets on display and take their betting activity to a micro-level. So, the key is having a wide variety of sports and betting markets on display for each and every punter. Again, the display of in-play specials and bet boosts is always eye-catching on our platform, specifically with odds constantly changing.
By giving bettors a wide variety of betting options to choose from, this can help fuel long-term retention and keep players engaged with your brand for much longer.
SBCN: How important is personalisation in the UX design – such as tailored betting suggestions or user dashboards – in improving the overall betting experience for players? And how is Amelco helping its partners to achieve this?
AW: As I mentioned previously, I would say our latest social media launch at Amelco is the best offering that we have in terms of tailoring the betting experience to each individual user. Punters can share their bets with other players, alongside follow other VIP players, allowing them to replicate the same bet if they wish!
Our social feature is also great for building a community for players to identify with too; not only does it enable them to engage further with the sport and other bettors, but it also adds an additional layer of competition to their betting experience.
Personalisation is key for us at Amelco as we really want our customers to get to know their players by creating a sportsbook or igaming product that suits the demand of their target audience.
Last but not least it goes without saying that we undergo extensive amounts of research on the demographics for each state and market we operate in to make sure the branding of our product sits within the cultural norms, as well as being the best suited to the local audience.
By tailoring our branding and products accordingly, we can show our understanding of the local market and better engage with operators and players. Again, it’s all about delivering the best!
