Wonder Bingo launched to affiliates earlier this year but is already enjoying impressive conversion numbers. President Jacob Fuller talks about the advantages of social bingo sites
Over the years I have lost track of how many conversations I have had about how “online bingo is such a social activity yet the industry lacks a social software”. With the advent of web 2.0 (which now seems ages ago), the question always remained; why hasn’t a real money, social bingo site been created? Since Wonder Bingo launched, I am glad we took the past year to try and answer this question.
Online poker and casino games are typically played by men, where the objective is to win as much money possible. In contrast, online bingo has always been recognised as a social activity skewed to the female demographic. In fact, bingo is so social that the majority of players set the software to auto-daub so they have more time to chat and interact with the other players.
One of the fastest growing gaming segments online is women of 35 years and over. Women are extremely active in online social networks, responsible for 71 per cent of fan activity on Facebook and it is estimated that female Facebook users have on average 140 friends each. With so many women connected online it only makes sense that marketing to them socially would work.
Like the popular game Second Life, many bingo players come to Wonder Bingo looking for a break from reality. Most players spend their day driving kids around, preparing dinner for their family or working. Bingo is a release for players, a second world where they can forget about the stresses of everyday life and build their own online persona, which is usually drastically different from their offline persona. By combining the social elements found in some of the most popular online games like Farmville, Wonder Bingo rewards players when they move up levels. Adding levels gives the players a status within the community and further boosts the reputation of their online persona.
Not to give out too much insider knowledge but social bingo gives us the ability to do many things other bingo sites cannot. Here are two random examples:
• Wonder Bingo retains players for a longer period of time. The current bingo landscape is controlled by two to three software providers and 200 plus front ends who compete mainly on bonus. Wonder Bingo players invest time in the site by uploading photos, forming friendships, completing achievements, moving up levels and much more. When a player is this invested in a site they are more likely to remain faithful to the site and not as likely to jump from site to site, chasing bonuses, thus increasing retention.
• Bingo sites currently market promotions by sending emails to players, which are usually lost in the 20 plus similar emails sent from other bingo providers. Now imagine how much more effective it would be to have an events page on the site for specific promotions on which players could confirm attendance (similar to Facebook). Now think about how effective an email invite sent from the attending players to their friends or a personal message sent within the site would be. From recent experience I can confirm that the email open rate is off the charts.
