In our fast-paced world, people hate to wait! With the average human attention span being 8 seconds – apparently 1 second less than the approximate attention span of a goldfish – and with most people pressing the back button on a web browser in less than 4 secs, the risk is to lose up to 90% of your customers in less than 4 secs. Even if you don’t lose them, it means that they are irritated. So, what are we doing at Kindred to keep our online audience engaged?
Holding online customers’ attention is an ongoing challenge. The average person picks up their smartphone about 3 hours and 15 minutes each day, often for nothing more than to view someone’s selfie. What’s more, their attention span seems to be getting shorter, despite today’s faster load-times. HubSpot confirms that people’s attention spans decreased by an average 3.75 seconds between 2000 and 2015. And with social channels multiplying, things seem unlikely to change any time soon.
But the good news is there are ways for us to hold customers’ attention once they land on our gambling platforms. Here are some factors we are careful to take into account:
- Customers are driven by simplicity and speed. Impatience is endemic of our time bringing with it a move towards optimum speeds and real time. With games delivered in a blink, it’s vital to maintain the levels of speed that customers expect, so our gambling products must be easily and instantly accessible anytime, anywhere.
- Real time is a must. Managing money transfers and bonus pay outs needs to be done in a fraction of a second, not only because customers expect it, but to enable them to keep on playing. Our ultimate challenge? Improved real-time experiences that sustain the need for second-by-second delivery.
- Fast, digital customer support enables online gamblers to find answers to their queries with a minimum of effort and in as little time as possible. Self-service features are key to providing the fast, seamless and intuitive service that customers want.
- Safety and security measures. We invest heavily in the latest compliance and anti-money laundering systems to protect the business and make players feel safe with their transactions without being time-consuming or over-intrusive.
- Early detection of problematic play is of course key to responsible gambling. We invest heavily in comprehensive data analysis to enable us to pre-empt the risks brought about by the “benefits” of continuous play, live-betting, high speed and improved usability.
It’s clear that catering for goldfish-like attention spans requires more than simply speed. While speed is positive on many levels, if not kept in check it can give rise to its own set of risks. Our ever-evolving challenge is to strike the right balance between speed and safety to keep customers entertained.
