Few things in life are as enjoyable as watching your favorite sports — except maybe watching your favorite sports when you’ve got a wager on the outcome. 

Last year was rocky for the world of professional sports. COVID-19 outbreaks sidelined players, teams, and even the entire 2019-2020 NBA season. However, temporary setbacks also sparked resilience​​ — not only in sports leagues, but in sports betting too. And as more states and countries legalize it​​ — including the US, which lifted the federal ban in 2018, and Canada, where single-event sports betting became legal just last month​​ — online sports gambling is proving to be a booming industry.

That’s good news for online gambling sites ​​— especially since sports betting season is upon us. All of the major US leagues are either kicking off soon or under way: NFL, MLB, NCAA, and NBA. Internationally, the other football season (aka soccer, if you live in Ted Lasso’s homeland) has also started with the English Premier League and other top European leagues already in full swing. Whatever your game of choice, it’s time to place your bets.

The question now for betting brands isn’t whether or not you’ll be busy, it’s whether or not you’re ready to handle the influx of interactions that are certainly coming your way. Read on to find out how to prepare your CX to meet the demand and make sure you’re not leaving money on the table.

Get ready for your brand’s “super bowl moment”

No matter where sports betting brands are located, the busiest time of year is about to begin. That means you need to start preparing your CX, right now, to ensure your brand is ready for a flood of customer interactions. That “super bowl moment” is upon you — which, in this case, could actually be the super bowl. 

Sports betting brands have undergone significant transformation in recent years. Old stereotypes of dark bars and backalley betting have been replaced with incredibly innovative devices, prices, and plans. Gambling brands are always evolving their offerings, and with mobile transactions skyrocketing, customers need to be able to get the support they need—anytime, anywhere, and from any device.

For online gambling brands, the ultimate differentiator in an increasingly crowded market is the quality of your customer experience. 

Providing live customer support may seem like the best way to handle a growing number of customer inquiries, but the truth is an outdated customer support platform won’t cut it in today’s fast-paced digital world. Relying on live support can lead to long wait times and frustration for both customers and agents, which can result in high churn and turnover.

None of this is good for your brand’s reputation. Poor customer service can cost you millions of dollars in lost revenue—especially during the busy betting season when emotions run high and time is of the essence. To keep up with customer expectations and demands, betting brands need to extend digital transformation efforts beyond the betting process to include customer service and support, too. Because every brand interaction matters.

Automation is the winning play

Putting intelligent automation on the front line of your customer support strategy can help online gambling brands transform the customer experience while also increasing efficiency, making a serious bottom-line impact. Automated support allows customers to self-serve their most common inquiries, saving them the hassle of waiting for an agent.

For gambling brands, the ability to support betting on international events taking place across timezones is crucial. With conversational AI, you can provide instant support 24/7 on any channel, including Apple Business Chat, Facebook Messenger, and SMS. And brands can build their bot in one language and deploy it in over 100, saving brands from the costly task of hiring multilingual agents.

The right AI-powered platform prioritizes brand interactions and empowers customer support teams to do their best work by building engaging content, customizing customer journeys, and prompting them with upsell or cross-sell opportunities. Automation also offers brands the opportunity to differentiate CX by creating unique interactions that incorporate images, videos, GIFS, and other dynamic content. In a highly competitive market, anything that helps your brand stand out is good for your bottom line.

An automation-first approach to CX can help solve pain points that are specific to sports betting, like streamlining sign-up to reduce abandonments that leave money on the table.

Fraud is another top concern for sports bettors. With cybercrime on the rise, authentication is more important than ever. An advanced automation platform will allow online gambling brands to securely authenticate users directly through the conversational AI, giving them peace of mind without making them jump through hoops. Automation can also help gambling brands keep up with ever-changing regulations, saving time and money while helping to mitigate potential risks.

Personalize interactions for touchdown outcomes

Customers today expect personalization at every touchpoint, and online gambling is no exception. Betting brands can win big by personalizing customer interactions and being proactive about outreach. Done correctly, proactive messaging can lead to a 170% engagement rate with your customers. The key is personalization, and using customer insights to anticipate needs. 

So taking advantage of automation to make the first move is a smart bet for brands. A well designed platform will make it easy to customize campaigns with timely offerings, upsell opportunities, and relevant information such as outage announcements. You can even proactively offer support based on an individual customer’s needs — which could be a game changer in terms of reducing churn and building loyalty. 

Tailoring offers to individual interests can also help boost revenue. Conversational AI enables you to personalize and segment engagement based on unique attributes such as device type, geography, lifetime value, behaviour, preferred channel, language, and favourite sports. 

When you have a holistic view of your customer, you can see their entire interaction history with your brand. This makes it possible to tailor experiences by offering content that’s highly relevant, deepening engagement. You’ll also be able to arm your agents with all the context they need to approach conversations with empathy and resolve interactions as quickly as possible. It all ladders up to a better brand experience — and that will tip the odds in your favour.