The UK Bingo Industry is growing and growing fast. According to Google Search results report, in the last six months online bingo has become as popular as online poker. Could this be right?
Two factors have helped bingo reach the interest level as Poker. First, there are more adverts on the television for bingo than poker today. Second, because of the increase in bingo adverts, affiliate marketers are jumping on board and popping up affiliate run comparison sites which all in all, increased the noise around bingo.
So where is the UK Bingo industry heading today? Downhill if things don’t change. This is a little wake up for the UK Bingo industry… perhaps a friendly warning. It’s not light. It’s not nice. But it is honest and we think someone needs to highlight these points.
Where to begin? Ah yes, the explosion of online bingo in the UK and the lack of creativity and innovation from online bingo operators.
With tons of bingo co uk sites competing for your attention today, you’d think, as a bingo player, choosing a bingo community would be easier then simply comparing the free bingo bonuses or the confusing withdrawal rules?
If the goal of online bingo operators is to encourage more people to try online bingo, maybe they should be more sensitive to the fact that bingo players:
a) Are human | b) Don’t like confusion? | c) And want to feel appreciated
These points are not necessary meant to single out any bingo operator, but they’re a general theme that haunts most of the bingo co UK websites today:
- Loose all the flashy, moving objects. They’re distracting. Would you respond to all that noise? NO!
- Show a little tutorial on how to play bingo as a first time online player. You might think it’s easy, because it’s your community, but I’m new to your online community and a friendly how-to map would show me that you care.
- Don’t just give me bullet points why I should choose you, show me real proof. What’s better than actually seeing in real time what’s happening on the community with latest winners, upcoming games, etc.
- Please, one clear join now button is enough. Don’t insult me with 5 different flashy join now buttons. I don’t like being yelled at. Do you?
- If you offer free bingo or a free trial, don’t hide the small print and expect me to go look for it. If you have a small print then you’re out to cheat me. Be upfront and save me the hassle.
How about the promos?
It seems the bulk of online bingo communities offer more of the same: deposit £10 and get £10 pounds free. Same games: 90 ball bingo with similar prizes per game and odds. Same chat games and the same quirky TV Bingo adverts.
If I’m a regular online bingo player and in search for a great online bingo site, what do the same offers as the other bingo community that I just visited tell me? Maybe the site is much like the other bingo community I played at? What’s different here?
It seems, big gambling companies have simply entered the bingo market not because they can truly offer something different, but rather they’ve found a new channel to expand their bottom line. And with this saturation, more bingo sites are popping up simply to offer more of the same bonuses, compete against miniscule offers, all in all to make their shareholders happy.
But what about the bingo players?
- Have operators forgotten to create an entertainment experience that will delight players?
- Engage? Entice players to choose their online bingo site over their competitors?
- Will there ever be a Apple or Google of online bingo?
A bingo community that puts customer experience above all?
It’s disappointing that there are far few bingo operators today that have made the player experience a priority. This is evident from the poor site structure, website accessibility and site usability. Perhaps the obvious was forgotten: that real people would end up playing games online.
How to Improve?
Okay, best to stop pondering on the negative. Instead, let’s look at areas where the operators can improve in order to help the UK bingo industry flourish and to successfully bring on more people to enjoy bingo online:
Bring new excitement to online bingo by tapping into creative promotions that actually get players engaged.
Each bingo community should have their unique differentiation point that helps their community stand out from the rest. This means, tap into creativity and actually offer new ways to engage players to try bingo online instead of the misleading free bonuses that can’t t be withdrawn
It’s clear, every new industry goes through a maturation cycle and I’m optimist that UK online bingo will eventually reach there’s soon. But for that to happen, everyone invested in the industry needs to their part that includes operators to players to the independent review sites like us at Bingo HQ.
By Paul marion
I’m the community manager at the UK online bingo comparison site Bingo HQ. Where you can find no bull online bingo reviews.
For more bingo reviews you can check 10 Best Bingo Rooms, where bingo sites are listed by reliability and security.