Online casinos are expected to top 10 billion dollars in betting and tens of millions of online gamblers this year. With these numbers, the online casino sites' customer service centers must be receiving quite a few calls. As a matter of fact, online casino sites invite players to contact their help desks for any issue from help signing up for a payment method at the online casino cahier to problems operating a game.
The topic of customer service at online casino sites has received the focus of the professional journal CRM Today recently. The journal reported of an independent, professional survey by a customer service company of the 100 most popular online casino sites in the United Kingdom. The survey, though it reported improvement in the service given to gamblers at online casino sites, said it is not on par with industry standards for player service.
The survey looked into the online casino sites' responses to questions on the legal status of Internet gambling. With the recent legal developments in the United States, this is a source of confusion of many online casino gamblers. The company contacted the 100 online casino sites via phone, email and live chat sessions. One in six phone calls was not answered, and two of five emails were ignored, the survey reported. In addition, the survey points out that online casino sites do not usually have proper online help documents to guide gamblers independently without need to contact the sites.
The survey evaluated the performance of online casino sites on the following aspects of customer service: the various service channels (email, chat, phone, help documents), response speed, personal touch and accuracy. The industry competitiveness has, so far, emphasized improvements in online casino sites and games, and less so in the customer service aspects. "When you consider that the online gambling market is becoming increasingly competitive… organizations need to start perceiving customer service as a differentiator rather then a luxury,” said Jon McNerney, vice president of the survey company. It is time for online casino sites to answer the call and take customer service to the next step. |
