Customer Journey Map: the Key to Growth in the iGaming Industry

About the Tool

A Customer Journey Map is a diagram of interactions between gamblers and an entertainment site. It clearly demonstrates all stages of a client’s lifecycle: from their first contact with a brand to becoming loyal and regular players.

The solution shows what people do on a digital portal, which slots they prefer, and how entrepreneurs make or lose profit.

A good CJM is built in 2 directions:

1. Horizontal. This layer displays the stages of interaction with a casino, including initial appeal, registration, the first deposit, performance, and refund.
2. Vertical. It shows the customer's actions at each stage. These include clicking on advertising banners, depositing funds, reviewing bonus policies, spinning reels, and participating in promotions.

This approach helps operators to fully recreate the client’s journey — from initial acquaintance to constant play. Business owners see how players spend their time on the website, which options (bonuses, promotions, collections) attract or motivate them, and which, conversely, are unappealing.

Stages of Interaction with iGaming Platforms

Let us consider the key components of CJM.

Awareness

Here, a person first encounters a casino brand:

• sees an advertisement;
• researches reviews or ratings;
• receives a recommendation from friends or acquaintances.

Users do not choose a gaming site at this moment. They merely study and analyse the information received. This data can generate curiosity and interest, but also skepticism or distrust of the entertainment platform.

The key metrics at the awareness stage are:

1. CTR (Click-Through Rate). This is the percentage of people who were attracted by an ad. The ratio shows how well it aligns with the expectations of the target audience. A high parameter indicates the right marketing strategy. Low values ​​may be explained by incorrectly selected clients or a poorly arranged offer.
2. CPM/CPC. This is the price of an advertising impression and click, which directly impacts the cost of attracting gamblers. High indicators, but without a growth in deposit rates, are the sign of low-quality Internet traffic.
3. Bounce Rate. It is the percentage of players who leave immediately after landing on the website. An increased metric may be due to issues with localisation and portal design, as well as a slow network connection.

Consideration

During this stage, customers examine the product:

• review starting bonuses;
• read the conditions for depositing funds;
• compare the digital platform with other casinos.

Clients may be hesitant and careful about an iGaming project or, conversely, be interested and eager to launch slots as quickly as possible.

Key metrics at this point include:

1. Time on Site/Pages per Session. This is the amount of time and tabs studied by players.
2. Bonus Click Rate. It reflects the percentage of customers who clicked on remuneration conditions. The metric shows how well the offered free spins and promotions match the actual requests of the audience.
3. Registration Rate. It is a key KPI for assessing the quality of a landing page. A drop coefficient can be explained by an overloaded homepage, complex bonus terms, or a lack of information on licensing.

Registration

During this phase, users perform the following actions:

• enter personal information;
• confirm e-mail address or phone number;
• undergo initial verification (age, geolocation);
• become online casino clients.

Registration Completion Rate is the main metric that operators should focus on. It reflects the percentage of people who started and completed the login stage and is an indicator of the UX design quality. If the landing page is uncomfortable, customers are likely to abandon the gaming site.

Drop-off by Step shows at what step players interrupt the registration procedure. Difficulties can be caused by problems with passwords, a huge number of fields to fill in, lengthy validation, or an inconvenient CAPTCHA process.

First Deposit (FTD)

Gamblers pay real money, which often leads to tension and fear, or, conversely, hope and expectation of big prizes.

Operators track:

1. FTD Rate. The percentage of registered players and those who made a deposit reflects trust in the casino brand and directly affects its revenue.
2. Payment Success Rate. This is the coefficient of completed transactions. Low rates may indicate problems with the financial page or provider, high fees, and long waiting time before the transfer is finalised.
3. Time to First Bet. This is the period from the deposit to the first bet. The faster clients launch the initial spin, the higher the chances of retaining them in the future.

Gameplay

At this stage, players are completely immersed in excitement. They place bids, use free spins or bonus features, and are victorious or defeated. People experience a wide range of emotions: euphoria, frustration, engagement, etc.

Session Length is one of the key metrics for assessing behaviour and involvement. If gaming sessions are too short, the slots and rewards offered fail to attract the audience.

The Bets per Session function shows the number of bids per round. This parameter reflects customer activity and helps segment players into different target groups.

Bonus Wagering Completion Rate is the percentage of gamblers who have cleared their starting bonuses. This metric helps assess the feasibility of wagering requirements and how well they meet the needs of clients.

Withdrawal

This is a stage when people cash out their money. To motivate casino visitors to come back and place bets, the process must be as fast, simple, and secure as possible, without hidden fees or additional charges.

Key withdrawal metrics include:

1. Request Rate. It reflects the percentage of players who want to receive their prizes in monetary terms.
2. Withdrawal Success Rate. This is the percentage of successful payouts in online casinos. This indicator directly affects the reputation of iGaming brands, and low values ​​lead to negative reviews.
3. Time to Payout. The period it takes for funds to be credited to players' accounts depends on the payment provider's policies, the selected settlement method, localisation, and other factors.

Retention/Churn

This refers to the maintenance of customers’ interest and the return of those who decided to leave.

Retention D7 and D30 show the percentage of returning gamblers 7 and 30 days after their first interaction with the platform. High retention rates have a positive impact on LTV and other casino KPIs.

Repeat Deposit Rate is the coefficient that reflects how many people make re-deposits. This parameter can be more important than the first contribution, as it demonstrates long-term interest in the entertainment site.

LTV (Lifetime Value) is the revenue per player over the entire duration of customers’ interaction with the digital platform. It is used to calculate the target cost per acquisition (CPA) and is a key business metric for operators.

Churn Rate reflects the percentage of clients who leave the portal. It is important for entrepreneurs to track this indicator dynamically to understand at what point and why people stop betting.

Touchpoints in CJM Online Casinos

They are closely intertwined with the customers’ life journey on the website. Each element either strengthens trust or becomes a reason for leaving.

Let us look at the main touchpoints:

1. Advertising. This is the promotion of iGaming products on Google, Facebook, TikTok, through affiliate networks, and other channels. A recommendation system (via reviews and bloggers) works well here, but an aggressive or clickbaiting tone often does not bring the expected results.
2. Homepage. Potential clients are driven away by the congestion in the interface, poor navigation, and a lack of information about bonuses and mobile adaptation. If users do not understand how to start playing, they quickly go to competitors.
3. Registration form. Difficulties at this stage include lengthy forms, mandatory KYC, and errors with no explanations. The autofill feature and the promise of KYC verification can increase the chances of successful registration.
4. Payment page. This is the most sensitive contact point with online casinos. Gamblers do not like the denial of transfers, hidden fees, and unclear statuses of transactions. To retain customers, it is important to offer local settlement methods, convenient currency conversion, and professional support.
5. Game interface. Personalisation, smooth UX design, and quick feedback are decisive factors in favour of entertainment portals. Constant lags, unclear balance, and difficulties with the bonus tracker, on the contrary, discourage the audience.
6. Communication. This is interaction with players during the sessions and through support. Overly long and formulaic responses often cause confusion, as does the inability to contact a manager directly.

Important touchpoints also include the iGaming brand's reputation, competent localisation (languages, currencies, interface), and an understandable loyalty system.

Why the Customer Journey Map Is Important for Operators

The online casino industry is highly competitive. Offers, bonuses, and visuals are quickly copied, while to clients, dozens of digital platforms look almost identical. Because of this, they make instant decisions, quickly start playing, and then go to competitors.

A CJM allows entrepreneurs to understand where and why their products are inferior to other brands. Business owners do not focus on low KPIs post facto, but begin to manage them at the moment when people first visit their entertainment portals.

The tool directly affects the following casino KPIs:

1. For example, conversion to the first deposit increases due to a shorter customer journey and reduced anxiety.
2. Retention grows because players feel the solution “understands” them and does not act in an erratic manner.
3. LTV increases as a result of a long-term and stable relationship between gamblers and the casino site.

CJM's advantages also include effective risk management.

The tool helps develop the correct logic for interacting with clients: when to request documents, how to explain the reasons for refusal and expectations regarding deadlines, etc.

Thanks to this, the number of conflicts and disputes is sharply reduced, and entertainment brands strengthen their market positions.

The Main Things about CJM in Gambling

Key aspects that operators should take into account:

• The solution includes multiple stages. These are the acquaintance with the platform, registration, making an initial deposit, spinning the reels in slots, withdrawal of winnings, and motivation of players to return to the portal.
• CJM allows entrepreneurs to build effective engagement with their audience at every phase, prevent customer churn, and increase their LTV (lifetime value). The tool affects KPI metrics such as acquisition cost, conversion, duration of sessions, and GGR.