Bad Marketing or Misunderstanding invite? Opinions Please.

[silcnlayc]

I received this today in the mail and I said, to myself after opening the letter. How nice that they still remember me. I go to install the casino and try to redeem the coupon and it denies me, not once but twice.

I scratch my head, re-read the invite and say to myself..hmmm..nowhere does it say for "new player or "new account" or anything such ..so I go to live chat and they check out my request of redeeming the coupon manually and they then say...sorry..you are not a NEW player..I say...excuse me? No where on the letter does it state this ..please show me where it says this. The live chat gentleman says this promo is for new accounts and players only, sorry! I say, it was bad marketing and should be honored the way it was offered...Was I wrong?

I say thank you and start thinking..did I read it wrong? Did I misunderstand the letter? They sent it to me and my address so....I felt it was very bad marketing and ......ahh welll....same ole same ole...I guess.

I would like some input if you will, and let me know what you read in the letter.

Thanks.....
.

 

[Repro]

I think if they sent you this by mail they already know you as a player. In that case they should give you the bonus. You are also right that it doesn't say "new players only".

 

[missmichelle]

I think they should honor it. They already know you have an existing account and it doesn't say for New Player's only.

Michelle

 

[Osloking]

how can they have your name and adress and your acount nr and say later this is only for new coustomer thats sounds not logic. they should pay it.

i have my self got this kind a promo from red flush, they sent me free bonus and it was to new acount only, really retarded promo...

 

[funeral979]

It looks to me like a personal code, so I would think it was meant specifically for you.

That being said....the way the letter is worded, it appears as it was geared for someone who has never played there before. Especially as it invites you to claim their FIRST deposit bonus.

I guess you could look at it either way

 

[jod5413]

I have gotten these before, too. It is poorly worded, even if the letter does "hint" that you are a new player. I know they will not honor it, but it really IS poor marketing, IMO. I guess we need to get in touch with support over any and every offer we get before we go for it. Someday, this crap will stop, and regulation will help keep things simple and honest.........sigh

 

[KasinoKing]

The first sentence of the letter clearly indicates it is aimed at new players IMHO.
Also, at the bottom it says "please check T&C's" and/or contact CS if you have any queries.
I can't really see any issue with this letter other than I agree they should NOT be sending it to existing players.
So yes, it is bad marketing practise.

I get these sort of things all the time (with CDs enclosed) for casinos I already joined.

KK

 

[Nate]

I would agree that this is geared at NEW Players. Club World IMPO wouldn't even have the integrity to honor it.... Squash it and throw it away.

Don't even bother with the 'Contact CS' because what they say doesn't really mean anything. It's a Poor marketing attempt and issues like these should be screened before they are sent out.

Nate

 

[zap987]

They should honor the bonus and take it out of the affiliates account.

 

[vinylweatherman]

It's SPAM, clear and simple. It is dressed up to look as though you were PERSONALLY invited by the casino manager Lauren, which is where the confusion starts. Although it implies it is for new players, the only LEGAL way CWC could have your details is from your registration of your existing account, so this is "bad marketing" at best. This is not something one would expect from CWC, however there are many posts saying they are "going downhill", and carelessness like this only serves to reinforce this impression. They could have LOST this existing player, who was clearly tempted to reinstall the casino on the strength of this offer, only to find they had wasted their time. This means any future letter is LESS likely to entice them back, even if they ARE eligible next time.

This is not the first time that players have received a supposed "personal" offer direct from Lauren, only to find they are not eligible. This has lead to speculation that "Lauren" is not actually a real person, but something made up by marketing in order to "personalise" the player experience. This is a common trick used by big companies, and some have been embarrassed when such promotions backfire, and customers complain. The media starts asking questions, and of course seeks an interview with the manager who's name appears on the offer, only to find they simply don't exist.

Such problems arise because casinos insist on contracting out postal marketing, so screw-ups like this are inevitable, however it is the CASINO that gets the blame, not the faceless PR/marketing company they employed. eMail marketing is mostly the work of affiliates, and spam is a common ocurrance, leading to many players receiving offers they are not eligible for.

 

[Nottsogreen]

I

Such problems arise because casinos insist on contracting out postal marketing, so screw-ups like this are inevitable, however it is the CASINO that gets the blame, not the faceless PR/marketing company they employed.

This is simply not the case. I work for a company who execute Direct Mail campaigns for Online Casinos, and we have so many procedures in place to avoid the erroneous sending of letters, that we actually STOP a lot of errors occurring.

Online casino operators are just that, they operate online casinos. Direct Mail companies (like us) specialise in Direct Mail. Its what we do.

Mistakes like THIS happen when Casino's choose to run a campaign out of their own office or subcontract to Ad agencies, and then fail to run the checks that we do as a matter of course. For example, we have access to tools to identify people who have moved home or even to identify deceased players and remove them from the send. Whether a casino CHOOSES to use these tools (ie pay for them) is up to them, we (and all other responsible, professional DM companies) simply make the tools available to them.

Yes, mistakes happen, but using experts in their field reduces these, not increases them.

(/gets off high horse)

 

[luarod]

Bad Marketing practice all the way. I can see why some other posts say that it's implied that the bonus is for new players so there is no way they are going to honor it. But the problem is that they should think who are they sending the letters to before... common sense.

 

[vinylweatherman]

This is simply not the case. I work for a company who execute Direct Mail campaigns for Online Casinos, and we have so many procedures in place to avoid the erroneous sending of letters, that we actually STOP a lot of errors occurring.

Online casino operators are just that, they operate online casinos. Direct Mail companies (like us) specialise in Direct Mail. Its what we do.

Mistakes like THIS happen when Casino's choose to run a campaign out of their own office or subcontract to Ad agencies, and then fail to run the checks that we do as a matter of course. For example, we have access to tools to identify people who have moved home or even to identify deceased players and remove them from the send. Whether a casino CHOOSES to use these tools (ie pay for them) is up to them, we (and all other responsible, professional DM companies) simply make the tools available to them.

Yes, mistakes happen, but using experts in their field reduces these, not increases them.

(/gets off high horse)

So, who decides upon the list of recipients, the casino or the mailing company? If this was meant for new players, the casino would have had to entrust the mailing company to come up with a list of recipients based on their own data (such as those who express an interest on their postal preference form lodged with the Royal Mail for use in filtering "junk mail"). I would expect the casino provides the copy, so would be responsible for ensuring it is clear.

Why was "new players only" not EXPLICITLY stated on the letter, given that such arrangements are bound to lead to some existing players receiving the offer. Leaving something to be inferred is not good enough, ask the ASA.

 

[Nottsogreen]

So, who decides upon the list of recipients, the casino or the mailing company? If this was meant for new players, the casino would have had to entrust the mailing company to come up with a list of recipients based on their own data (such as those who express an interest on their postal preference form lodged with the Royal Mail for use in filtering "junk mail"). I would expect the casino provides the copy, so would be responsible for ensuring it is clear.

Why was "new players only" not EXPLICITLY stated on the letter, given that such arrangements are bound to lead to some existing players receiving the offer. Leaving something to be inferred is not good enough, ask the ASA.

To answer in turn :

in our case *(i am sure not everyone operates the same), the CLIENT decides on the list of recipients. This could be from a number of sources (eg "fun" players that have registered but not deposited, Lapsed players, Rented lists from list brokers , data from Social Media sites etc).

WRT The copy, this IS provided by the client, but as experienced marketeers in the sector, we would normally check the copy to ensure that the message is CLEAR and not ambiguous, and indeed is targeted towards the segmentation applied to the data in the first place (otherwise it wont be an effective campaign! )

I agree, the ASA do take (quite rightly) companies to task over "misleading" adverts, one that springs to mind is

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where an advert was found to be misleading.

With reference to "Why was "new players only" not EXPLICITLY stated on the letter", I would not like to speculate on that, as this campaign was nothing to do with us !

The option to run data against (for example) Mailing preference service (the UK "junk mail" filter) is there, and indeed the CAP code states that you SHOULD run data against it, but only if "no pre existing relationship exists", which often is not the case (eg free play players)

 

[silcnlayc]

Thank you all for the input. The offer was NOT honored. I did reinstall the casino just for this reason and as was said, they lost a very loyal longstanding customer. To send an offer such as this directly to me (name and all), knowing I had an account already at all their sister casinos too..is kind of misleading was my thought. It also was very vague on the "new player" part since it was addressed to me personally instead of "Dear New Player".

I am just so discouraged with all casinos nowadays that it is hard to play at all anymore. This definitely puts icing on my cake on where to play. Why? Because I once said I enjoy playing free chips when I can instead of taking bonuses with my monies and I was looking forward to a nice night of spinning and relaxing on the house. Hopes were dashed...as usual...but in a very bad way IMO...I still think it should have been honored.

Again, thanks for all the input. Good perspectives and interesting to read differing opinions.


.

 

[swampwitch]

What are we to believe?

Did CWC itself send out CDs and a bonus offer for NEW PLAYERS using a list of already enrolled players? That wouldn't simply be a bad marketing decision, it would be just plain stupid. It not only wouldn't attract NEW players, it would piss off exisitng players.

OR, is it an affiliate using a bought mailing list, a simple snail mail template with different bonus codes authorized to the affiliate for new players, and someone with the know-how to embed an affiliate code in a CD. That seems more likely to me, considering how sophisticated personal PC's CD/DVD software is getting.

If it turns out CWC sent these out, they need to give the bonuses, end of discussion. Stupidity and vague wording is beneath an accredited company.
If it's an affiliate, CWC needs to cancel this fuckwit's affiliate account.

 

[Silencio]

My guess would be an administration error.
It happened to me once at gowild. I asked support if they could offer me a bonus and she told me I was eligible for the welcome bonus lol.
I told her, although I kinda deserve this kind of deal, are you sure? And turned out she made a mistake. Maybe I should have insisted on getting it, but I only went in to see if they could change my opinion about them, with them being cm accredited now. So, guess not