The Genius Edge: Five reasons to rethink your World Cup acquisition strategy

New players sign-up to your sportsbook ahead of a major tournament but quickly churn after the first deposit. Know the feeling? 

It won’t be a surprise to you, then, that almost every marketer I’ve spoken to ahead of the World Cup is looking to try something new this time around. 

Because while traditional offers like free bet promotions and boosted odds on the local nation drive registrations, they generate little engagement beyond a pre-tournament outright bet. 

So how can operators rethink their campaigns ahead of November 20?  

Read on for five reasons why free-to-play games are an unmissable way to hit your World Cup targets. 

1. You’ll start acquiring new players early 

At recent tournaments, predictor-style games have become an essential part of the acquisition battle. These games can range from the correct scores across the next six games to the match result, first goalscorer and total goals on a single fixture (which is my personal preference!). 

F2P gives operators a new way to acquire football fans in a heavily offer-led marketplace, ahead of and during the tournament. It is a powerful tactic to drive sign-ups at scale because it allows fans to compete against friends for a chance to win jackpot and free bet prizes. 

These games will also hand your marketing team valuable user data, so you can drive new audiences to real-money betting markets.

2. You’ll drive daily tournament engagement 

Players bet with multiple operators at the World Cup, so the fact F2P games drive daily engagement is a huge benefit. 

Predictor games keep players coming back to your brand ahead of each fixture, with dynamic leaderboards and social sharing features that create a sense of loyalty. 

This is an amazing platform to direct football fans to your pre-match and in-play odds every day of the tournament. What better way to drive tournament-long player value? 

3. You’ll convert new audiences to real-money odds 

Launching a World Cup F2P game doesn’t just mean new players and new engagement. It’s a strategy that supports your entire funnel and tournament-wide campaign. 

Both free bet rewards and tailored bet recommendations, based on each user’s predictions, are proven ways to convert F2P audiences to your sportsbook. 

For our partners like BetVictor, these conversion strategies consistently turn engagement into deposits and turnover. 

4. It's a cost-effective strategy 

While acquiring players ahead of the World Cup can be expensive, F2P is a great tactic to drive a clear ROI on your spend. 

Launching a prediction game requires just a one-off fee and then a targeted programmatic or social budget to drive new players to sign-up – and the results are proven. 

From then on, you’ve got an owned audience – and all the audience data you need - to nurture, convert and drive LTV. 

5. You’ll standout from your rivals 

Free-to-play games add an extra dimension to your sportsbook, and help you bring in new casual football audiences in ways many of your competitors can’t. You’ll benefit from lower CPAs than the tournament average and huge reach that cuts through the noise. 

Launching an F2P strategy ahead of kick-off on Nov 20 is simple. With our World Cup package, you can go live and unlock these five benefits in less than six weeks.