Fundamental casino online website processes and UX best practices
The iGaming market is huge and changing user preferences justify the growth of this sector. Along with the large number of players, the significance of processes involving players is growing. Among the key ones that have the greatest impact on player satisfaction are: registration, identity verification, deposit and withdrawal of funds or a reliable payment system. In this article, we present the best UX practices that, if followed, can help a casino achieve better results and get higher ratings from the players themselves.
All the mentioned processes should be simple and fast. Unfortunately, they are often neglected or underestimated by casino owners. The positive course of these processes determines whether the customer will start playing for money, as well as whether the casino will gain steady popularity among players.
Registration and account creation – can anything be messed up here?
Registration and account creation are one of the most frequently and accurately described processes in casinos in terms of the possibility of obtaining a license. Casino owners face a major challenge in combining all the legislative requirements related to sending documents and confirmations of player credibility with a friendly and fast process. No one wants players who have already decided to take this step to abandon the platform. Why is this so important? The registration process is a kind of showcase and representative for all other processes and functionality on the site. If a user has difficulties at this stage, he will begin to assume that this will be the case with every other stage. Even if he passes this stage, he may decide not to invest his money for fear of some kind of failure and error.
Too long or complicated form
A form that is too long or complicated can discourage users. It is best to limit it to essential information. Some customer data can be entered after logging in.
Placing everything on one page
An endless form to fill out can be overwhelming. It’s worth dividing the information into thematic groups and placing them in multiple steps.
Lack of information about the current stage
Customers should always be aware of which step they are currently on and how much is left until the end. This will improve their confidence and result in more users completing the entire process.
Grouping all information together
To make it easier for users to understand the structure of the form, it is important to group related information together. For example, all address information should be placed in one location instead of placing the postal code field between the first name and last name.
Headers at the same distance from the top and bottom fields
The absence of appropriate spacing can make it difficult to fill out forms. The longer the form, the greater the risk. Care should be taken to ensure that the header is clearly closer to the field it pertains to than the distance from the field above.
Lack of placeholders
Including sample information in fields facilitates filling them out. This helps users feel less confused.
Filling out on a device other than a computer is impossible or difficult
Especially for online casinos, adapting the website to mobile devices is an important aspect. This also applies to the registration process. It is necessary to test whether our process can be satisfactorily completed.
Enforcing overly strong security measures
Customer security is very important, but it should be within acceptable standards. Requiring a 32-character password combined with 3 special characters, numbers, and two-factor authentication will, at best, cause the customer to have to create a new password each time. At worst, they will never log in again.
Requiring a login instead of an email for login
A separate login often serves as the account’s name. This provides anonymity to users while allowing them to provide accurate account details. What will effectively prevent logging into a casino in the future is forcing the user to remember their login. It is best to leave the choice and give the user the option to log in with their email.
Unclear field validation
Every form has fields that are mandatory and have a specific format, such as a postal code. It is crucial to provide clear information to the user about which fields need to be filled in and which ones have been filled incorrectly or require specific characters.
Automatic selection of marketing permissions
Users should be aware of the decisions they make. Automatically selecting fields such as marketing permissions is known as a Dark pattern. These are actions that are particularly bad practices and mislead users.
Lack of progress saving
Loss of connectivity or accidental backward clicking can result in closing the page. Particularly with long forms, this can lead to user frustration. If technology allows, saving completed fields can prevent registration abandonment.
Lack of the ability to go back
Omitting the ability to go back prevents checking and correcting errors. In the case of accidentally moving to the next step, it will require starting the registration process from the beginning.
Verification email – send them quickly
Slow servers and slow Internet (even mobile) are a thing of the past for many of us. We get used to what is convenient very quickly and transfer our experiences from other portals to our expectations of other sites or services. Therefore, if a user has to wait longer than expected for an email with an account activation link, he may never complete this step. This will happen even more so if the site blocks access to the logged-in section altogether.
How to deal with it if this step is necessary to fully use the platform and play for money?
One of the ways to get out of a situation that often doesn’t have to be your fault is to turn a potentially negative situation into your asset. The email problem may exist on the client’s inbox side or the user’s connection. Usually, it will be up to 5 minutes. Regardless of the real reason for the delays, the user will be informed that such a situation may occur, and additionally gets information that it is because a lot of people are using it.
Activation mail in spam
Many users can handle this without any issues, but for others, it might present an insurmountable obstacle. On the account creation confirmation screen, along with the information about the activation email, remember to mention that the message might end up in the spam folder.
Identity verification
Identity verification, while an onerous duty for users, also gives them benefits. It serves to ensure security and regulatory compliance, and protects both users and the sites themselves.
To make this step easier and eliminate the fear of sharing one’s identity, it’s worth informing them of a few things.
Fraud prevention
Identity verification helps prevent fraud, such as identity theft, phishing and other types of fraud. By verifying that users are who they say they are, services can reduce the risk of fraud.
Regulatory compliance
Many industries, such as finance, gambling and health services, are subject to strict regulations requiring verification of users’ identities to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing or ensure the protection of personal data. Compliance with these regulations is mandatory.
Restricting access
It is an important step to restrict access to content or services by minors.
Data processing policies
Users’ concerns about their data are filled with legitimacy. Inform them how their information is secured and processed, and that they can delete it at any time. This will affect their sense of security and empowerment.
Deposit and withdrawal of funds
No online casino can function without deposits and withdrawals. We have earned the customer’s trust and decisions that it is through our platform that they will play their favorite games. What to pay attention to so that potential success does not turn into actual failure?
Ensure a sense of security
The most obvious, but also the most important aspect of any deposit process. It will be influenced by such elements as popular and reputable electronic payment providers. Not having the only provider you use will also be a quick way to switch platforms.
Put only the most important information
Humans have a limited ability to process and store information. It is a good idea to provide assurances of a safe and fast transaction and support from the platform. Keep concise instructions to guide the user through each step.
Avoid unnecessary steps!
Nowhere is minimalism more important than here. Every additional step is a potential risk.
How to detect or protect against potential errors?
Responsiveness
A good product should be adaptable to different devices. Users often use multiple devices. It is worth taking care to provide a satisfying experience on each of them.
Accessibility
It’s easy to forget that a number of people struggle with various disabilities. Many of them occur temporarily following accidents or recovery. Preparing the product according to accessibility standards will start to make the casino at all accessible to a new group of users.
Testing
To find out what problems are affecting us, it is best to look at the source. Testing all processes with users will give us the most knowledge about the state of our casino. It will also allow us to change our perspective. This can be done before a product is released as well as when it has been on the market for many years. User preferences are constantly changing.
Monitoring
Even when we test our solution doesn’t mean that nothing can change over the course. By monitoring certain behaviors and cross-referencing them with available data, we can quickly identify a problem, for example, on the technical side resulting from a browser update or server errors.
User experience vs Graphic Design
If you were expecting more visual recommendations here you may feel a bit disappointed. You have every right to do so. It’s a common misconception that good UX on a site = a pretty site. This is often true, but also a big understatement. The layout, the style, the colors, the quality of the materials is an integral part of the user experience. Even the best-crafted project from the UX side will not succeed without the right graphic design. What happens most often, however, is that the elements you can’t see, their improper hierarchy or the nomenclature used are the most significant.
Summary
As you can see, even in such common and seemingly simple processes, there are many situations that can negatively affect the user experience. Perhaps it is because they are so downplayed that they will become a problem you won’t notice. Often we have no control over the difficulties that users encounter, but we can always design our processes to negate their negative impact. At the end of the day, all that matters is that the customer feels safe and can use the casino comfortably.
