This is a guest contribution by Simon Lidzén, CEO & Co-founder FAST TRACK. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

What if I would tell you that customers who engage with customer support and are satisfied with the help they receive, are far more likely to recommend your brand to a friend or colleague? In this article I am looking to explain why customer service is your key to sustainable growth.

I was once told a great story that compared BMW and Toyota. Toyota had far less problems with their cars compared to BMW, yet more customers were likely to recommend BMW to a friend or colleague. How can this be? Well… any customer that visited a BMW service center was treated so well, that they did not fear having future problems with their car, and as a result they were far more likely to recommend the brand.

No one is perfect and your customers will experience problems whilst using your site no matter how much you invest in quality assurance or engage with usability experts to design the best user flows. It is simply impossible to get away from. When your players experience problems, whether it be caused by poor usability or site bugs, you can either fly or fall with your customer service depending on your approach.

This is a guest contribution by Simon Lidzén, CEO & Co-founder FAST TRACK. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

What if I would tell you that customers who engage with customer support and are satisfied with the help they receive, are far more likely to recommend your brand to a friend or colleague? In this article I am looking to explain why customer service is your key to sustainable growth.

I was once told a great story that compared BMW and Toyota. Toyota had far less problems with their cars compared to BMW, yet more customers were likely to recommend BMW to a friend or colleague. How can this be? Well… any customer that visited a BMW service center was treated so well, that they did not fear having future problems with their car, and as a result they were far more likely to recommend the brand.

No one is perfect and your customers will experience problems whilst using your site no matter how much you invest in quality assurance or engage with usability experts to design the best user flows. It is simply impossible to get away from. When your players experience problems, whether it be caused by poor usability or site bugs, you can either fly or fall with your customer service depending on your approach.

Online gambling software firm Playtech says it remains on the hunt for possible acquisitions while its Xwise digital marketing arm lays off the majority of its staff.

Playtech held its annual general meeting on Wednesday, at which chairman Alan Jackson said the company was having “active discussions” with a number of potential acquisition targets for its gaming division, while its financials division was looking at “selective bolt-on” acquisitions.

Last month, Playtech missed out on acquiring online technology rival OpenBet, which was snapped up by NYX Gaming (with a little financial help from William Hill, who had a contentious relationship with Playtech before Hills bought out Playtech’s share of the William Hill Online joint venture).

Having been pipped at the OpenBet post, Playtech is sitting on an acquisition war chest of nearly $1b, but should no suitable acquisition target present itself, Jackson said Playtech will consider returning some of that cash to shareholders, including Teddy Sagi, Playtech’s largest shareholder, company founder and erstwhile jailbird pornographer.

Online gambling software firm Playtech says it remains on the hunt for possible acquisitions while its Xwise digital marketing arm lays off the majority of its staff.

Playtech held its annual general meeting on Wednesday, at which chairman Alan Jackson said the company was having “active discussions” with a number of potential acquisition targets for its gaming division, while its financials division was looking at “selective bolt-on” acquisitions.

Last month, Playtech missed out on acquiring online technology rival OpenBet, which was snapped up by NYX Gaming (with a little financial help from William Hill, who had a contentious relationship with Playtech before Hills bought out Playtech’s share of the William Hill Online joint venture).

Having been pipped at the OpenBet post, Playtech is sitting on an acquisition war chest of nearly $1b, but should no suitable acquisition target present itself, Jackson said Playtech will consider returning some of that cash to shareholders, including Teddy Sagi, Playtech’s largest shareholder, company founder and erstwhile jailbird pornographer.

Asian casino operator Donaco International says lucky high rollers at its Vietnamese casino are playing havoc with its fiscal year results.

In a filing with the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Donaco says its normalized earnings – so named because they smooth out the variance in VIP gambling – for the fiscal year ending June 30 are on track to meet analysts’ expectations of A$90m to $95m (US $65m to $68.6m).

However, a subpar theoretical VIP win rate of 1.62% at Donaco’s Aristo International Hotel in northern Vietnam mean actual earnings over the 10 months ending April 30 are US $7.3m below the normalized result.

Despite the VIP hot streak, Donaco says revenue at the Aristo is up 13% over the same period last year. Visitor numbers are up 61%, pushing hotel occupancy up 20 points to 83% which helped drive room revenue up 41%.

Asian casino operator Donaco International says lucky high rollers at its Vietnamese casino are playing havoc with its fiscal year results.

In a filing with the Australian Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Donaco says its normalized earnings – so named because they smooth out the variance in VIP gambling – for the fiscal year ending June 30 are on track to meet analysts’ expectations of A$90m to $95m (US $65m to $68.6m).

However, a subpar theoretical VIP win rate of 1.62% at Donaco’s Aristo International Hotel in northern Vietnam mean actual earnings over the 10 months ending April 30 are US $7.3m below the normalized result.

Despite the VIP hot streak, Donaco says revenue at the Aristo is up 13% over the same period last year. Visitor numbers are up 61%, pushing hotel occupancy up 20 points to 83% which helped drive room revenue up 41%.