Marketing and Strategy

Here are all the results from my online poker survey. I have made some comments where it is relevant.

Live poker is preferred

The majority of respondents prefer live poker. This is good news from hotels and casino operators in gambling resorts like Las Vegas. The question was asked in order to see if online poker is an improvement to the poker game that is replacing live poker as the way to play poker.

Online poker is easy to fit into the lifestyle

Many pundits claim that the accessibility and easiness of playing online poker is fuelling the growth of the game. The answers to this question indicate that they are right.

Joining an online poker site is not complicated

Download software to computer, filling out forms, submitting credit card or doing Neteller deposits. To get up and started with a new poker site may seem complicated for an outsider, but the respondents of this survey seem to find it easy.

It is easy to use the poker software

The poker software, or client was the center of the next question. The researcher often found it hard to join a room at PartyPoker because it filled up before the “joining progress bar” was completed and I was ready to grab a seat. Also, to find a tournament to join was more complicated than it should be because the list was cluttered with tournaments that were already finished or in progress. These initial struggles from a beginner was the background for asking a question like this. The respondents seem to overall be happy with the poker software.

The importance of Neteller and other e-wallet services

E-wallet services are the glue that tie the online poker world together according to the answers from this question. This should be good news for Neteller (NLR), FirePay/Fireone and other e-wallets listed on the stock exchanges. Will do an update about this in a future post.

The first shot is free..

First of all, this question was an error on my part. It should definately be a yes/no question and not using the likert scale. The promotions from the online poker sites often emphasize the ability to play for free with “play money” before you go ahead and risk your real money. It seems like this offer is often taken advantage of.

There are more ways to attract new players than the deposit bonus

The marketing from the new poker sites heavily depend on deposit bonuses.

The poker craze in media, an important influencer?

Quote from my essay: “Media coverage is definitely raising awareness and knowledge of online poker. Its role as an influencer is more in doubt. Friends seem to be a heavier influencer. These findings may be linked to Rogers (2003:205) generalization about mass media channels being more important at the knowledge stage, while interpersonal channels are more important at the persuasion stage of the innovation-decision process.”

There switching costs are very low

Poker players are members of multiple sites. Should have followed up with a question about if there is loyalty to a specific site. My initial thoughts are that there probably is very low loyalty in the online poker world.

Lots of innovators and “heavy users”

I was very surprised by the answers of this question. Online poker was a niche product in 2002-2003. This question and the previous shows that the respondents, who were recruited from online poker forums, are very hardcore poker enthusiasts with lots of experience.

Heavy user?

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Age and location

Can it be true that 1 out of 3 online poker members are professionals?

I was very surprised to see the amount of respondents who said that their main income was from online poker.

What is this survey?

These are just easy statistics grabbed from the survey software at surveymonkey.com. I did some deeper analysis about the diffusion of online poker and what are the drivers. I can post this as well if there is interest.

From where were the responses of the survey gathered?

In late April I conducted a survey where I asked people at the TwoPlusTwo forums, United Poker Forum and a members only Norwegian poker forum to answer.

Weaknesses of survey

Quote from my essay: “The main weakness of the survey is that the sample consist of existing poker players who are using online poker forums. These are probably more advanced players who have more knowledge about poker software, funding options and they may be more active when it comes to switching between poker sites. The ideal reference group for future research would be a sample of players who had joined an online poker site very recently. “