We The Bookie founder champions lower CAC and RG gains with cashback USP
Malcolm Wilkinson says players will stick around as product is “inherently better” as customers can be rewarded with up 50% of firm’s monthly gross revenue
We The Bookie founder Malcolm Wilkinson believes customer acquisition costs for the operator will be far lower than the industry average due to firm’s USP.
Launching in 2023 in Ireland, We The Bookie differentiates itself from others operators by potentially giving back up to 50% of its monthly gross revenue to customers, based on each customer’s betting activity within a monthly period.
Those eligible can receive cashback of between 0% (if the operator had a losing month made) and up to 50% (if every customer lost that month), according the firm’s About Us page.
The site also features a tracker which shows the rate of potential cashback throughout the month.
The firm does not offer online casino and, as part of a responsible gambling (RG) push, has committed to not prompt customers to deposit when their balance is low or bet following a period of inactivity.
We The Bookie has also elected to stay away from free bet offers, which, according to its website, are “generally used to encourage you to bet more than you normally would”.
Explaining the model further, Wilkinson told the audience at the NEXT Summit event in Valletta, Malta, this week that customers are also not chasing their losses to the extent seen with other operators due to the safety net of cashback.
When asked how the firm operates given sportsbooks run on “skinny margins”, the We The Bookie founder replied that while there are challenges, customer acquisition costs in this particular model are expected to be lower while player retention is high.
Wilkinson said: “Obviously, there are challenges with giving up half your gross revenue but there are significant savings in other areas.
“Retention is an issue in the industry. That’s our gold star metric. Once people experience this, they are simply not going to move back to another site.
“We don’t have a marketing budget yet, but we suspect that our customer acquisition costs will also be lower because we’re actually offering something inherently better.
“The other thing is that we’re going to be much less dependent on the affiliate industry, who take 30% to 50% of the gross revenue themselves on customers they refer, so we can circumvent that and save money that way,” he added.
Wilkinson acknowledged the model wouldn’t work in every jurisdiction, naming Germany as an example, due to existing cashback regulations in the market.
Looking ahead, the founder also lifted the lid on planned product launches, including a ‘Bookie View’ where customers will be able to see how well the operator is performing over a given sporting event, such as this weekend’s PGA Championship, to gain further insight into the potential cashback offer.