How Does Professional Customer Support in Online Casinos Improve Player Experience?
Customer support, by definition, is a team of people in charge of providing help to customers when they have issues with products or services offered by a certain company. They are found in every single sphere of our lives, including entertainment- namely, online casinos.
Back when the whole iGaming industry was just getting started, operators were still unaware of the fundamental role of the customer support sector. Platforms were equipped with some basic FAQs, an e-mail address, and in the best-case scenario, live chat support.
However, as the number of interactive platforms is on the continuous rise, operators realized that they need to communicate with consumers in order to ensure the best quality of services. They realized that feedback from consumers is the only thing that can help them move the business in a positive direction, and benefit financially.
For that reason, online casinos started improving their assistance departments, enabling players to have their casino-related queries answered and fixed in no time.
How Can a Player Communicate with an Online Casino?
People in charge of providing assistance should be well-informed, professional, and efficient. The main duty of the customer support team is to meet the needs and answer the demands of players, eliminate the issue, so as to avoid disputes or even worse, situations where lawyers and court are needed.
There are many different ways to communicate with the support department of an online casino, but the most common channels include the following three options:
- Live chat
This is probably the most favorite of all means of communication, as players receive answers to their questions in real time. English is the most common language, but some operators with a strong international presence offer other languages as well. Some of the alternative options include German, French, Spanish, and Italian, but some languages spoken in Asian market, such as Chinese or Japanese can be found as well.
Don’t be confused if sometimes, when you access live chat, you get to chat with the bot first. This is one of the ways casinos use to direct a player to the right department, which will answer their question the fastest. After selecting two to three predetermined options a player is then transferred to the real agent.
The only disadvantage of this method of communication is limited working hours. So, even though there’s an option to communicate with a real person, one cannot do so throughout the entire day and night. This could represent a problem, especially if time zone differences are taken into account.
E-mail support is also a great channel of communication with the support team, as it enables a player to explain their issue in detail. With live chat, people often use short sentences, which can sometimes lead to misunderstanding, due to inability to explain the problem thoroughly.
On the other hand, e-mail support may be slower to respond, so it’s not a good choice if you have an urgent problem to be solved. Although most casinos do strive to reply as quickly as they can, sometimes it may take up to 48 hours for a query to be addressed.
- Telephone
Just like with live chat, this option allows you to communicate directly with a real person. The conversation is mostly done in English, but some operators offer other languages as well. The good thing is that in the vast majority of casinos, the call is toll-free.
However, just like the previous two, this one also has some downsides. It can be limited to customers from specific regions. For example, a casino offers it to players from the United States but doesn’t have this option for those from Europe or Asia. Also, it may also have limited working hours.
Ideally, a casino should offer all three options, so that players can decide themselves what fits them the most.
Additional Sources of Information
Aside from live chat, e-mail, and telephone, a casino may equip its platform with a detailed FAQ page. This comes in quite handy, especially for new players who are just getting started and are not familiar with some basics.
As the industry is working on educating players on the importance of responsible gambling, operators often have dedicated pages where more info on this matter can be found. There are questionnaires that should help players evaluate if they are experiencing any gambling-related issues, a whole range of tools they can use, and much more.
Finally, online gambling is much more than just pressing the “spin” or “shuffle” button, it’s knowing how the machines work, what features are about, which strategies and techniques are there, and much more. To provide an all-encompassing casino experience, some online casinos added blogs to their pages, where players can read all kinds of interesting articles on trends, tendencies, techniques, strategies, and more.
Last, but not least important, there are social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. Although these are not channels that people usually use to have their issues with payments or anything else resolved, it’s useful to have additional media where you can find out more about the casino you visit.
What to Do If Customer Support Cannot Help Resolve the Issue?
If customer support has given its best and the player was fully cooperative, chances are no issue will escalate outside the casino itself. In a majority of situations, anything can be fixed with the casino’s support team, if communication is honest and transparent.
On the other hand, if things have come to the point where no reasonable solution can be found, a player can turn to a third-party mediator or submit their problem to the regulator, if the casino is licensed. That leads us to a crucial point:
The importance of gambling in licensed casinos!
If a player has encountered an issue that requires external help, one should end up at a dead end if a casino is unlicensed as there will be no one to help fix the issue. With a licensed operator, players have someone by their side if the problem cannot be solved with the help of customer support.
Therefore, when selecting a casino, look beyond attractive bonuses and cool games. Make sure the casino has at least two forms of customer support and a license that would confirm that their business is accredited. This way you will have someone to assist you if some unpleasant situations occur.
Play responsibly!
