Gambling site bets on web analytics

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Betfair.com, the online sports betting business, is to replace its in-house web analytic capability with new, web 2.0-based monitoring software to improve its understanding of its customer experiences.

The bookmaker's websites, and particularly their marketplace pages, are primarily based on Asynchronous Javascript And XML (AJAX) with Flash imagery making up a key part of their construction, so the new system had to replace the bespoke monitoring technology and a web log analysis system that had been written internally by Betfair IT staff.

Barry Bone, group procurement manager for Betfair said that, while the bespoke system was able to provide information on how many page impressions were received and which pages had been most viewed, this information did not fundamentally help when it came to making business decisions about the site.

He said: "The system we had developed internally was effective to a point but the analysis and interpretation of this information was problematic. Primarily, because it came from a multitude of different sources, unifying the information into a single viewpoint where it could be sensibly analysed was time-consuming and complicated."

The company has now invested in web 2.0-based, customer insight software that sits within each web page deployed from e-commerce analytics firm Speed-Trap to capture and deliver data in real time on individual online customers and prospects.

Betfair has placed an order for an annual licence across the complete site, which includes implementation, consultancy, training and ongoing support services.

Bone said that, with Speed-Trap as a single analytical source, Betfair can get the information it needs to track customer interaction more quickly and use it for decision-making throughout all of its departments.

"Speed-Trap has taken us on to the next level," he added. "It gives us real insight into our customers' behaviours."

Based upon detailed analysis of customers' current and historic online behaviour and experience, the Speed-Trap software will allow Betfair to drive and monitor its online marketing activity and business processes.

Bone said: "We can actually investigate what people are looking for, precisely what they look at, where they 'hover' and how they get to the end point they want. As a consequence, we can tailor our products and our services to react to the customer and give them the best user experience possible. That's what makes people come back, time and time again."

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