Time for a list post and I want to tackle my biggest pet peeves with slot apps.
I know these don’t pay out real money and I almost exclusively play these for free (no buying of coins) so I really have no reason to complain other than that I can’t stop myself.
Sure, I could just ignore them but I always have my business hat on and as an entrepreneur myself I can’t help but wonder why some of these annoying frustrations still exist.
Technology is an incredible thing and I know that it’s far more capable than even my tiny bit of experience would have me believe.
I expect that these apps are also gathering data about customer usage so they must be able to tell when and, more importantly, why people drop their app.
Yet, these issues persist. This is my message to those app creators.
Pop-Ups DURING Play
If an app has ANY pop-up that comes up while I’m in a slot such that I cannot see the reels while they are still moving I’m done.
I will delete you and forget you.
This is particularly egregious if the pop-up comes up while I’m in free spins. Bonuses are my thing. I want to get the free spins. If you ruin my enjoyment of those I will hold that against you.
Too Many Pop-Ups Upon Opening
I can understand two or three pop-up messages when I first open the app but once you’ve gone past four I want to scream.
I’m not really reading them all. You’ve lost me after the first couple.
There’s a term for this and it’s called “ad blindness”. Too much exposure to the same thing over and over causes people to no longer pay attention. They become trained to ignore the message.
I would expect you’d use this time to share the most important things I should know.
Sale Pop-Ups When I Have Lots of Coins
Your system must know how many coins I have. If you can see that I have so many that I’m not likely to buy any at the moment why show me an ad for them?
I’m obviously not in any need.
I realize that’s how you make money but imagine if you only timed those messages to show to someone who was very low on coins and more likely to buy.
Then, those who have lots of coins will be less annoyed and more likely to want to keep your app.
When we’re low you can then let us know what special offers you have. Because we see the offers less often we might be more inclined to pay attention to them.
Inconsistent Slot Layouts
I expect to see a consistently shaped and positioned buy button on each slot. I do not understand apps that have them in different shapes, colors, and positions across their slots.
This makes for a very confusing customer experience. You don’t have to look like everyone else but why would you not want to present the same layout throughout?
It looks sloppy and every time I see it I can’t help thinking that you’re prioritizing something else (profit) over what your users are having to go through to get accustomed to your slot screens.
Removing My Favorite Slots
I still haven’t recovered from WinStar removing both Treasure Voyage and Ancient Dragon from their app.
Those were two of my favorites and then they just disappeared.
I often choose casino apps because they have one or two specific slots that I like to play in real life. Once those are gone I’m less likely to keep the app.
I realize I’m probably old school and those are maybe those two examples are less popular than some of the newer releases but I would bet there’s a lot of people like me that like those older games.
There must be, in fact, because they’re very hard to get onto in a real casino whether it’s packed or not! They’re a big draw.
You might want to canvas your users to find out just who would drop your app if you removed certain slots.
I figure you’re already looking at which slots are getting the most play but you might find that there are those who haven’t spent money with your app before who might if it meant that was the only way they could continue to play their favorite slots.
You probably have to negotiate licenses and deals in order to keep those real Vegas brands on your app but it might be worth it.
Actually, the app that comes up with a way for me to choose the exact slot lineup I want for myself with all of my personal favorites from across all the available brands of slot machine makers would probably get all of my money (hint, hint).
That’s my little rant for today. Maybe one of them will read this and take it to heart.