Users of gambling products typically experience a complete lifecycle from initial contact to eventual churn and recall. At each stage, user psychology and behavior change, with key conversion nodes and influencing factors present.

By analyzing these stages and nodes, the operations team can target optimizations for each step of the user experience and marketing strategy, enhancing the lifetime value (LTV) and return on advertising spend (ROAS).

Lifecycle Stages and Changes in User Psychology

Stage 1: Promotion and Acquisition – The user journey begins with awareness of the gambling platform. In this stage, users first come into contact with the platform through advertisements, promotional activities, or referrals.

Common channels include online advertising, search engine optimization, app store recommendations, and influencer promotions, aimed at guiding potential players to click and visit the platform.

User psychology is characterized by interest or curiosity about gambling, but a lack of understanding of the platform itself.

Key Conversion Node: Ad click ➡️ Visit landing page. Core Influencing Factors: The attractiveness of the ad creative and promotional information (e.g., "Register and receive a bonus"), brand credibility and safety endorsements, landing page load speed, and content relevance. The goal of this stage is to convert traffic into registration actions as much as possible.

Stage 2: Registration Stage (Conversion) – Users enter the platform and register an account. At this point, the user has been attracted and is willing to learn more.

Key Conversion Node: Completing the registration process and creating an account. Core Influencing Factors: The simplicity of the registration process (few form items, one-click social account login, etc.), new user guidance and incentives (e.g., successful registration rewards, guidance to complete KYC verification), and privacy and security commitments.

Psychologically, users hope the process is simple and time-saving, and they consider the reliability of the platform. If the registration process is cumbersome or requires too much sensitive information, users may abandon it midway. Successful registration marks the conversion of a visitor into a real-name user, allowing for more precise marketing outreach.

Stage 3: First Deposit Stage (First Conversion) – To become a paying player, a newly registered user's critical step is making their first deposit. Platforms often offer incentives like a bonus on the first deposit to facilitate this conversion.

Key Conversion Node: User binds payment method and completes the first deposit. Core Influencing Factors: The intensity of the first deposit incentive (e.g., "100% bonus on first deposit", deposit 100 get 100), the convenience of the payment process (support for familiar local payment methods), platform credibility (users need to trust that funds are safe and winnings can be cashed out), and customer service support (prompt answers to deposit queries).

At this point, user psychology is often both excited and cautious: the offer motivates action, but concerns about depositing remain. If the incentive is attractive enough and trust issues are resolved, most active registered users will take this step. The first deposit conversion rate directly affects the ROI of the campaign, making this a crucial conversion node.

Stage 4: Active Stage (Newbie Period) – After completing the first deposit, users enter the actual gambling entertainment experience stage, where they start betting or playing games. This stage is dominated by the novelty and excitement of the user's psychology: the initial experience of winning or losing money will affect subsequent behavior.

Platforms usually provide new user guides (such as game tutorials, customer service welcome), free trials, or extra coupons during the newbie period to ensure users smoothly transition through the familiarization period.

Key Conversion Node: First bet or participation in a gambling game (marks the true start of consumption). Core Influencing Factors: Product experience (diversity of game types, user-friendly interface), timely redemption of newbie offers, community interaction (chat rooms welcoming newbies), and early win/loss results. Operationally, the hope is that users continue to try multiple games and maintain a certain frequency of logins.

For example, maintaining heat through newbie tasks and login rewards. If a user does not bet or has a poor experience in the short term, they may quickly enter a silent period or churn. Therefore, the operational goal of the newbie active stage is to enhance next-day retention and 7-day retention, guiding users to form usage habits.

Diagram: The full lifecycle process of gambling users from acquisition to retention to recall. Arrows between each stage represent the conversion nodes of user behavior (such as registration, first deposit, re-investment), and branching arrows indicate possible different paths. When users are inactive for a long time, they enter the silent/churn stage, and operations can implement recall measures to bring them back into the active cycle.

Stage 5: Re-investment Stage (Continuous Payment Retention) – After the initial experience, if users continue to make new deposits or bets, they enter the re-investment/retention stage. At this time, users have established a certain trust in the platform and are willing to invest more funds or try more gameplay.

Key Conversion Node: Another deposit/bet. The industry commonly uses "re-investment rate" to measure the proportion of first-time paying users who pay again, which directly reflects the depth of user retention. Core Influencing Factors: Past user experiences (win rates, entertainment), stickiness mechanisms (such as level experience, points), additional incentives (such as second deposit offers, weekly feedback rewards), and community belonging.

If a user's initial funds are depleted without new stimulation (such as new offers or game content), they may not recharge again. Conversely, if the user experience is good or they have tasted small wins, they are more likely to continue investing. Platforms extend the user's lifecycle in this stage through personalized offers and game updates, such as recommending events or games based on user preferences and providing targeted rewards to promote another deposit. Successfully retained users will repeatedly cycle through the "deposit-bet-reward" process, significantly increasing LTV.

Stage 6: Silent Stage (Inactive Period) – After a while, some users' activity levels begin to decline. Silent users are typically defined as those who have not logged in or bet for a period but have not explicitly churned (e.g., 7 days or 30 days inactive). They may have paused their gambling activities due to reasons such as excessive losses affecting their mentality, decreased interest, or being busy with life.

Key Indicator: Long periods without logging in or account balances remaining unchanged for a long time. Core Influencing Factors: Reasons leading to user cooldown include severe losses without effective consolation (such as not enjoying cashback), lack of novelty in content, competitor temptations, and personal factors.

Silence does not mean complete churn; this stage is a warning signal: operations should promptly identify silent users, detect declining activity trends through data monitoring, and proactively take activation measures (such as push notifications, email care, limited-time coupons) to prevent further user churn. User psychology at this time may be in a wait-and-see or conflicted state; if they receive personalized care or incentives, their interest may be reignited, otherwise, they will gradually forget the platform.

Stage 7: Churn Stage – When users remain silent for too long and awakening measures are ineffective, they enter the churn stage. Churned users refer to those who have completely stopped using the platform, possibly uninstalling the app or no longer logging in. At this stage, users either lose interest in the platform or hold grievances about previous poor experiences (losing money, poor service, etc.), or have moved to other competitors. Churn is often a gradual process: from mild churn (30 days not logged in) to deep churn (90 days+ not logged in).

Key Conversion Node: In this sense, it is negative, i.e., the user ultimately decides not to come back. Core Influencing Factors: The cumulative effect of all previously unresolved issues, such as the frustration of losing money not being alleviated, long periods without new content stimulation, unpleasant experiences with customer service or withdrawal processes, better offers from competitors, etc. Once a user churns, their LTV is basically set, and the cost of early acquisition needs to be compensated by other retained users. Therefore, reducing the churn rate is crucial for enhancing ROI. Although churn is inevitable, clearly defining churn criteria (such as how many days of inactivity is considered churn) helps to timely initiate recovery strategies.

Stage 8: Recall Stage (Win Back) – For churned users, operations can try to implement recall strategies to reactivate them. Recall is usually done through remarketing (such as EDM emails, SMS, targeted ads) to convey attractive messages to churned users. Common recall measures include reactivation offers (such as providing exclusive deposit bonuses or free bets for users who have not logged in for a long time), personalized content pushes (informing users about new games/events added to the platform), and emotional care (such as "We miss you, come back and receive ¥X experience money").

Key Conversion Node: Churned user clicks on recall information ➡️ Revisits the platform ➡️ Re-logs in or recharges. Core Influencing Factors: The intensity and relevance of recall offers (whether the rewards are attractive enough and match user preferences), timing (recalling users within a certain period after they churn, avoiding them completely forgetting or switching elsewhere), and whether the previous reasons for churn have been specifically addressed (e.g., if they left due to losses, provide some cashback compensation).

Successful recalls can bring some users back to the active stage, restarting the latter half of their lifecycle. It's important to note that not all churned users are worth recalling; users who repeatedly fail to reactivate after multiple recalls may only be taking advantage of the offers without generating value. Therefore, mature operations set a limit on the number of recall attempts and monitor the effects of recalls to optimize ROI.

Common Promotional Activities and Lifecycle Applications

The gambling industry often launches various promotional incentives to improve conversion and retention at different lifecycle stages. The following outlines several common promotional strategies, explaining their main application stages, purposes, and impacts on ROAS and LTV.

First Deposit Offer (Welcome Bonus)

Definition: An additional bonus given on the first deposit, i.e., players can receive a certain percentage of platform bonus money on their first deposit. For example, a typical offer is "100% first deposit, players deposit 100 yuan and get an additional 100 yuan funds. The bonus usually comes with certain wagering requirements, which must be met before withdrawal.

Main Application Stage: Transition from acquisition to conversion (after registration, first deposit). This is a typical new player welcome offer, provided by almost all gambling platforms, used to incentivize new users to complete their first payment.

Purpose: To lower the payment threshold for new players, enhance the value perception of the first deposit, and allow users to experience the fun of the game with a larger amount of funds more quickly. Welcome bonuses are often the most generous offers, intended to leave a strong first impression on players. Operations hope to convert as many registered users as possible into paying users and induce them to deposit more than originally planned (because of the matching bonus).

Impact on ROAS/LTV: First deposit bonuses directly improve the first deposit conversion rate, thus significantly improving the return on advertising spend (more clicks converted into revenue). At the same time, since the bonus usually requires multiple times the wagering before withdrawal, players will bet more to meet the conditions, thereby increasing ARPU (average revenue per user).

Acquiring users early in their lifecycle and allowing them to deeply experience it helps to enhance subsequent retention and LTV. However, a balance is needed between reward costs and fraud prevention: excessively high first deposit bonuses may attract professional "hunters" who use hedging bets for arbitrage, causing losses. Successful projects will optimize the bonus ratio for different channels/regions, ensuring competitiveness while controlling costs and preventing abuse through limits and wagering requirements.

Cashback/Rescue Money (Cashback)

Definition: A reward returned to players based on a certain percentage of their betting amount or loss. Common forms include betting cashback (returning 0.5%~1% of the effective betting amount) and loss rescue money (returning 5%~10% of net losses). Cashback is usually settled regularly (daily, weekly), returned as experience money or cash, and automatically credited without player application.

Main Application Stage: Retention stage, especially for high-stickiness active users and VIP users as a loyalty reward. Cashback plays a role in preventing silence: when users continuously lose, they are easily discouraged from quitting, and cashback provides some consolation, thereby extending their active period.

Purpose: By returning part of the losses, it alleviates the frustration of players after losing money, enhancing satisfaction. The cashback mechanism makes players feel "protected, not losing everything," thereby daring to continue betting. This strategy extends the player's game time and fund retention: for example, after receiving cashback every week, players may reinvest it in the game, forming a cycle. For VIP high-value players, cash rewards are also a status treatment, enhancing loyalty. Overall, cashback aims to improve user retention rates and lifetime value, allowing players to play longer and contribute more.

Impact on ROAS/LTV: Cashback has a clear effect on enhancing LTV. By increasing the user's retention duration and total betting amount, it directly increases the player's total lifecycle revenue. At the same time, giving cashback to high-value users can prevent them from churning due to short-term huge losses, thereby preserving future potential revenue.

However, the impact on ROAS is indirect: Cashback is an operational cost, which will reduce profits in the short term, but if designed reasonably (e.g., only returning to net losers with a cap), the additional betting and retention it brings can compensate for the cost, even bringing higher profits. It's important to control the cashback ratio and frequency to prevent users from overly relying on cashback betting or inducing arbitrage behavior. Successful operations usually limit high-ratio cashback to the VIP group and differentiate cashback rules for different games to prevent exploiting low-risk games for cashback.

Task Rebate (Task System Rewards)

Definition: Providing rebates or rewards to players through a task system. The platform sets specific tasks or activities (e.g., "Bet X yuan today and return Y yuan", "Participate in designated games 10 rounds to get a medal exchange for gift money"), and players receive corresponding rewards upon completing the tasks. This gameplay is essentially a form of gamified operation, linking offers with player behavior, commonly seen in slot machine competitions, prediction tasks, and time-limited challenges.

Main Application Stage: Active—Retention stage. Task rebates are used for daily activation and enhancing stickiness, incentivizing existing paying users to continue specific behaviors. It can also be used as an intervention before silence—when user activity declines, launching task challenges to re-attract their attention.

Purpose: To increase user engagement and platform stickiness. By setting diverse task goals, it encourages players to explore more gameplay or increase betting frequency, thereby extending the user's active cycle. For example, daily tasks guide users to log in, bet on designated games, and return rewards upon meeting certain conditions, forming a regular habit. The task system also satisfies the user's sense of achievement—completing challenges brings additional rewards and honors, thereby enhancing the entertainment experience. For the platform, task rebates can guide user behavior (e.g., setting tasks to encourage trying new games when they are launched) and segment player preference data.

Impact on ROAS/LTV: Task rebates mainly affect retention and LTV. By enhancing the activity and payment depth of old users, each acquired user creates more value, diluting acquisition costs. When users frequently participate in activities and complete tasks, their lifecycle is extended, and the total revenue contributed increases, thereby enhancing LTV.

For ROAS, task rebates have an indirect effect: Although they do not directly bring new users, the enhanced retention means that the value of each user acquired through advertising increases, making the original placement more cost-effective. It's necessary to design the reward input-output ratio of tasks to ensure that the reward cost does not exceed the revenue generated by users' additional betting and to guard against some users only coming online to get rewards (e.g., only logging in when there are tasks, then going silent again). A good task system should be combined with mechanisms such as points and leaderboards to form healthy competition, continuously driving user participation.

VIP System (Membership Levels and Benefits)

Definition: A membership level system for high-value or loyal users. Players are classified into different VIP levels based on cumulative betting amounts or points, each level enjoying corresponding exclusive benefits, such as higher cashback ratios, exclusive rewards, withdrawal green channels, personal customer service managers, physical gifts, or event tickets. VIP levels are usually accompanied by promotion incentives, encouraging players to meet standards and upgrade to obtain better treatment.

Main Application Stage: Throughout the mature retention stage until preventing churn. The target of the VIP system is medium to long-term players and high-stake paying players (commonly known as "whale" users). When users enter a continuous payment cycle and accumulate high value, the VIP system ensures they are rewarded. It is also a key means to prevent high-value users from churning: