THE CHALLENGE

Turning early app exploration into confident customer engagement across the first month

DraftKings saw an opportunity to better understand and further enhance the early player experience within its casino app. With strong initial engagement from new customers, the team wanted to ensure that the onboarding journey, discovery pathways and in-app communications were as intuitive and supportive as possible during the critical first 28 days.

While existing analytics provided visibility into user behavior, DraftKings aimed to deepen its understanding of how players experienced the app in context: how they navigated the casino lobby, responded to promotions and built familiarity with available games and features. This would help ensure the experience continued to evolve in line with player needs and expectations.

A man standing over a bridge and using his phone
Working from Home
THE APPROACH

Following real player journeys through an experience-led research program

C Space designed a longitudinal study to observe and understand the evolving experience of new casino players across their first month.

Participants were recruited from both a dedicated DraftKings online community and C Space’s proprietary gen population panel, and followed as they progressed through key stages of their journey, including registration, early exploration of the casino lobby, gameplay and engagement with promotional content.

To capture both behavior and perception in context, the study combined:

  • Short, recurring surveys to track changing perceptions over time
  • Narrated screen recordings to observe real-time navigation and discovery
  • In-depth qualitative interviews to explore motivations, expectations and early impressions

This multi-method approach provided a rich, continuous view of the player experience as it unfolded.

SERVICES:
Customer Experience Research, Insight Communities, Product Development / Optimization, User Experience Research
EXPERTISE:
Qualitative Research & Moderation
THE RESULT

A more tailored experience that better supports exploration and discovery

The insights from the study helped DraftKings refine how new customers experience the casino lobby, leading to a more tailored experience that better aligns with player needs during the early stages of their journey.

By following players through their first 28 days, from registration through to early gameplay and exploration, the research provided a clearer understanding of how customers navigated the app, engaged with promotions and communications and built familiarity with the platform.

These learnings directly informed product and experience enhancements, including:

  • Refinement of the casino lobby experience to better support new user navigation and discovery
  • Introduction of proactive guidance features, such as pop-ups and tooltips, to help new customers explore the app and find games they enjoy more easily

Together, these updates helped improve how new players are supported as they get to know the casino app, creating a more intuitive and guided early experience.

The insights from the study helped DraftKings refine how new customers experience the casino lobby, leading to a more tailored experience that better aligns with player needs during the early stages of their journey.

Customer Inside Cover Thumbnail

GET THE REPORT!

Customer Inside

Building the next generation of insight communities.

DOWNLOAD NOW

View more case studies

Partnering with Colgate to Co-Create Impactful Communications with Patients and Professionals

Find out how Colgate worked with C Space to co-create patient- and professional-focused communications, using community-driven insights to ensure clarity, inclusivity and impact.

SHOW ME MORE