How to Measure Player Retention in a Gaming Club

How to Measure Player Retention in a Gaming Club

Retention tells you how many clients come back after their first visit. In IZI CRM, the section Analytics → Clients → Retention gives you two complementary tools: the Visit Funnel and the Visit Frequency Distribution. The funnel visualises drop-off at each loyalty step — how many clients moved from one visit to two, two to three, and so on. The frequency table breaks the same data into precise groups (1 visit, 2–3, 4–6, 7–10, 10+) with client counts and percentage shares. Together, these two views let you understand your club’s return rate in under five minutes, without any manual spreadsheet work — just set the period and read the data as described below.

Step 1. Open the Retention Section

1. Log in to IZI CRM and go to Analytics.
2. Select the Clients tab in the analytics sidebar.
3. Click the Retention tab — the page opens with two data cards.

If no data appears, the system shows “No data for the selected period.” This means no client had even one session or order in the current date range.

Step 2. Set the Time Period

The date range is controlled by the filter at the top of the page — the same control used across all analytics sections. A few practical guidelines:

Analysis goal	Recommended period
Current snapshot (what is happening now)	Last 30 days
Month-over-month comparison	Current month, then previous month separately
Seasonality assessment	One quarter (3 months)
After launching a loyalty program	4–6 weeks from the launch date

Important: IZI counts visits using the club’s local timezone, so dates always reflect local time rather than UTC.

Step 3. Read the Visit Funnel

The first card is the Visit Funnel. It is a horizontal bar chart with five bars.

Each bar shows how many unique clients made N or more visits in the selected period:

• ≥ 1 visit — all unique clients in the period (the largest value, first bar)
• ≥ 2 visits — returned at least once
• ≥ 3 visits — returned at least twice
• ≥ 4 visits — returned at least three times
• ≥ 5 visits — four or more returns (the most loyal segment)

Each bar is shorter than the previous one — that is expected. The key question is how much shorter. If 80% of clients are lost between the first and second bar, most people visit once and never return. A drop of 40–50% between those two bars is typical of high-performing clubs.

You can export the funnel data using the button in the card header — it saves a CSV with “Group” and “Clients” columns.

Reading the Funnel in Practice

Suppose a club served 500 unique clients in a month:

Threshold	Clients
≥ 1 visit	500
≥ 2 visits	230
≥ 3 visits	120
≥ 4 visits	65
≥ 5 visits	40

From this: 46% of clients returned at least once (230 of 500). Of those who returned once, 52% came back again (120 of 230). The more consistent the conversion rate between steps, the more your retention is driven by a system rather than random inflow.

Step 4. Read the Visit Frequency Distribution

The second card — Visit Frequency Distribution — is a table with three columns: Visits, Clients, and Share (%).

Rows correspond to these groups:

Group	Meaning
1 visit	One-time visitors
2–3 visits	Early regulars
4–6 visits	Established habit
7–10 visits	Frequent visitors
10+ visits	Loyal core audience

Each row shows how many clients fell into exactly that group (not “N or more” — a specific range) and their share of the total unique clients for the period.

You can export the table by clicking Export in the card header — a standard CSV with three columns.

What to Look for in the Table

A high share in the “1 visit” group (above 60–70%) means most clients leave after the first visit. This is common for clubs in tourist areas or without a loyalty program. Compare with the cohort retention analysis to understand exactly when and with which client group the drop-off starts.

Growth in the “2–3 visits” group month over month is a positive signal: new clients are starting to come back and your program is working.

A stagnant “10+” group means the pipeline into higher tiers is blocked somewhere in the 2–6 visit range. If this core group has not grown over a full quarter, that warrants a closer look at what happens between a client’s second and sixth visit.

Step 5. Compare Periods Manually

The retention page shows one period at a time — there is no built-in automatic comparison. To compare two periods:

1. Open the report for the current month — export or note the figures.
2. Switch the period to the previous month — compare the same rows.
3. A change in the share of the “2–3 visits” group and above shows whether retention improved.

For multi-period comparisons, the Period Comparison section is also useful.

Connection to Other Metrics

Retention data does not work in isolation. Check these alongside it:

• Clients Report — shows absolute counts of new and returning clients. Retention explains why the returning count went up or down.
• Cohort Retention Analysis — a deeper tool that groups clients by their first-visit month and tracks D7/D14/D30. If the IZI funnel shows what, cohorts explain when and with whom.
• ARPU Tracking — clients in the “4–6” and “10+” groups generate disproportionately high revenue per client. Growth in these groups has a direct impact on average revenue per user.
• Sessions per Player — visit frequency correlates with session length: clients with 7+ visits per month tend to play longer per visit on average.

What to Do with the Results

Retention data points you in a direction — it does not prescribe a solution. A few action scenarios:

If the “1 visit” group exceeds 65%: examine the first impression — registration speed for new clients, equipment quality, and the front-desk script. One of the most direct ways to convert a one-time visitor into a “2–3 visits” client is a top-up bonus: IZI supports configuring a balance top-up bonus that gives an immediate incentive to return.

If the “2–3 visits” group is not growing: clients come back once but do not build a habit. The typical cause is the absence of a system that reminds clients about the club between visits. IZI automations let you trigger an event when a client has not visited for X days and deliver a targeted incentive to return.

If the “10+” core is shrinking: loyal clients are leaving. This is a warning signal — check recent changes to tariffs, equipment, staff, or whether a competitor has opened nearby. The Clients Report lets you drill into this segment further.

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See also: Cohort Retention Analysis · Clients Report · ARPU Tracking · Period Comparison