Gamification in marketing is a powerful tool for enhancing user experience of your website or app to improve engagement.
This strategy involves turning standard brand interactions into a fun game by incorporating game design elements to make it more interactive and engaging for your customers.
Do you want to learn how this can be implemented into your business strategy and the benefits of gamification marketing? Keep reading!
Gamification Strategies
Reward schemes
Reward schemes can be the easiest way to implement gamification into your marketing strategies.
This can involve creating a points system in which customers receive points for completing different tasks or spending money on your products and services.
Reward schemes should offer discounts and freebies to customers, which will encourage them to return and buy from you again.
These reward schemes can be integrated into your website and app and promoted across your social media channels, outlining the benefits of getting involved.
A real-world example where reward schemes can be seen is through McDonald’s and its app. McDonald’s uses a point system within their app, which offers 1 point for every penny spent when you use the app.
These points can then be exchanged for free menu items—the more points you have, the better the exchange item.
By developing this system, McDonald’s has been able to promote the use of its app, increasing the number of people using it. This allows McDonald’s to use the platform to communicate with its audience and promote further products and discounts, knowing they are reaching the right demographic.
Competitions
Competitions can be implemented similarly to the reward schemes, with awareness being boosted across social media platforms, which can depend on the goals you want to achieve.
This encourages users to interact with your brand to participate in the competitions you are running.
Competitions can take the form of:
- Instant-wins
- Sweepstakes
- Trivia content
- Photo competition
- Tag a friend
You can reach an extended audience and encourage repeat purchases by implementing a competition.
Building on the previous example of McDonald’s, they also have a competition that runs yearly in September – McDonald’s Monopoly.
This competition encourages users to purchase menu items that have a Monopoly sticker to collect them to win prizes.
This competition encourages repeat purchases from users. As the competition only lasts for a couple of weeks, it creates a sense of urgency for the customers to purchase as much as possible within a short period of time.
Personalisation
If your company has an app or is considering creating one, personalisation is an important element to consider adding.
Personalisation can be added to your app in multiple ways:
- Adding the user’s name to the screen or stating, “welcome back (user name)”.
- Providing the ability to change the font or background colours of the screen.
- Creating a digital identity – screen name and avatar or preferences list, for example.
Personalisation can be an important strategy through gamification marketing strategies as it means that customers are more likely to be invested in the experience of your brand.
Personalisation also allows you to understand your consumer base, and the data can then be used to improve your gamification strategies. This can mean changing your competition based on your users’ preferences, which will improve your engagement across social platforms.
Why Use Gamification?
Brand Awareness & Conversion Rates
Brand awareness is key to your business success, and by utilising social media platforms, you can extend your reach and boost engagement with your target market.
Gamification in marketing can give you and your business a competitive advantage across your market. Many companies can provide their users with the same experience when selling similar products and services; being able to stand out can be the key to success.
Gamification provides users with a more memorable experience through tailored interactions and incentives.
As gamification marketing can make your customer’s experience more enjoyable and engaging, this can also improve conversion rates.
It can be noted that as rewards and competitions increase, users may feel more inclined to complete tasks and purchases to gain the benefits that follow.
Loyalty can also be built upon: the more rewards customers receive from completing challenges and purchases, for example, the more likely they are to make repeat purchases from your business.
Data Collection
The success of your business can be determined by your strategies and how they resonate with your audience.
By introducing gamified experiences to your brand, you can collect data regarding the following:
- Spending habits
- User preferences
- Changes in trends
Gamified experiences also mean that your content is more engaging, suggesting that more people would be encouraged to participate in it. This increases the amount of data you can collect to gain a more in-depth analysis of your user trends and habits.
Implementation Tips
Gamification can be a useful tool if implemented correctly. Here are some useful tips of how to use gamification to get the most out of it:
- Understand your audience and how they interact with social media – what platforms are in use and how are purchases made.
- Set a clear goal of what you want to achieve from gamification marketing.
- Gather user feedback to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your strategies.
- Refine your strategies through continuous evaluation and improvement.
Don’t overthink gamification – it doesn’t need to be complex to be engaging! An example of a simple way that we have helped a client introduce gamification is with our current partner, St Giles International.
St Giles International is an English Language school. We have created a multiple-choice English Test that has been posted on the website.
This test allows website users to interact with the content and gain an understanding of their English abilities. Once completed, the test provides results and recommendations.
The user feels engaged AND gets something from completing the test – while the client gets the contact details to follow up with them later and see what English Courses they can provide.
At ExtraDigital, we offer services which have been tailored to support your business needs when partnering with us. The services include:
- Social media advertising
- Web development/website support
- Google ads
Gamification can benefit you and your business, and we can help you implement this successfully!
To Sum Up
Gamification marketing can be used by businesses to enhance their user engagement by creating a fun and interactive experience.
This tool can allow you to discover new ways of interacting with your audience and gain insights into developing preferences and trends. It can also help you tailor your product offerings and marketing strategies to encourage an increase in sales.
Do you think gamification marketing is useful for your business?
