Businesses operating in such saturated markets need to find ways to not only attract their customers but continue to engage with them. It’s no secret that customer loyalty is invaluable for businesses so how can you create your marketing strategy that will stand out from the crowd?

This is where gamification comes in handy. More and more businesses are turning to marketing strategies that involve some sort of gamified element to incentivize their customers to engage with their brand. When implemented correctly, studies have shown that gamification can increase customer loyalty, and therefore generate high returns for businesses.

What is gamification?

Gamification is the application of game elements to non-gaming activities that encourage user engagement and enhance favorable behaviors such as increasing user activity, social interaction, or quality and productivity of actions. Businesses have been implementing more game mechanics like points, countdowns, and bonuses in their marketing promotions and campaigns to create more engagement with their customers.

What are game mechanics?

In the context of marketing, game mechanics are actions within a gamification strategy which prompts a response from the user that allows them to understand and achieve a certain goal.

Some examples of game mechanics include:

Goals. This is where participants work towards a particular objective.
Competition. Being naturally competitive creatures, incorporating some sort of competition in your gamification strategy motivates participants to continue to engage in the activity as they enjoy challenging their peers.
Status. As participants work through the activity, they can “level up” to achieve a higher status.
Education. Allowing participants to gain educational information in the form of tips and tricks within the activity helps them navigate the process and keeps them engaged.
Rewards. Badges, points and other rewards drive participants’ motivation and allows them to feel like they have accomplished something.

How does gamification work?

Gamification works by tapping into your motivation. There are 3 basic elements that drive motivation.

Autonomy. When you feel like you are in charge, you gain motivation and tend to stick to your goals.
Value. If you think that a goal is important to achieve, you are more likely to complete it.
Competence. As you get better at doing something, you are more likely to continue doing it.

There are also 2 types of motivation: extrinsic (external factors like money or status) and intrinsic (internal factors like your personal interest or enjoyment). When it comes to gamification, both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation plays a part. Often, you would be encouraged to engage in a particular activity, which is driven by intrinsic motivation, in order to achieve a certain goal, which is driven by extrinsic motivation.

Take the Nike+Fuel app as an example. Nike leveraged gamification techniques in their Nike+Fuel app to stay connected with their customers and gather information about them. This personalised app provided incentives for customers to track their running activities, compete against others and record their latest achievements and overall performance. As customers complete certain levels, they are rewarded with trophies and badges. The intrinsic motivation comes from friendly competition amongst customers’ peers and the extrinsic motivation comes from achieving the trophies and badges.

This type of positive reinforcement is what keeps customers engaged with the app and encourages them to continue to use it. The Nike+Fuel app also connects to social media so customers can share and compare their achievements with their friends. The customer data that Nike obtained over a large period of time in turn enhanced their content marketing campaigns, as well as boost their customer loyalty.

Is gamification really effective in marketing strategy?

The main advantage of a gamified environment is that it drives motivation. You can apply this concept to a variety of marketing strategies to encourage higher customer engagement and drive specific behaviors that aid in your business objectives. By using gamification as a marketing tool, you can:

Boost customer engagement
Increase sales
Build brand loyalty
Gain invaluable customer data
Encourage repeat purchases

When Verizon, America’s second largest telecommunications company and wireless carrier, decided to implement gamification on their website, they saw a 30% increase in browsing time amongst their users. Game mechanics can be used as an incentive in your marketing strategy to attract customers and keep them coming back to your brand.

How do brands use gamification in marketing?

There are many innovative and creative ways to implement gamification in your marketing strategies. Let’s look at how some of the most popular brands have effectively capitalized on gamified marketing strategies.

1. Universal All-Access Rewards

Using gamification within your loyalty program is a very effective way to engage your customers. Universal Picture’s loyalty program, Universal All-Access Rewards, provides their customers with a range of ways to earn points, aside from purchasing movies from their online and in-store retailers. Customers can fill out surveys, watch movie trailers and share social media content to earn more points which they can then use to redeem rewards. As customers earn more points, they are able to move into higher tiers of the program, which allows them to gain exclusive access to specific rewards that are only available for members in that higher tier.

Universal Pictures has capitalized on gamification in their loyalty program that has allowed them to build a community of engaged and loyal customers. Watching a movie trailer or filling out a survey are fairly effortless activities that customers can do to earn points. Customers know that these small tasks would allow them to accumulate enough points in the end to redeem more valuable rewards. Therefore they perceive these activities as worthy of doing in order to receive the relevant rewards. In turn, Universal Picture is able to gain wider awareness of their upcoming movies. Ultimately, this rewards portal has allowed Universal Pictures to advertise to a community with a high level of interest and drive sales through the game mechanics employed within the loyalty program. Both the brand and their customers mutually benefit from this program.

2. My Starbucks Rewards

The My Starbucks Rewards program uses gamification techniques to increase customer engagement and retention. Members of the rewards program can earn points or “stars” with every purchase and can redeem them for specific items or prizes. Members are also incentivized by receiving free food and drinks. More stars can see customers moving to a higher ‘status’ where they can receive exclusive rewards such as free birthday beverages or free refills. Those in the highest status gain the most benefit.

It is through this system of earning points and rewarding customers with free food and drinks as an incentive to continuously engage with the brand that drives Starbucks’ customer loyalty. It gives customers a sense of achievement and reinforces their want to further engage.

3. McDonald’s Monopoly

McDonald’s multimillion dollar Monopoly campaign is no stranger to anyone who consumes the popular fast-food chain. This contest has been running for decades and for good reason. Anyone who makes a purchase from McDonald’s is able to participate in collecting the relevant tickets in order to win certain prizes. Although the chances of winning more valuable prizes like a car or a holiday can be slim and may discourage customers, McDonald’s have also included ‘Instant Win’ prizes such as free cheeseburger or drink which are worth substantially less but still considered valuable to their customers. That way, they are still able to get customers coming back and purchasing their products.

4. M&M’s Eye-Spy Pretzel

When M&M launched their pretzel-flavoured candy, they took advantage of gamification in their social media strategy to promote the new product. The campaign involved a simple ‘eye-spy’ game where the task was to find the tiny pretzel hidden among the M&M candy. Here is the original Facebook post from the campaign. M&M were able to engage users and this campaign generated over 25,000 likes, 6000 shares and 10,000 comments.

How can I use gamification in my marketing campaign?

Like everything, if you apply gamification effectively, you’ll be able to see positive results. Here are some principles that will help you maximize your gamification strategy.

Keep game complexity simple

One thing that you should keep in mind is that you are not designing a game. You are merely applying game mechanics into your marketing strategy so it’s important not to over complicate the activities involved. Having too many elements increases the cognitive load on your customers and makes it harder to learn, which can discourage them from further engagement. Participants need to be able to see themselves attaining the end goal from the activity. So the goal must be challenging yet achievable.

Reward customers for their actions, not completion

It’s not enough to only reward them for achieving the goal. You need a way to encourage customers to complete certain actions, whether that is purchasing a certain amount of products or sharing content about your brand. Therefore, by rewarding points for the customer's actions, you are able to reinforce these actions which contributes to the overall business objectives.

Putting it all together

The concept of gamification is increasingly being implemented in marketing strategies among a variety of different brands in different industries. It has been shown to engage customers and motivate them to want to come back, which enhances customer loyalty. Customers can be deterred by aggressive selling and advertising as a way to gain their business. So using gamified techniques in your marketing is not only a fun way to attract customers but it builds a better relationship with them in the long run.

Trusted by the world’s leading brands such as Henkel, Enfamil and Molson Coors, 3 tier logic has successfully executed hundreds of programs that enable brands to increase purchases and drive sales. Our shopper marketing platform, PLATFORM3, helps brands bring gamify value to their promotions.

Book a demo with our expert team and see how you can add gamification to your next promotion.

How to Effectively Use Gamification In Marketing (Examples Included)